Lessons

[Alan P Mills]

Had two lessons a few years ago to review my fundamentals, grip, posture, stance etc. really helped as I had developed a very flat swing plane which was causing a lot of mis hits. Not had a lesson since, but if things start to go downhill then I will book another.

 

[NorfolkShaun]

Had lessons the first year I started playing.

Since then I have had much less on this year I think,truthfully the one thing holding me back now is probably confidence.

I regularly score around mid to low 80's including two pb's of 81 this year in friendly rounds. Put me in a comp and I am normally low 90's......

I think this is all down to confidence as in comps I do feel quite nervous and lose confidence and play easier and safer shots which is playing outside of my normal game and putting me in trouble / costing me shots.

 

[Doh]

I had some lessons from our pro last year and at the beginning of this year before the season started. I have had a couple of wins and been placed a few times and the handicap is lower than when I started. Having said that it's only now that I feel my swing is getting back to where I feel confident with it. So my plan is to do the same next year and lets see what lays ahead.

 

[Khamelion]

At present I have a lesson every two weeks, have done for the past two years. My swing is a work in progress, but with the lessons and a lot of practice at the range I am getting there.

To me, lessons are invaluable, yes I probably could've watched numerous videos on the Internet, read books, magazines, forum posts and took advice from other golfers, be it the right advice or not, but without lessons and the eye of a pro teacher, how would I know if I was doing it right? How would I know if all I was doing was grooving in more bad habits and making things worse?

Someone wrote, that they had a lesson and everything went wrong; Yes there is every chance that will happen, the same happened to me, I had a rubbish swing, but could play a round happy that I would finish with the same ball I started with, but then I had lessons and it was rubbish, trying to put what I was taught in practice was hard, very hard and very very frustrating, so much so that I would revert to the old ways just so I could get some satisfaction out of my round, but with lessons you have to have the patience and self discipline to persevere to be able to put into practice what you are being taught.

When you go for lessons, unless you have a natural glfing ability, changing your way to a new your way is like 2 steps forward and 1 step back. There will be weeks where you think nothing is happening and is it all worth it, then something will click and it all falls into place. I've had many of those moments and no doubt have many more to come, but through lessons I'm now swinging better, swinging slower, getting a better and more consistent strike on the ball, hitting it further, my slice is 95% gone, but when I do slice I know why, what I did wrong and how to fix it, my swing path has changed I'm now 90% of the time in-2-out, I can now draw the ball and I can now hit them straight which means they now land on the short stuff more often than not.

Could I have done the above without lessons, possibly? Probably? I do not know, but what I do know is that lessons have helped me become a better player, before lessons I was lucky to break 100, this year I made a PB of 83 and got my first official HC of 17.1. Next year I'm going to break 75 and get my HC into single figures.

That aside, lessons are invaluable for me, but I know that they do not suit everyone. All in all it depends on what you want to get out of golf, some are happy to turn up for a round with their mates enjoy the craic and not worry about what they do while playing, others, like me, want to see how far they can take this golf thing and want to push themselves to become a better player**.

**Edit - I'm not saying if you do not have have lessons that you will not become a better player or shoot lower scores, some, many will go their golfing lives without lessons and be very very good golfers.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I'll have lessons when I'm struggling with my game. Sometimes it will be a one off, sometimes a block of 6 lessons. What prompts the lessons is usually when I notice a particular bad shot after several months of play. For instance last year I was getting killed by weak high push\fade so I had lessons earlier this year to sort it out. I don't have any plans for any more lessons in the near future.

 

[One Planer]

I was in a pretty bad place swing wise at the start of the year. Too many thoughts and too many faults. One round I'd shhot in the 70's the next, in the 90's. I decided I couldn't correct the issues myself, bit the bullet and booked a battery of 5 lessons.

My swing has improved to the point my scoring is consistent and my game is moving forward.

I'm taking a lesson every 6 weeks over the winter months to try and improve that little bit more. So far the signss are encouraging.

I try and not take lessons over the season, as I want to concentrate on scoring and not changes. However, if something starts drastically underperforming, I'll have a lesson to root out the cause.

Not rocket science, just how I feel most comfortable

 

[Snelly]

I have never had a lesson with a pro and nor will I ever. I was self-taught, mostly by copying the swings and habits of good players that I grew up with and combining that with playing thousands of rounds of golf and spending a lot of time as a kid on the club practice ground. Note that this was not on a driving range as these are of limited value for learning to play in my view.

However I do think that for a new golfer, lessons are probably a good idea in most cases so that stance, grip, posture, tempo and etiquette can be taught. In other words, the fundamentals of golf. After that, I think that understanding how to play a good round of golf is a learned skill that can only be understood through doing. The main reason I say this is because a good round of golf involves a great deal more than picking a club, swinging it and making a decent connection with the golf ball.

