Lessons - getting worse before getting better

[knightym06]

Hi everyone,

Ive played golf on and off for 10 years and have never really taken it seriously until the last 18 months. Ive never had a handicap but last last year I was shooting around 90 quite often with a low round of 84. This year is the first year as a member of a club so I decided to have some lessons and then go for my handicap and then hopefully play some competitions.

I have had 7 half hour lessons and an hour one over the course of the last 4 months or so and I have to say I'm now a worse golfer than before as I can't even break 100 now. I must say there we're a lot of changes to my swing including grip, posture, arm positioning, amount of twist etc so it may take a while to gel but I was just looking for some reassurance that other people have had the same struggle?

In patches I hit it better than before which is encouraging but I seem to be more inconstant which was what I had lessons to try and get rid of in the first place.

If anyone else has had similar experiences then Id love to hear from them.

thanks, mark

 

[patricks148]

Hi everyone,

Ive played golf on and off for 10 years and have never really taken it seriously until the last 18 months. Ive never had a handicap but last last year I was shooting around 90 quite often with a low round of 84. This year is the first year as a member of a club so I decided to have some lessons and then go for my handicap and then hopefully play some competitions.

I have had 7 half hour lessons and an hour one over the course of the last 4 months or so and I have to say I'm now a worse golfer than before as I can't even break 100 now. I must say there we're a lot of changes to my swing including grip, posture, arm positioning, amount of twist etc so it may take a while to gel but I was just looking for some reassurance that other people have had the same struggle?

In patches I hit it better than before which is encouraging but I seem to be more inconstant which was what I had lessons to try and get rid of in the first place.

If anyone else has had similar experiences then Id love to hear from them.

thanks, mark

I started a full swing change at the beginning of April to try and get some consistency (Im off 6) really struggled at first and had days when i could hardly hit the ball. 3 months later, im hitting my irons very sweetly indeed and gained at least 10 yards per club. Driver (prev very straight and not that long)is a bit erratic as i now have a much longer swing, but its coming. Its hard work at first but in the long run i make me a better player.

 

[the_coach]

Overtime you will have built in issues by the way you held the club, set-up at address, both through alignment & posture. Within the swing motion itself you will have developed & will have made compensatory movements, maybes including wrongly timed sequences of movement, in order to be able to get club to ball to try to get ball to target.

All these issues of set-up & movement will have become somewhat ingrained. It takes time to adjust to the smallest of changes to something that although has been a ways wrong nevertheless has become comfortable.

So it's kind of inevitable that it takes time & a good deal of hard work from you - in practice between lessons - for these changes to start to give you the results you want. Have to put the work in on the range/practice area to change all the things that need to be changed.

Just lesson time alone won't change stuff overmuch. As when we swing back at normal speed the tendency is to fall back into what has been comfortable, this tendency is magnified with playing out on the course.

It's key to improvement you understand fully what's being changed, & why, & how that needs to be approached in order to get there.
If there's something you are not sure of in any of the above, you've got to ask the questions during the lessons, until you are totally sure you have in your mind the answers to these questions & how to go about changing stuff, preferable seeing what you're actually really doing both at address & during the swing in some good quality video.
Oft times folks truly believe they are making a change when in reality it's not taking place, the 'feel to real' conundrum.

Worth sticking with it, if you want to get better, but it will take some time & a good deal of hard work. Good luck with it.

 

[dontfancythisputt]

I always see my game going backwards after a series of lessons particularly if its a big change. I often see a handicap increase as well until things start to level out.

What keeps me from going mad is the fact that the game I eventually end up with is better than the game I had before. ( I stick with that for a while and then have lessons again!) :

As mentioned, stick with it and im sure you will see the benefits.

What I have found is that the learning period gets less as you improve.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Welcome along. It's a balancing act. If you have made a lot of changes, there is always a lack of trust on the course. It may be that you've changed too much and not worked on any drills you've been given enough at the range or the pro has changed too much too soon. If you aren't a range jockey, go back to the pro and tell him how much you are struggling. If he's any good he'll be able to give you some pointers to help you get it round

 

[Garush34]

I was the same as you about 14 months ago but I've now got to the level of consistence with my swing that I'm starting to get results. My last lesson a week ago had just two slight changes which are seeing me hit the ball better and further.

Swing changes take time to bed in. Are u practicing inbetween playing? The key for me is to take a few weeks away from playing and just hit the range working on the swing changes.

 

[knightym06]

Welcome along. It's a balancing act. If you have made a lot of changes, there is always a lack of trust on the course. It may be that you've changed too much and not worked on any drills you've been given enough at the range or the pro has changed too much too soon. If you aren't a range jockey, go back to the pro and tell him how much you are struggling. If he's any good he'll be able to give you some pointers to help you get it round

I think really it is a lack of trust on the course at the end of the day, I play on a course which is quite tight and unforgiving so bad shots usually equal a drop, its also not very flat so its tricky to not swing how I've been shown and not whats most comfortable.

I have spent a lot of time at the range and usually hit it very well there but I think its a case of going back a few more times and really trying to groove in the changes

 

[Curls]

Feel your pain buddy! It is difficult to try to think of all those changes and still score. Inevitably you will fall back into old habits as you feel they are more likely to get you a score at the end of the round. Practice at the range is good but I find A. the mats are too forgiving, i.e you can fat one and not see the same disastrous outcome as you would on turf - and B there's the different mindset. Im not saying don't hit the range, but if you can find a quiet time on a flat, easy, open course throw a few balls down and strike into a green like it means something. Thats a different ball game. You may find you're falling back into old habits just to get it on the green, thats when to try your best to stick with the process.

I'm about 3 months into my lessons and following 6 36/37 points in a row got my first cut of a whooping 0.3 last weekend. Whoop! It is moving in the right direction, just need consistency, all takes time. Stick with it though.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

So for the practice inbetyween lessons, how often do people recommend getting a lesson? If you can practice 3 times a week, should you get a lesson once a week? I've heard danger stories of practicing too much between lessons, and practicing the wrong thing, or not practicing enough and wasting lesson time!

 

[patricks148]

So for the practice inbetyween lessons, how often do people recommend getting a lesson? If you can practice 3 times a week, should you get a lesson once a week? I've heard danger stories of practicing too much between lessons, and practicing the wrong thing, or not practicing enough and wasting lesson time!

to start with i had one every two weeks, 3 months in every 6 weeks.