Tony wrote:

Well..no. There should be nothing between the pipe and the pump
except 'pipe'. A checkvalve at the pump only adds uneeded
restriction. Now there _can_ be a check valve _after_ the pump but
that is usually not done.

My 800' well has a check valve every 100 feet going down, then another
one just before the pressure switch/tank. My last house was the same
setup. The pump here, with at least 6 or 7 or 8 check valves and a
1HP pump, even after running constant for about 30 minutes or more,
it still puts out about 15GPM, so if those check valves are doing any
restricting, it's not much. When I first moved here it put out a full
20GPM. After a 2 1/2 year drought, it was only putting out about
10GPM. It's been going up a little each year with average rainfall.

Check valves on the suction side of a pump are probably more of a problem than
on the pressure side. The OP is talking about a shallow well, with the pump
drawing the water up.

OP - Some pumps are self-priming, others are not. Which is yours?