golf lessons? why not?

[hovis]

i have regular lessons and feel like i'm making progress. however, i've noticed a common trend with other golfers. i have about 10 different guy's i play golf with. i've lost count of how many time's i've heard

.why am i slicing/hooking it
.i wish i know why i do that
.i wish i could get some consistancy
.i havent beaten my personal best score for ages
.this game does my head in
.i'd love to hit it further

and so on. you get the picture.

one thing all the above people have in common is they all refuse or put off having lessons. i often say ''why not have a lesson? the pro will sort you out in no time'' i get responses such as 'yeh, i will one day' or 'there's no need, i've never had a lesson and i'm a 18 handicap'

are these people stupid?, too proud?, tight?, scared?. i just find it hard to belive that some people go to massive lengths to moan about their golf but will do nothing to sort it out. surely if something was making your chosen hobby unenjoyable then you would take steps to sort it. after all its only £40 tops for a hour lesson. in fact i bet the golf balls you save from not loosing 5 a round would pay for the lessons 10 fold. RANT OVER (am i just about to get ripped apart by all you guy's that hate lessons?)

 

[G_Mulligan]

Golf is pretty much the only sport where lessons are so readily available for the average amatuer. On one hand it is suprising that people don't make full use of this fact but also could be that most people think they don't need a professional coach for football or squash etc. so why golf?

 

[Yerman]

If one lesson sorted it £40 would be a bargain. But I've had lessons, well worthwhile but you've got to keep going back to get better, maintain the improvement and avoid new bad habits. No problem if you can afford it but a costly business if moneys tight, a slippery slope many just don't want to start.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Totally agree. If you are one of the lucky ones able to play regularly to a good standards then fair play but a lot of us would benefit from regular lessons to get a modicum of consistency. I feel my ball striking has improved since the winter vastly and feel that I have a degree more control over my swing. I can have good days like Monday (+5 gross) and bad days but there are more in the middle days

 

[hovis]

If one lesson sorted it £40 would be a bargain. But I've had lessons, well worthwhile but you've got to keep going back to get better, maintain the improvement and avoid new bad habits. No problem if you can afford it but a costly business if moneys tight, a slippery slope many just don't want to start.

i agree 100% it is a slippery slope to go down. i've done a fortune on lessons, but i think if you dont want to go down that route then accept you golf faults, dont moan and attempt to enjoy your game. or if it gets you down that much then it's time to open the wallet

 

[MashieNiblick]

I agree with the OP but I also understand why some people don't want to commit to having lots of lessons.

However, I often see people with no idea how to play a bunker shot complain that they are useless at bunker shots having taken 2 or 3 to extricate themselves. That is something that could be addressed in a single lesson followed by a bit of practice. It just hasn't occurred to them that this is the solution to their problem and would make their games much more enjoyable.

 

[RGDave]

However, I often see people with no idea how to play a bunker shot complain that they are useless at bunker shots having taken 2 or 3 to extricate themselves. That is something that could be addressed in a single lesson followed by a bit of practice. It just hasn't occurred to them that this is the solution to their problem and would make their games much more enjoyable.

What a great reply.

It also begs the question why folks avoid putting lessons.

 

[RGDave]

I take the odd lesson, I'd go every week if I had the time to practise enough.

I think a lot of players "fear" the reality of what's going on and know they don't have the commitment to change an aspect of their swing.

I've been working non-stop for 3 days on my swing. The weird thing is; it's better and I'm hitting the ball well, but I have no confidence I'm going to score any better this weekend. To guarantee that, I'd have to ingrain it to the degree that my swing was before the lesson. It is asking a lot.

 

[RGDave]

There is a guy at my range who's really gone for it over the last year or two. First time I saw him hit balls, he was OK-ish and told me about the "plan". The reason I got chatting to him was he had Wilson Staff irons with proforce V2. I recognised them immediately.

He has tumbled dramatically. Last Tuesday, he told me he'd broken 80 in a medal and was so happy.

Good for him. He's invested money in the regular lessons. He's invested *a lot* on range balls. His swing is looking really decent. Where he's got it right and I've got it wrong is he's just kept at it, come rain or shine, work or no work. I'm impressed.

 

[Imurg]

I've always said that lessons are a complete waste of time unless you are prepared to put the time and effort into practice to ingrain the lessons into your game.
Without it you're just giving money away.
I don't practice much, I don't have the time or the inclination and, if I'm honest, given a couple of spare hours I'd rather play 9 holes than bash 120 balls on the range.
Tht said, I fully appreciate the help they can give. But you have to keep at it until the changes become natural.

 

[CrapHacker]

I've always said that lessons are a complete waste of time unless you are prepared to put the time and effort into practice to ingrain the lessons into your game.
Without it you're just giving money away.
I don't practice much, I don't have the time or the inclination and, if I'm honest, given a couple of spare hours I'd rather play 9 holes than bash 120 balls on the range.
Tht said, I fully appreciate the help they can give. But you have to keep at it until the changes become natural.

Or, you have to have lessons that maximise the efficiency of the crap swing you already have.

When I came back to the game ( this is my third season now ) I had a certain amount of muscle memory from 15 years ago.

I decided that I would start from scratch, learn a totally new swing and hit the ball 300 yards, etc etc. It was never going to happen.

But I spent a reasonable amount of time with Justone, and he helped me mold something resembling a swing out of my mad flailings and thrashings.

But then he said something has has stuck with me.

He bumped into a guy that he used to play with years ago. This guy said he had been working on his swing and had got rid of all his old quirks. Apparently it looked exactly the same as the old swing from donkeys years ago. The moral is that your swing is what it is, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and all that.

Since then, I've totally given up trying to be good, and have just accepted that I used to have a swing that got me round the course without embarassing myself.

And I've found a local pro that gave my swing the once over, agreed with my aims, and every now and then spends half an hour just checking a couple of things when I start deteriorating too much.

He'll give me a drill or two, and tell me that my alignment is crap and I'm trying to hit it too hard, and send me on my way. ( I'm always trying to hit it too hard - have been since I was a kid )

It means that I can play to 18 round most tracks every now and then and can normally score below 95ish without totally embarassing myself. And every once in a blue moon I'll have a good round.

I give this guy £60 a year, and get to enjoy my golf to the max.

If most club members are paying £600 - £1200 a year in subs, then maybe 5-10 % extra could be worth it just to soften the edges as it were.

It helps after the winter layoff to have a lesson or two, and then a one every couple of months just to give me peace of mind that I'm not getting into any new bad habits, and that I'm keeping the old bad habits under control.

We're not trying to make Steve Austin, we're trying to prevent Charles Berkley.

 

[G_Mulligan]

I've been working non-stop for 3 days on my swing. The weird thing is; it's better and I'm hitting the ball well, but I have no confidence I'm going to score any better this weekend. To guarantee that, I'd have to ingrain it to the degree that my swing was before the lesson. It is asking a lot.

You can never guarantee it but a positive attitude can go a long way. Don't go to the course with a reason to play badly, you might surprise yourself.

 

[Simbo]

i remember a few years ago,when i first started playing i played with a guy that played of 19 or something he was lashing the ball all over the course. i asked him if he had ever taken lessons and his immortal reply was "Aye i had one once, it fcucked my game right up, never went back" lol.

incidently the more lessons you take and the more knowledge you incur about the golf swing , the more you realise just how crap your own actually is!