Lessons - subtle changes or proper overhaul?

[tennismike]

I went for my first lesson ever a few weeks ago, bear in mind i had my clubs fitted to my natural swing and style 2 years ago, and was told that I was dong everything wrong. So now trying to learn a new swing and grip and i cant hit a ball consistently. So frustrating.

From this I have been hitting between 500-750 balls a week to try and get used to it, and another pro walked past, tweaked one little thing and im getting back to good quality hitting again.

I am now booked in for a lesson with this pro this week in the hope that he understands and recognises my swing and helps me to best utilise it, rather than the other pro who was clearly looking for me to invest another £600 in new irons.

 

[bobmac]

Won't purchase anything from someone who can't see why(at least) full handicap allowance is correct (nose/face but...!)

It wasn't meant to be serious, just a joke between myself and Smiffy.

 

[User 105]

G1BBO,

I've been through a lot of pain and anguish on the changes I was trying to make with my pro. You'be probably read some of the posts.

I think you need to be very honest with yourself on what you want from the game and how much you are willing\can put in to get there.

A major swing re-build could take years for an amateur who might only be able to see a pro once a month and practice a couple of times a week. And it will be a roller coaster, you'll embed one change, start playing some decent stuff then along comes the next change and it all goes bad again.

If you're mentally strong enough to go through that time and time again then go for it. I wish you well.

If you just want to get better but still enjoy your game whilst you do. Then still have lessons but be very specific with the pro what you want. Focus on getting the basics right in all areas of the game. Swing, Chipping, Putting etc.

I decided to abandon my changes after 6 months of hard work. For whatever reason it just wasn't happening, I couldn't do what the pro wanted me to consistently and it almost drove me to quit.

I've not given up on lessons but my goals are now different. I've accepted I'm not going to be able to hit the ball how my pro wants me to so we are just focussing on making what I've got work as well as it can.

And I can tell you it's freed me up to play the game and enjoy it rather then constantly think about my swing and the mechanics.

Ironically my pro was trying to get my natural shot shape to be a draw, now I've stopped trying to force a draw I've started to hit one more often than not . Go figure.

 

[tennismike]

Westy

My first pro tried to teach me to draw the ball and ironically after my first half hour lesson i couldn't hit the ball anywhere near straight, most of time it becoming a fade.

Now having moved to a different coach i'm starting to develop a good draw, and found that my initial coach was just trying to make things too technical, rather than letting my natural swing flow and make a couple of small tweaks. much easier.

 

[Snelly]

Golf lessons are overrated. The way to improve is through playing a huge amount of golf once you have the basics (grip, stance, tempo) in place.

Golf pros and golf magazines will disagree but they have a vested interest in saying that lessons are the route to golfing enlightenment. They are at worst wrong and at best, well intentioned.

Don't believe the hype.

 

[Tiger]

Golf lessons are overrated. The way to improve is through playing a huge amount of golf once you have the basics (grip, stance, tempo) in place.

Golf pros and golf magazines will disagree but they have a vested interest in saying that lessons are the route to golfing enlightenment. They are at worst wrong and at best, well intentioned.

Don't believe the hype.

Says one of the most naturally gifted golfers on here...

 

[Snelly]

Says one of the most naturally gifted golfers on here...

I would doubt that!

I do think I am right though. I play with a few really good golfers and they are like me - cannot remember the last time they had a lesson.

I was with a friend of mine last night and mentioned this to him and he is the same as me in that both of us have probably had about ten one to one golf lessons with a pro ever in over 25 years of playing. Neither of us could think of any of our peers who have regular lessons other than the juniors that qualify for the county squads and get coaching as a result.

In the end, we concurred that as a general rule, golfers who have played for 10 years plus are unlikely to have lessons and beginners much more likely. Seems obvious I know!

In addition, we thought that younger golfers (not beginners) are more likely to turn to coaching. Times have changed a bit and the golfing press, forums like this and the golfing public opinion seems to point to golf lessons with a pro as a route to success. And I am sure this will work for some. The point I am making though is that there are a number of ways to skin a cat and I absolutely believe that playing a lot of golf, on the course with something at stake is a better route to improvement. And I will reiterate that this is based on the assumption that you can stand square and grip the club correctly and swing at a sensible tempo.

When I say a lot of golf, I mean a LOT! Of course, this route is not open to many of us as we have jobs and busy lives - another reason why lessons are popular as they are generally perceived as a quicker fix than practice and self analysis. Again, I would dispute that they are though.

I would be interested to read anecdotes of golfers on here that have seen their handicaps plummet as a result of lots of lessons.

When my handicap started to drop quickly, I wasn't having lessons and I don't believe in natural talent either. What made the difference was a correct grip, decent alignment, a nice tempo, a good short game and more sensible course management. The first three came from playing with my Grandad and the latter through playing a lot of rounds of golf.

 

[HotDogAssassin]

Since January I've had 5 lessons and although I feel they have improved me this hasn't been reflected by my scores. I'm getting frustrated by the fact that I had good improvement during my lessons with very positive feedback from my teaching Pro, very good improvement at the range, but this not transferring to the course. But hey, frustration's part of the game isn't it?

