For those thinking about lessons...

[Maccy]

...do it!

I know many have said this before and I might be stating the bleeding obvious, but I had my first lesson on Saturday and he looked at my swing and straight away could explain my continuous fading. I was backswinging far too high above my head instead of over my shoulders.
We took a look in the mirror and he advised that I should be able to just see my left shoulder (mirror was at the back of the driving range bay, to my right), whereas before I couldn't see anything.

Also, by changing my backswing it resulted in my hips twisting more so I could get a cleaner hit with more power behind the ball, so I'm very pleased

Got to go and put it into practice now!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Where's the like button. I wholeheartedly agree. Had a lesson last Monday and drove the ball as well as I've done in ages. Struck the irons so much better in wet conditions and was under handicap for the round. I couldn't have done this without the tweaks to posture and now path

 

[Hacker Khan]

I had a lesson on Saturday with the chap who fitted me for me new irons I got recently. And it was an eye opener as he saw straight away a few issues, take away too far from my body, bowed wrist at the top of the backswing and not enough wrist hinge. Oh, and I need to swing round my body more as years of fighting a hook have caused me to naturally push it out left in a bit of a chicken wing style (I am a lefty)

The hard part is now putting them right as often your faults are sort of ingrained if you have not had that many lessons before. I've since had a couple of range sessions and I can see some improvement, but not bowing that wrist is a hard one as my brain/body just wants to do it.

But I will persist as he said I actually have quite a lot of good moves in my swing (not that you'd believe that from the list above) and if I sort these things out, or at least make them less/more prominent as the case will be, I should see a big improvement in my accuracy. Which is my big problem.

Interestingly I may lose a bit in distance as my stock shot was a draw which all too often went into a hook. Which when it was not too bad traveled a decent distance. But those occasions when it was not too bad were becoming more rare.

 

[Piece]

It's what happens after the lesson is the crucial thing. Once the pro disappears, you're left on your own and more often than not uncertainty creeps in and you'll be doing a mixture of good and bad things. What does work is if the pro videos a correct example of what to do. You can then use this as a checkpoint going forward, with at least the chance to auto-correct on your own.

 

[la_lucha]

I agree over the last 6 weeks I've had two lessons with Alistair Davies at the Forest Of Arden (cheers Fundy). Before this month I've literally never had a sub 100 round in the rain. Last week I played The Warwickshire, Earls in the rain and shot a level handicap 93. I've only played the course once before.

Fast forward to this weekend I shot a PB back 9 of 39 and a PB 18 holes of 85. My previous best being 89 on my home course.

The lessons have been with the 6Iron but I am striking the ball so much better and further with all clubs. I've even put the Driver back in the bag which has been missing for over 12months.

 

[Hacker Khan]

It's what happens after the lesson is the crucial thing. Once the pro disappears, you're left on your own and more often than not uncertainty creeps in and you'll be doing a mixture of good and bad things. What does work is if the pro videos a correct example of what to do. You can then use this as a checkpoint going forward, with at least the chance to auto-correct on your own.

I use V1 golf app on my phone that videos your swing for you, in fact I've seen pros using this app. And I have a decent idea of what I should be doing after my pro showed me on his version of V1 Golf, so it's a case of videoing a few hits and ensuring I'm on the right path.

I do actually think some progressive pros might use the video of swings more, as videoing of swings is so much easier nowadays. So instead of going back to the pro every week you can send some videos so he/she can confirm you are on the right track. Kind of a combination of face to face stuff and the stuff you see Crossfield do when people just video swings in.