Last week, Golf Channel released a beta version of a new, revamped version of their golf instruction page and it’s pretty cool. They scoured their video vault from the past couple years and compiled them all into an easily navigable game improvement site.

I recall visiting the old instruction section only a couple times because it was difficult and frustrating trying to find what you were looking for. They’ve made some serious beneficial changes that make it a lot quicker and easier to find what you need.

There’s a couple different ways you can search for golf instruction videos; keyword search, search by category (there’s 13 categories, such as driver, irons, putting, sand traps, etc.. ), search by skill level (advanced, intermediate, beginner, junior, general), search by instructor (too many to count) and search by golf show (The Golf Fix, Daily Brew, Rymer Reason, etc.. ).

I don’t know if you ever look for instructional golf videos online, but other than youtube, there’s never been any real good repository or one stop shop for free videos. Youtube has tons of videos, but you always have to wonder about the credibility of some of the golf instruction videos posted up there.

Once you’ve  created an account, you can rate and comment on all of the videos and also see others ratings and comments, which to me is always a pretty good indicator of the videos worth.

One of the coolest features about the new golf instruction section is that you can create lesson plans for yourself and add the videos to them. I have it on good authority that down the road your going to be able to export these lesson plans to your Ipod and other video compatible devices. How awesome would that be? I always pick up tips from watching golf instruction videos and when I head out to the range to practice them, I’ve usually forgotten most of what I watched, for me exporting the videos to my Ipod would be extremely beneficial.

There’s also supposed to be a mobile app in the works, which could also be pretty cool.

Things I don’t like.. True to Golf Channel fashion, there’s an advertisement leading every video you watch, which gets very annoying. I don’t mind it every now and again, but they’ve got ads all over the instruction page and then in addition to that, they’re adding one to every golf instruction video as well and it’s usually the same ad you just saw or, at least in the beta it is.

Here’s a video from David Leadbetter, who’s coming out with a new game for the Nintendo Wii called My Personal Golf Trainer

[iframe http://www.thegolfchannel.com/video/player.aspx?select2=12914 610 343]

“I am the am tour.. ”

Laaaame..

But, I suppose annoying, frequent advertisements in exchange for a wealth of free golf instruction videos is bearable..

Oh, another cool feature, for all you golf blogs and other websites, you can embed every golf instruction video on the page, which is great, especially if you’re looking for some quick, useful content.

Here’s a link to the page -> Golf Channel – Golf Instruction

Take a look and leave a comment with your opinion of the new site.