I have another lesson booked for this week, but I'm yet to decide what to concentrate upon; putting, short game or a few playing holes. Probably putting.

But I think that the main lesson that I need to learn is how to make sure that I keep my @#%*ing head down on every shot!!!!!!

 

[Tiger]

I would doubt that!

I do think I am right though

That's a surprise

I think you do have a point. I got into a rut of taking lessons but making no progress for two reasons:
1) I wasn't playing enough golf
2) I wasn't playing enough golf

That said I spent a lot of time practicing my short game, especially pitching but what I was practicing was wrong. Now that I have been given some instruction my short game is getting much, much better. If I could clone myself and one version of me had full swing lessons and practice and a game once a week and the other version played four or five times a week with no lessons, four or five times a week would definitely be better.

BUT I do think there is a distinction between lessons on the full swing and short game game lessons. The latter (once you've got the basics) is much more productive.

PS you are a bit handy with a golf club Snelly

 

[JustOne]

The internet means that golfers can now learn (to an extent) without having lessons, this was never available in the past. youtube is also a great resource... however.... if you stand closed to the target, grip the club so weak the palm of your left hand faces upwards and take a divot on your backswing.... and REFUSE TO CHANGE then don't expect to get better.

Seems we can all talk a good game here on the forum but how many actually then look at their own swings and actually have one worth writing home about? How many actually stand on the practice ground for at least 3 hrs twice a week and do at least 2 hrs of putting drills and 2hrs of chipping drills?


I've never had a lesson (it probably shows!) but I do try to look at my own swing objectively. If I find out that I'm standing closed I WILL FIX IT.

 

[User 105]

It's an interesting point of view snelly. And got me thinking.

My handicap did drop very quickly about 18 months ago, from 21 to 12 in a season. And I largely attributed it to a good amount of lessons. probably 1-2 a month, and then a lot of playing as well.

BUT, I practised hell of a lot !!!

Now my question is could I have achieved the same with just some basics and was it actually all the practice and playing I put in that really drove the improvement ?

I already had the basics in place. Was it just the repetition I needed ?

I guess I'll never know.

 

[User 105]

The internet means that golfers can now learn (to an extent) without having lessons, this was never available in the past. youtube is also a great resource..

JustOne, you're definitely right about the amount of info easily available know but that can also be a problem.

In the quest to fix my many faults I've looked at a lot of info, YouTube being one of them, and the amount of conflicting advice that is out there can be hugely confusing and i think you need to at least have a reasonable understanding to be able to decide which bits of advice to take.

There are quite a few different approaches to swinging the club, one plane, two plane, stack and tilt or what ever Furyk does :mmm:etc. For someone new to the game it has to be incredibly confusing unless you maybe stick to 1 on-line coaches advice.

 

[Curls]

Makes for interesting reading this, I swore to myself I wasn't going to have lessons this season, last year I had a fair few and while I would see gradual improvement in between times, every lesson would immediately set me back, in the end while I think I made some improvements to the fundamentals my scoring really wasn't any better.

I did a bit of work over the winter using Youtube on releasing the club, something I hadn't yet covered with the pro. First couple of rounds this year I played great tee to green, not cluttering my mind with lots of technique (just releasing properly, or trying to at least) freed me up to swing with what I had, and it was pretty good. I couldn't make a putt, so for example 15 over, 41 putts. Then a tip from Bob put me right, and last 1.5 rounds my putting improved dramatically but guess what - long game let me down. Result - 30 putts, 16 over. Argh!

My problem is clearly that I can't put it together - yet - but its early days so Im not going to be too hard on myself as I can see the elements. In an effort to figure out how best I could do that I've started thinking about doing what I said I wouldn't and have a lesson with the pro and my new club. The option I'm interested in is 10 hole on-the-course lesson. The reasons for this are
1. Maybe I would click with him better, perhaps the last pro wasn't right for me
2. It would introduce me to the club, no one there knows me or my game and I feel like I should make contact as this will be my first year with a h/c and intend to enter a lot of comps
3. As its the on-the-course lesson maybe he can see what's not happening correctly, like I said, I don't want to go for a range lesson because I don't want a want an over-haul, my swing was in great shape a couple of weeks ago and I know I can find it again without going to town.

Anyone been in a similar position to this? I know its all there, I think I just want it to come together so badly I mess myself up! Do you think the lesson could help unlock it or is there another way? Cheers chaps

 

[Neddy]

If you are just playing for fun, why have lessons at all? If you have lessons, you need to practice what you are taught, and this is never fun. If you don't have time to practice, and would rather play, knock the lessons on the head. There's no point.

That used to be my opinion (and still is to a degree) but I got so bad that I was no longer enjoying it and therefore no longer having fun! So I have started lessons and the pro is "rebuilding me" to a certain extent.

I won't be playing 18 holes for a while as I am still getting used to some of things he has taught me which feel alien. Playing is what I enjoy but if by not playing for a month or two i can get myself a solid repeatable swing that will mean I never get this bad again then I am happy to make the sacrifice.