Do all PGA pros teach the same if you are new?

[Dilly75]

I started playing golf properly about 2 months ago during the summer holidays with my 15 year old. I found I was ok for a newbie. 215 yd drives at the range were my max but are generally straight and I am quite successful at high wedge shots over obstacles on to the green etc. But I have been for a lesson because my son said I was only using my arms.

My lesson was ok in that the coach was fine but I feel like Ive gone from a right hand player to a left.

My grip has been changed and I expected this weirdness to happen but it has got me thinking about coaching of new players.

Will the pros at local courses all be following the same protocol to teach a newbie like me or if you go to different places you will get told different ways?

If its the latter how do you know you are being taught correctly?

Many thanks

 

[jim8flog]

My lesson was ok in that the coach was fine but I feel like Ive gone from a right hand player to a left.



Many thanks

Generally speaking it is the left hand/arm that supplies the power and the right controls direction. It can be a bit odd for a beginner but it is worth it in the long run.

I am a long term player who had lessons from the off and they served me well. Been through a number of teachers through the years and they all teach the same basics.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

The basic principles are the same in respect of grip and to a lesser extent (in my experience) stance, but as far as the golf swing is concerned there are different philosophies and hence methods to how ‘hitting the ball to make it do what you want it to do’ is taught. Bottom line is that all we are doing is learning to do a very simple thing - that is to hit a ball to make it go where we want it to go in the way we want it. The ball doesn’t know about backswing and follow-through.

The golf swing is a fairly complex combination of components, but it can be achieved quite simply and instinctively if we do not complicate it by trying to master each individual component,

 

[bobmac]

The PGA teach their coaches to follow the 5 laws
Speed
Swing path
Angle of attack
Clubface direction at impact
Hitting the ball with the centre of the club face.

All issues are based on one or more of these laws.

If I was teaching someone new I would encourage a good grip, a good starting position and a good finishing position.

 

[Dilly75]

@bobmac my first lesson was exactly that, grip was a variation on a change id made myself. I had dropped the pinky link as I was getting a bad blister on the non gloved hand. I was using the overlap grip but wrong angle. He fixed that but it feels odd, understandably.

Rest of the lesson was starting position and swinging through to the finish position with an emphasis on weighting my right leg then left.

Got me in a mess! I will practice hard but Ive gone from being Nick Faldo (in my head) to my gran (who didnt play golf) in about 30 mins.

Desperately need out to practice!

thanks

 

[bobmac]

Good habits learned now will last a lifetime.
Problems can take a lifetime to un-learn.
One thing I am a bit concerned about is your weight transfer may be over done and may turn into a sway.
And as that can lead to lots of duffs/tops it's best to avoid too much weight transfer.

 

[Dilly75]

That's a good point. I was visually swaying my hips right then left. My problem is not being able to throw the club through the arc using my core and legs. It's all arm power.

Initially my arms were both equally bent at the elbows. New grip has straightened and stiffened my left arm so that has had a huge impact over what I was doing. Just need to practice it now.

 

[jim8flog]

@bobmac

Got me in a mess! I will practice hard but Ive gone from being Nick Faldo (in my head) to my gran (who didnt play golf) in about 30 mins.

It has taken me 40+ years to reach that level

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

The way to do it… Well of course it is…dynamic with no swing obsessions Bit like Mo Norman.

 

[Tommygun16]

In my experience the pros I have seen teach radically different things. Although I suspect that most will teach a similar basic set-up for a beginner.

The advice about getting weight right then left is probably not useful at this stage. If you find you start topping/fatting the ball stop it immediately. I keep 80% of my weight on my left and keep it there throughout. I know some people don't like this but I can hit the ball.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Good habits learned now will last a lifetime.
Problems can take a lifetime to un-learn.
One thing I am a bit concerned about is your weight transfer may be over done and may turn into a sway.
And as that can lead to lots of duffs/tops it's best to avoid too much weight transfer.

...absolutely - I am now two years and counting trying to un-learn mine…and boy it’s very, very difficult to do.

 

[bobmac]

In my experience the pros I have seen teach radically different things. Although I suspect that most will teach a similar basic set-up for a beginner.

