I have everything I need. The method (SEE→EXPLAIN→CAUSE→CHANGE→TEST→REASSESS), the honesty-first "receipts" framing, the Swing Lab free tier (10 credits/mo, passwordless email), and Jesse's voice are all clear. Here's the course.
First Tee to Fairway
A self-paced beginner golf course for people who've never had a lesson — and think golf instruction wasn't built for them
$79 · one-time · yours forever · 8 short modules · works on your phone
By Jesse Boudreau — Golf Swing & Strength Coaching, Greensboro NC. Built on the ONE-change-at-a-time method, with the Swing Lab AI as your second set of eyes.
Read this before you buy (the honest part)
Most golf instruction is written by people who forgot what it's like to not know anything. They throw ten swing thoughts at you, use words like "supination" and "shallowing" like you're supposed to nod along, and then act surprised when you feel worse than when you started.
I'm not going to do that.
First Tee to Fairway is for the person who has literally never had a lesson. You've maybe hit balls a couple times. You've maybe never touched a club. You looked up "how to golf" and got a firehose of contradicting videos from guys who all sound very sure of themselves. You closed the tab.
This course is the opposite of a firehose. It's one change at a time. Eight modules. Each one gives you a single thing to understand and a single thing to test. You do not move on until the one thing feels normal. That's the whole trick, and it's the reason most beginners quit: they try to fix eight things at once and fix none of them.
What this course promises
- You'll understand why you do each thing, not just what to do. No "just trust me."
- You'll build a real, repeatable setup and a swing that makes solid contact more often than not.
- You'll walk onto a range and then a course knowing exactly what you're doing there and what to ignore.
- You'll learn to film your own swing and read it — using my free Swing Lab AI — so you're never dependent on me or anyone else to know if you're improving.
What this course does NOT promise
- It won't make you a "good golfer" in a weekend. Nobody can, and anyone who says otherwise is selling you something.
- It won't fix a slice with one drill (a slice has a cause; we find your cause).
- It won't give you numbers your phone can't actually measure. When I say "we can't tell that from a phone video," I mean it — that's the "receipts" part of golf instruction with receipts.
- It is not a PGA-certified program, because I'm not a PGA pro. I'm a coach with a method and a working AI tool, and I'll always tell you the truth about what I can and can't see.
Who it's for
- Total beginners. Never had a lesson. Zero shame here.
- People who find golf intimidating, gatekept, or full of jargon — women, juniors, seniors, smaller-framed golfers, anyone who's felt like the sport wasn't built for their body.
- People who want to understand, not just copy.
Who it's NOT for
- Single-digit handicaps looking to tune a fade. This is not that.
- People who want 40 drills by Friday. One change at a time or bust.
How the method works (the thing that makes this different)
Every module runs on the same six-step loop. It's the exact method I use with paying clients and the exact logic the Swing Lab AI uses on your video:
- SEE — Look at what's actually happening. Usually on video, because your body lies to you about what it's doing.
- EXPLAIN — Put plain words to it. No jargon unless I define it first.
- CAUSE — Find why it's happening. The thing you see is rarely the thing to fix.
- CHANGE — Make one adjustment. Just one.
- TEST — Hit some balls / take some reps and see if the change did anything.
- REASSESS — Film again. Compare. Keep it or adjust it. Then, and only then, move to the next module.
If you take nothing else from me, take this: golf gets easier when you stop trying to fix everything and start fixing one thing all the way.
Your free co-pilot: the Swing Lab AI
You get a free account at golf.jesseboudreau.com/swing-lab — no password, just your email. Free tier gives you 10 swing analyses a month, which is plenty for this course.
Here's what it does: you film one swing on your phone, upload it, and it gives you a structured read — the single highest-leverage change, one drill, and a retest plan. You can save swings, retest later, and compare a "before" to an "after" side by side. That compare feature is your progress, in receipts.
Here's what makes it trustworthy, and why I built it this way: it tells you what it actually observed versus what it's only inferring versus what it flat-out cannot determine from a phone video. It will never make up your club path, face angle, or spin numbers — because a single phone camera can't measure those, and I refuse to fake it. When it says "can't determine," that's honesty, not a bug.
