Why We Stopped Teaching Beginners on the Driving Range — And Why It's the Best Decision We Ever Made
The statistic that should alarm every golf club in the country
Seven out of ten people who try golf give up.
Not because the game is too hard. Not because they don’t have time. But because we’ve been teaching it wrong.
We start beginners on a driving range, hand them a club, point them at a mat and tell them to swing. The ball slices into the bay divider. We adjust their grip. They try again. Another slice. We tell them not to worry — it takes time. They come back the following week. The same thing happens. After a few weeks, the enthusiasm fades. Golf feels impossible. They stop coming back.
This isn’t a failure of the golfer. It’s a failure of how we introduce the game.
I know this because five years ago, Peter Arnott changed how I think about teaching golf entirely.
The mentor who changed everything
When Peter approached me to join Swanston, I was a young assistant still learning my trade. Working alongside Peter — one of the most respected coaches in Scottish golf — was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.
One of the very first things Peter shared with me was something he called the “green-back approach.” The principle was simple: beginners should start as close to the hole as possible and work backwards. Start on the putting green. Move to chipping. Then pitching. Then longer and longer shots — progressively, as confidence and skill develop.
The research behind it was compelling. Peter pointed to how the world’s greatest golfers were introduced to the game.
Tiger Woods began in the family garage, where his father Earl would hit balls into a net while baby Tiger watched from a highchair. At ten months old, Tiger picked up a putter and hit his first shot. He wasn’t handed a driver. He wasn’t taken to a range. Tiger’s foundation was built around the greens — his early days were spent putting and chipping, mastering the feel and finesse required to score.
Adam Scott tells a similar story. His father Phil introduced him to golf at a young age by giving him a plastic set of clubs and regularly taking him to the North Adelaide Par-3 course. Not the range. The course.
The pattern is clear. The world’s best golfers learned to score before they learned to swing. They learned to love the game before they learned to be perfect at it. Early success creates confidence. Confidence creates participation. Participation creates golfers.
This is what Peter taught me. And from day one at Swanston, it’s how we’ve coached every beginner who walked through our door.
The morning Play 9 — Score 36 was born
Two years ago, this philosophy became a programme.
The idea was simple: take our green-back approach and put it on a real golf course. Give beginners a format where they could experience real golf — on real fairways, with a real scorecard — but starting from distances where success was genuinely achievable.
We called it Play 9 — Score 36. Nine holes. Score 36 or better from your level. Level 1 starts at 25 yards. Level 2 at 50 yards. Level 3 at 75 yards. And so on — all the way to the full tee box for those who are ready.
The first event was a Saturday morning in October 2024. We didn’t know if anyone would show up. They did. And the look on people’s faces when they holed out for the first time — on a real golf course, not a mat on a range — told us everything we needed to know.
In less then two years, we’ve introduced over 200 complete beginners to the game of golf. People who had never picked up a club. People who thought golf wasn’t for them. People who are still playing today.
My wife Sarah, myself and our team have poured everything into these events. The joy of watching someone play their first ever hole of golf — properly, on a real course — never gets old.
The problem we couldn’t solve
But here’s what nobody tells you about running grassroots golf programmes: the admin will break you.
Tracking every player’s score by hand. Managing spreadsheets across multiple levels. Trying to figure out who had improved from one event to the next. Setting up distance markers on the fairway — we tried plastic discs, which got damaged and destroyed. We tried concrete holes with painted markers, which faded in the sun. Every event was a logistical challenge on top of a coaching challenge.
And the biggest frustration of all? Players could only post a score at a Play 9 event. Outside of our events, there was no way to track progress, submit scores or stay connected to the community. Six to ten events a year simply isn’t enough to keep beginners engaged and improving.
We knew the programme worked. We just couldn’t scale it.
The partnership that changes everything
Last year, I was approached by Golf Genius — who had recently acquired CoachNow, the app we use with our private coaching clients. That conversation led me to discover Operation 36.
Operation 36 has been operating for over ten years in the United States. It has been built on exactly the same philosophy Peter Arnott taught me during my first week at Swanston — start close to the hole, build success early, progress gradually. Over 160,000 beginners have become golfers through the Operation 36 platform. And recently, it received the kind of endorsement that stops you in your tracks.
“It’s the perfect way to introduce beginners to the game.”
— Rory McIlroy
We couldn’t agree more. Which is why we are thrilled to announce that Swanston Golf Academy has officially partnered with Operation 36.
What this means for every golfer at Swanston
The partnership solves every problem we’ve been facing — and opens up possibilities we couldn’t have imagined two years ago.
Scores submitted 365 days a year
Players no longer need to wait for a Play 9 event to track their progress. The Op36 app lets you submit a score any time you play, from any course. The GPS on the app even tells you exactly where to start from — no tee markers, no plastic discs, no painted concrete. Just pick up your phone and play.
A clear pathway for every golfer
Six levels. Six measurable goals. From 25 yards to the full tee box. Every session builds toward something specific, and every improvement is tracked and celebrated.
A community that keeps you connected
Between events, between sessions, between lessons — Op36 keeps golfers engaged, motivated and part of something bigger than a single round.
A platform built for coaches
Live leaderboards at events. Automatic scoring. Player progress tracking. The hours we used to spend on spreadsheets every Sunday evening will now be spent on what matters — coaching.
The 2026 Play 9 — Score 36 Order of Merit
And here’s what it all leads to. We are delighted to confirm that 12 events are confirmed at Swanston Golf Club for the 2026 season. Every event will be run on both the Templar course and the main course — giving every player the experience of real competitive golf.
🏌️ Sat 18 April — Season Opener ⭐
Sat 16 May
Fri 22 May
Sat 6 June
Sat 20 June
Sat 4 July
Sun 19 July
Fri 7 August
Sat 22 August
Sun 20 September
Sat 26 September
🏆 Sat 3 October — Grand Final ⭐
Entry is £15 per event and events are open to the public. The player with the most Order of Merit points across the season will be crowned the 2026 Play 9 — Score 36 Champion.
The journey continues
Bookings for Event 1 — the Season Opener on Saturday 18 April — open at 10:00am on Thursday 9 April. Look out for our email in your inbox on Thursday morning.
When we launch, every golfer in our community will have access to the Operation 36 app as part of their Play 9 membership. And to reward the people who have been with us from the beginning — and those who are most excited about what’s coming — we want to offer something special.
This is the most excited I’ve been about beginner golf since the morning we ran our first Play 9 event. The green-back approach that Peter taught me, the programme that my wife Sarah and I built from scratch, and the platform that is going to carry it all forward — it’s finally coming together.
To the 200+ golfers who have already been part of this journey: thank you. You are the reason we keep going.
And to everyone who has been thinking about trying golf but hasn’t known where to start — your time is coming.