The advice about getting weight right then left is probably not useful at this stage. If you find you start topping/fatting the ball stop it immediately. I keep 80% of my weight on my left and keep it there throughout. I know some people don't like this but I can hit the ball.

How does that work with your driver/long clubs?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

How does that work with your driver/long clubs?

My feeling is that the weight distribution and transfer stuff is typical of the swing teaching and student thinking that makes golf a very difficult game for the newbie to get to grips with. All we are trying to do is hit a ball in a way that makes it do what we want it to do. Give a toddler a play golf club and watch what they do to hit the ball.

 

[bobmac]

My feeling is that the weight distribution and transfer stuff is typical of the swing teaching and student thinking that makes golf a very difficult game for the newbie to get to grips with. All we are trying to do is hit a ball in a way that makes it do what we want it to do. Give a toddler a play golf club and watch what they do to hit the ball.

I was asking Tommy how he got on with his driver/long clubs with his weight 80% on the left side, it sounds a bit like stack & tilt

 

[Tommygun16]

How does that work with your driver/long clubs?

It works perfectly for all clubs from wedges to a 5 Wood off a tee, which surprised me. Means I no longer duff my woods and hybrids as I'm still effectively hitting down on the ball. I'm still working on the driver. I've never been able to hit it very well, although keeping my weight forward (hips, not head) does give me a better feeling of stability. Work in progress.

 

[Backsticks]

Give a toddler a play golf club and watch what they do to hit the ball.

Yes, it does highlight the fundamental mistake even the adult beginner makes and why golf is so difficult to learn - actively using the wrists to try to flick the ball, more like a table tennis hit. Kids do it even more so, usually with a quick forward lift of the clubhead by forward bend of the right wrist.
Learning that the golf swing is really a body motion that causes the arms and clubhead to swing, not an arms and wrist driven action is the crucial learning to get to grips with golf. You wont show a three year old, but youth or adult beginners should be shown one of the trebuchet analogies to understand as quickly as possible this key counterintuitive action in golf.

 

[BiMGuy]

Describing the distribution of force into the ground during the swing as shifting weight or weight transfer, is probably a very big reason why many golfers have a problem with too much lateral movement.

 

[SocketRocket]

Yes, it does highlight the fundamental mistake even the adult beginner makes and why golf is so difficult to learn - actively using the wrists to try to flick the ball, more like a table tennis hit. Kids do it even more so, usually with a quick forward lift of the clubhead by forward bend of the right wrist.
Learning that the golf swing is really a body motion that causes the arms and clubhead to swing, not an arms and wrist driven action is the crucial learning to get to grips with golf. You wont show a three year old, but youth or adult beginners should be shown one of the trebuchet analogies to understand as quickly as possible this key counterintuitive action in golf.

In my opinion you must use your arms and wrists as the main speed and control generators in the golf swing, the body can only assist them. Good golfers can hit the ball almost as far when kneeling down.

 

[ThinBullet]

My experience of lessons has been a pro teaching my their swing. I went to one guy recently, who spotted something I was doing wrong, and it was fixed in a lesson.

 

[TheHeron]

Generally speaking the fundamentals don't really change eg. grip, swing path and position at address, but there does seem to be different schools of thought which often morph to fit the the student.

Been through a fair few teachers in my time but the one I see now is by far the best. He teaches what he calls 'the maintenance method' which generally revolves around the fact that amateurs don't practice anywhere near enough to completely change their natural swing, so only small tweaks should be introduced and implemented weeks and sometimes even months apart to really bed them in. First thing he did was ask me who my swing crush was and after congratulating me on my taste (Ernie Els), told me to stop dreaming and focus on how I myself swing the club. Some would say a little harsh, but a fair point nonetheless and it endeared me to him straight away.

I also like him because he knows when to be quite. SO many teachers will talk at you for minutes at a time between shots in an attempt to drag the lesson out. I go visit my teacher, he checks to see if I've implemented the previous swing tips, then gives me a new one if he feels I'm ready then just watches, only speaking up if he wants me to identify a specific feel or movement.

One tip I will give is to ask your teacher if you can video the session. I'm sure everyone's been told something in a lesson which has them flushing it during, but get's out on the range the next day and can't mimic it. Referring back to a video for detail is such a massive help.