Throughout the course I'll tell you exactly when to open Swing Lab and what to look for. Think of it as me looking over your shoulder without me actually being there.
A note on filming: almost every module asks you to film "down the line" (camera behind you, on the target line) or "face on" (camera facing your chest). Two phone angles, a cheap tripod or a propped-up water bottle, and you're set. Module 1 sets this up properly.
The module map
Eight modules. Each is one change to understand and test. Do them in order — later ones assume the earlier ones.
| # | Module | The ONE thing | You'll test it with | |---|--------|---------------|---------------------| | 1 | Ground Zero: Setup & Posture | Build a repeatable stance so every other change has a stable base | Face-on + down-the-line film → Swing Lab "setup check" | | 2 | The Grip | Hold the club so the face can return square without you fighting it | Face-on film; grip-in-fingers check | | 3 | Aim & Alignment | Aim your body and clubface where you actually think you're aiming | Down-the-line film + alignment sticks/clubs on ground | | 4 | The Takeaway | Start the swing so the first move doesn't wreck the other three feet | Down-the-line film → Swing Lab takeaway read | | 5 | Contact & the Low Point | Hit the ball then the ground — the beginner's biggest unlock | Strike feedback (turf/foot spray); Swing Lab contact notes | | 6 | Ball Flight, Explained Plainly | Read where your ball goes and understand what caused it (honestly) | Your own shots + the honest "what a phone can/can't see" rules | | 7 | Your First Real Range Session | Practice on purpose instead of just beating balls | A structured 45-minute session plan + one filmed swing | | 8 | Your First Round (or First 9) | Get on a course without embarrassment, panic, or holding people up | Etiquette + a "keep it simple" on-course game plan |
Bonus material included: a printable one-page setup checklist, a "what to bring your first time" list, a plain-English glossary (every jargon word I ever make you learn, defined), and a 4-week practice calendar that spaces these modules out sanely.
Where this course points next (no pressure, ever)
When you finish and want a human set of eyes, I offer a $49 async Coached Review — you send a swing, I send back a personal video breakdown (a Loom) using this same method. And if you get hooked, there's a monthly Swing Lab+ for unlimited analyses, and eventually an in-person diagnostic here in Greensboro. But none of that is required. This course stands on its own. I'd rather you finish it than upsell you.
Module 1 — Ground Zero: Setup & Posture
The ONE change: build a setup you can repeat every single time.
Why we start here (and not with "the swing")
You want to swing. I get it. Nobody buys a golf course to learn how to stand there.
But here's the truth I've watched play out a hundred times: most bad swings are just bad setups that got worse. If you aim wrong, stand too far from the ball, hunch your back, or lock your knees, your body has to invent mid-swing compensations to save the shot. Those compensations are what people spend years and thousands of dollars trying to "fix." They were never the problem. The setup was.
Setup is also the only part of golf you have 100% control over. The ball isn't moving. Nobody's rushing you. You're not reacting to anything. If you can't get this part consistent, nothing built on top of it will be consistent either.
So we build the foundation first. One change: a repeatable setup. That's the whole module. By the end, standing over the ball correctly should feel boring and automatic — which is exactly what we want.
Jargon check. "Setup" (also called your "address position" — golf loves needless synonyms) just means everything about how you stand before you swing: your feet, your posture, how far you are from the ball, where the ball is between your feet. That's it. When I say "address the ball," I mean "get set up to hit it." No bowing required.
SEE — what a good setup actually looks like
We're going to film you before you know what's right, so you can see the gap yourself. Don't skip this. Seeing your own setup on video is the fastest teacher I've got.
Set up two camera angles (you'll use these all course long):
- Face-on: phone on the ground or a mini tripod, roughly hip-height if you can, placed so it's looking straight at your belt buckle — directly in front of you. This shows ball position and your spine tilt.
- Down-the-line (DTL): phone placed behind you, on the line pointing from the ball to your target, about hip-to-chest height. This shows your posture and how far you stand from the ball.
Prop it on a golf bag, a range bucket, a water bottle, whatever. It does not need to be fancy. It needs to be steady and at a consistent height so your before/after films are comparable.