Additionally, post learning phase, I am sceptical about the value of golf lessons although accept that if you are in the middle of a complete nightmare spell with no discernible way out of it then a swing check up with a pro would probably help.


Golf teachers, professionals, magazines and lesson junkies will haver a different view and that is absolutely fine. But I think they are wrong and have a hugely vested interest in stating that golfers MUST have lessons or they will never learn to play. This is just not true.

I played in a 3 ball two weeks ago. Handicaps were 1, 2 and 3. None of us had ever had a single lesson, none of us had fitted clubs and none of us had even the remotest clue what ball flight laws are. We are not golfing luddites though as everyone played with a DMD!

 

[Robobum]

How much is a lesson? £30ish??

10 of those is a whole year of subs. I'll just stick with playing.

I've had one proper lesson which was compulsory as a junior before I was allowed out on the course.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

How much is a lesson? £30ish??

10 of those is a whole year of subs. I'll just stick with playing.

I've had one proper lesson which was compulsory as a junior before I was allowed out on the course.

I wish

 

[Robobum]

I wish

Country membership has it's benefits!!!!

 

[CMAC]

got down to 5 without a lesson........

However, when I was having a real mare and J arthuring everything (even 3 irons) I had to seek help as its hard to self diagnose without seeing the obvious, it didnt work and eventually found the 'cure' myself from a short TPI video.

I did get a 'proper' lesson from a Adam Hunter R.I.P that was in a different league and my 2 lessons with him form the foundation for my swing thoughts

 

[sawtooth]

I've had 2 or 3 lessons since I started playing golf that I have paid for. My older brother who has played off 4 for as long as I can remember has taught me some very good basics. In the recent years I have taken tips here and there from various books, websites, magazines and the forum!

 

[BoadieBroadus]

had quite intensive lessons when i took the game up, figured it would pay dividends to have rock solid fundamentals, unfortunately my first pro didn't actually bother to correct too many of my fundamentals so i didn't really get all that far.

second pro (1st one moved) had one look at my grip, changed it and then most of the rest fell into place.
got down to singles now maybe have one tune up every couple of months.

envious of those who play low single figs and have had no lessons, i still think that there are many more high handicappers (chompers if you will) who boast of never having had a lesson...

 

[Garush34]

Had 3 45min lessons and a playing lesson this year. My swing has come on a long way since then and im more consistant. i need to book for another lesson soon but its just finding the time to go.

 

[GreiginFife]

I get a lesson every time I step on to the course with my Mrs...

Have had lessons in the past but now being the responsible adult that I am I don't have the time to work on the changes enough to make them worthwhile. I have been doing some self diagnosis stuff and have set-up a spare room in the house as a place to just swing the club with some swing drills (headcover drill - thanks Bob :S) and the basket/stick chipping drill (thanks again Bob )

I intend to devote more time to practicing next year. But I did say that this year as well, then changed jobs and increased my hours away from home. D'oh!

 

[Snelly]

envious of those who play low single figs and have had no lessons, i still think that there are many more high handicappers (chompers if you will) who boast of never having had a lesson...

You are sort of right in that there are many more high handicappers. So lots more high handicappers with no lessons, lots more high handicappers with no white shoes, lots more high handicappers with no bobble hats, lots more high handicappers with good swings, lots more high handicappers with bad swings and so on.

 

[Khamelion]

Golf teachers, professionals, magazines and lesson junkies will haver a different view and that is absolutely fine. But I think they are wrong and have a hugely vested interest in stating that golfers MUST have lessons or they will never learn to play. This is just not true.

I wouldn't say i was a 'lesson junkie' but having regular lessons has helped me, more over than just getting out there and playing, as I know if I had just gone out and played, my bad habits would have got worse.

While I do adovcate lessons are a good idea, I openly admit they are not for everyone and there will be those out there that will have never had a lesson in their life, nor will they ever have one but will be very proficient golfers.

How much is a lesson? £30ish??

I 'only' pay £15 a lesson, and for what I have learned from the guy who teaches me, is damn good value.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Had lessons when i was a kid but that was 25yrs ago and nothing since. A good friend is a real technique fan and I use his encyclopaedic knowledge if ever I have a problem I just can't get past.

Would I have done it differently in hindsight? - Yes; should have kept the lessons up and feel sure I would have been better. However, 000's of hours on the range over the years means I know pretty much exactly the good and bad in my swing and game. Remembering what to do about it is something else, mind. Not quite saying I own my swing but there's not many payments left

 

[Robobum]

......


I 'only' pay £15 a lesson, and for what I have learned from the guy who teaches me, is damn good value.

Fair play. I don't know how much lessons are generally, but that seems cheap. That lesson I had those 30yrs ago was a tenner (a post decimal one!!!! )

 

[One Planer]

Fair play. I don't know how much lessons are generally, but that seems cheap. That lesson I had those 30yrs ago was a tenner (a post decimal one!!!! )

£20 for 45 minutes with my pro..... Not that you're interested