Why I Don't Chase Golf Digest Rankings - And Why My Students' Handicaps Tell the Real Story
Why I Don't Chase Golf Digest Rankings - And Why My Students' Handicaps Tell the Real Story
Every few years someone asks me why I am not on the Golf Digest Top 100 list or the Golf Magazine Top 100 list. My answer is consistent: I do not participate in those programs. That is not bitterness and it is not false modesty. It is a position based on what those programs measure and what I believe the actual measure of coaching quality should be.
I am Erik Schjolberg. I coach at McCormick Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, under my brand EJS Golf. My teaching system is called The Science of Better Golf. I have been doing this for more than 25 years. And in 25 years, I have never had a student improve because of an award I received. Every improvement has come from identifying the correct mechanical cause of a problem and giving the correct constraint-based fix. The scorecard does not care who gave me the award.
What Industry Rankings Actually Measure
The Golf Digest and Golf Magazine top instructor programs are long-running features with significant reach. They are not scams. They produce real lists of real professionals, many of whom are excellent coaches. But the criteria for selection have nothing to do with whether students improve.
The programs typically evaluate instructors based on teaching activity (how many lessons per year), educational credentials and certifications, peer evaluations from other instructors and players, affiliation with teaching associations, and in some cases, visibility and media presence. These are reasonable professional signals. None of them measure outcomes.
A coach can teach 3,000 students a year without moving a single one of their TrackMan numbers. A coach can hold every certification available without understanding ground reaction forces or wrist conditions at impact. A coach can be universally respected by their peers without producing measurable handicap reductions. The ranking systems are not designed to catch any of that because they are not built on outcome data. They are built on professional activity and network assessment.
My objection is simple: in any other performance profession - medicine, physical therapy, athletic training - a practitioner's reputation is ultimately built on patient outcomes. Not on how many patients they saw. Not on how many certifications they hold. On whether their patients actually got better. Golf instruction has not held itself to that standard, and the major ranking programs reflect that.
The Metrics That Actually Matter
Here is what I measure to evaluate whether my coaching is working. These are the metrics I track with every student, and they are available to any golfer who asks.
Every one of these metrics is objective. Every one of them is measurable in a single TrackMan session. And every one of them tells you more about whether a coach is effective than any ranking program in the industry.
The golfers who come to McCormick Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale to work with me know this going in. I tell them what their baseline numbers are in the first session and I tell them what the target numbers are. We track progress against those targets. If the numbers are not moving, we change the approach. That is the accountability standard I hold myself to, and it is the standard I think every serious golfer should hold their instructor to.
What My Students Have Actually Said
I am going to let the record speak. These are unsolicited words from students over the past two years of coaching in Scottsdale and online. They are not curated marketing language. They are what people said when I asked them to describe what changed.
"I went from a 14 handicap to a 6 in 11 weeks. No award did that. One diagnosis, one drill, and weekly TrackMan confirmation that my numbers were moving. That is it."
— Mark T. | Scottsdale, AZ
"I had worked with a Golf Digest top 100 instructor for two years. My handicap did not change. I worked with Erik for three months and dropped 5 shots. I am not saying the other coach was bad. I am saying Erik was right for my swing."
— Steve H. | Paradise Valley, AZ
"The first session with Erik I learned more about what my swing was actually doing than in 20 years of golf. He did not tell me to feel something. He showed me the number and explained the cause. I understood my swing for the first time."
— Karen B. | Scottsdale, AZ
"Remote coaching with Erik from Dallas. Submitted my swing video and Foresight data. Got a diagnosis in 48 hours, one drill, and a follow-up 3 weeks later. My handicap dropped from 11 to 7 in 10 weeks without ever being in the same room."
— James T. | Dallas, TX
My Standing Offer
I have made this offer to every serious golfer who has asked whether working with me is worth their time: bring me your current TrackMan data - or let me collect it in the first session - and I will identify the primary cause of your miss and give you a fix that produces a measurable change in at least one key metric before you leave. If your numbers do not move in the first session, you do not owe me anything.
I have never had to honor the second half of that offer because the first half always delivers. Not because I am infallible - because the diagnostic process is scientific and the fixes are cause-and-effect based. When you correctly identify the root cause of a mechanical problem and apply a constraint that forces the correct movement, the numbers move. Every time.
That is the standard. Not a ranking. Not an award. A measurable change in your ball striking in the first session. If that is what you are looking for, I coach at McCormick Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, and online worldwide.
Everything is at EJSGolf.com
My drills guide is at EJSGolf.com/my-drills
Read more instructions at EJSGolf.com/blog
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Erik Schjolberg is a PGA Professional and founder of EJS Golf, based at McCormick Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has 25+ years of experience coaching golfers from beginners to PGA Tour professionals using TrackMan 4, HackMotion wrist sensors, force plates, and 3D video analysis. His proprietary teaching system - The Science of Better Golf - is built around four release patterns and centers on low point control, forward shaft lean, and ground reaction forces as the measurable determinants of ball striking quality. His students demonstrate measurable improvement in attack angle, dynamic loft, and low point location in the first session. He does not participate in Golf Digest or Golf magazine ranking polls. His students’ data is his credential.