Now, grab a mid-iron (a 7-iron is the friendliest club to learn on — if you don't know what you have, it's usually the club with a "7" stamped on the bottom). Get set up however feels natural to you right now. Film 10 seconds of you just standing to the ball on both angles. Don't swing yet. Just get comfortable, freeze, and film.
Keep those two clips. That's your "before."
EXPLAIN — the five pieces of a repeatable setup
Here's what a solid, athletic setup is made of. Read all five, but do not try to do all five at once yet. We'll assemble them one at a time in the CHANGE step.
1. Feet — about shoulder-width apart. Stand with your feet roughly as wide as your shoulders for a 7-iron. Not a wide power-stance, not feet-together. Shoulder-width gives you balance without locking you up. Toes pointed just slightly outward is fine and natural.
2. Posture — bend from the hips, not the waist. This is the one people butcher. You do not slouch or round your back over the ball. You push your hips back and hinge forward from your hip joints — like you're about to sit on a tall barstool behind you — keeping your back long and mostly straight. Your arms then hang down naturally under your shoulders. If your arms are reaching out or jammed into your body, your distance from the ball is off (we fix that in piece 4).
3. Knees — soft, not bent, not locked. Just unlock them. A slight, athletic flex like you're ready to move. Think "waiting to catch a ball," not "sitting in a chair." Locked-straight knees kill your balance; deep-squat knees kill your rotation.
4. Distance from the ball — let your arms tell you. Once you've hinged from the hips and let your arms hang, wherever your hands naturally are is roughly where the grip should be. You're not reaching for the ball, and it's not crowding your belt. A rough check: there's about a hand's-width to a fist-and-a-bit of space between the top of the grip and your thighs. Too close and you'll feel cramped; too far and you'll feel like you're falling toward it.
5. Ball position — middle of your stance (for now). For a 7-iron, put the ball roughly in the center between your feet, maybe a hair forward of dead center. Yes, ball position changes with different clubs later — that's a Module 5 and beyond conversation. For now, middle. One rule, learned well, beats five rules learned badly.
Jargon check. "Ball position" = where the ball sits relative to your two feet, from back foot to front foot. "Forward" means toward the target (toward your front foot — the left foot for a right-handed golfer). "Back" means away from the target. This front/back language shows up constantly, so lock it in now.
CAUSE — why beginners get this wrong (and why it matters)
You'll almost certainly see one or more of these in your "before" film. Here's what causes them and why each one quietly sabotages the swing:
- Rounded back / hunching. Cause: bending from the waist instead of hinging from the hips, usually because you're standing too close and trying to make room. Effect: kills your ability to rotate, and your spine can't turn well when it's curled. This is the single most common thing I see in a beginner's setup.
- Standing too close to the ball. Cause: fear of missing it, so you crowd it. Effect: your arms have nowhere to go, so you'll shove them out and away mid-swing — an in-and-out path that's a slice factory.
- Locked knees / stiff and upright. Cause: nerves, or nobody ever told you to soften them. Effect: no balance, no rotation, all arms.
- Ball way too far forward or back. Cause: guessing, or copying a driver setup you saw on TV. Effect: you'll catch the ground before the ball, or top it, and blame your swing when it was your setup.
Notice the pattern: none of these are "swing problems." They're setup problems that create swing problems. Fix the base, and a surprising number of "swing faults" just quietly disappear.
CHANGE — the ONE change, built in order
Your one change for this module is: assemble a repeatable setup. We build it in a fixed order so it's the same every time — a little pre-shot routine. Do this slowly, without a ball, 10–15 times, in front of a mirror or your face-on camera:
- Stand tall behind where the ball will be, club in your right hand (righties), and take a breath.
- Set your feet shoulder-width, ball in the middle of your stance.
- Hinge from the hips — push the hips back, keep the back long, let your torso tip forward. Arms hang.
- Soften the knees — small athletic flex.
- Let the club sole sit flat on the ground where your hands naturally hang. That's your distance from the ball. Don't reach.
That five-count is your routine. Same order, every time. The goal isn't to think hard about it forever — it's to drill it now so that in a month you do it without thinking, the way you don't think about how to sit in a chair.
Remember: ONE change. We are not adding grip, aim, or takeaway yet. If you catch yourself fiddling with your hands or worrying about where you're aiming, stop. Those get their own modules. Today is only posture and stance.
A drill to lock it in — "The Barstool + Wall"
- The Barstool (posture): Stand with your backside about a foot from a wall. Get into your setup by pushing your hips back until your rear end just touches the wall, then let your torso tip forward. That's a real hip hinge. If you can't reach the wall without rounding your back, you're bending from the waist. Do 10 reps until touching the wall feels natural.
- The Club-on-Spine (flat back): Hold a club vertically against your back — touching your tailbone, between your shoulder blades, and the back of your head all at once. Hinge into your setup keeping all three points touching. This teaches "long back" instead of "rounded back." 10 slow reps.
Five minutes of these beats an hour of guessing.
TEST — put it into motion
Now go hit some easy shots — half-speed, 7-iron — with your new setup routine. Do not try to swing "correctly." We haven't covered the swing. Just run your five-count setup, then make a smooth, lazy swing and hit the ball. We're not grading the shot. We're testing whether the setup holds up and feels repeatable.
Hit 15–20 balls like this. Between shots, reset from scratch using the five-count every single time. Repetition of the routine is the point.
What to pay attention to:
- Does the setup feel the same each time, or are you still guessing at distance and ball position?
- Does anything feel physically wrong — cramped arms, off-balance, straining your lower back? (Slight new-muscle awareness is normal. Sharp pain is not — back off and reset; nothing in this course is worth hurting yourself over.)
REASSESS — film again and compare (this is where Swing Lab comes in)
Re-film the same two angles — face-on and down-the-line — using your new setup. Same phone height, same spot, so it's a fair comparison to your "before."
Now open the free Swing Lab AI at golf.jesseboudreau.com/swing-lab (email sign-in, no password, free tier is plenty). Upload your down-the-line setup swing. When it asks for context, tell it you're a beginner working on setup and posture so it knows what you're focused on.
Here's how to read what it gives you, the honest way:
- Look at what it marks OBSERVED — things it can actually see in your video, like posture, spine tilt, ball position, distance from the ball. This is the gold. This is your setup, measured against your "before."
- Notice what it marks INFERRED — educated guesses based on what limited info a single phone camera gives.
- And respect what it marks CANNOT DETERMINE — things like exact club path or face angle at impact that no single phone video can truly measure. When it says it can't tell, that's not the tool failing you. That's me refusing to make up numbers. Golf instruction with receipts.
It'll hand you one highest-leverage change and one drill. For this module, if that one change is about posture, stance, or ball position — perfect, keep grinding on it. If it points at something swing-related (grip, path, whatever), note it and let it go for now. That's a later module. We finish setup first.
Then do the thing that actually shows progress: use Swing Lab's compare feature to put your "before" setup next to your "after" setup, side by side. That visible difference — a flatter back, better distance, a repeatable stance — that's the receipt. That's you improving, on video, on day one.
You're done with Module 1 when…
- [ ] You can run your five-count setup routine without thinking about each step.
- [ ] Your "after" film shows a clear hip hinge and long back (not a rounded, waist-bent slouch).
- [ ] Ball position is consistently in the middle of your stance for your 7-iron.
- [ ] Your setup looks and feels the same shot to shot.
- [ ] You've saved a before/after in Swing Lab and can see the difference yourself.
Don't rush to Module 2. Sit in this for a few range sessions until the setup is boring. Boring is the goal. Boring means repeatable, and repeatable is the entire foundation of everything we build next.
Next up — Module 2: The Grip. How you hold the club decides where the clubface points at impact, which decides where the ball goes. We'll make one change to your hands, and one only. See you there.
— Jesse
First Tee to Fairway is an educational golf coaching program. It is not affiliated with or certified by the PGA. Fitness, mobility, and any health-related suggestions are general and anecdotal, not medical advice — train within your own limits and consult a professional for medical concerns. The Swing Lab AI reports what a single phone video can and cannot show, and does not fabricate measurements it cannot make. Golf Swing & Strength Coaching · Greensboro, NC · golf.jesseboudreau.com