Long Coaching Sessions

[GaryK]

Having time on my hands (having been made redundant recently), I decided to give our local pro a go.
He charges £50 p/h and gives the 3rd lesson for free...all good.

The thing is, he doesn't clock watch by any means. He told me that improving my game was his goal and the money isn't so important.
Had my first "1 hour" session with him where he took a look at my swing and iron play. 2.5 hours later and we're done.
Today, my second "1 hour" session where he looked at my swing & driving. 3 hours later and we're done.
Another session tomorrow - God knows how long that will last....or more to the point, how long my body will last!
He even hinted at having sessions Thursday & Friday!!!

I guess that me asking him to get me ready for our Club Championships this coming weekend was seen as a challenge to him!

The faults that he has picked up so far:

• Not taking enough of a divot with the irons (I tend to just take a very small divot after the ball or just brush the turf)
• Using my arms to swing instead of using my body
• Not flexing my wrists enough
• Tempo - I tend to be steady in the back swing and then go hell for leather to impact and follow through

I do feel that I am making some progress, but was wondering if having such long sessions could be detrimental.
I'm not complaining as he is not charging for the extra time that he is spending with me.

I've only had 1 coach before this (couple of years back) and all he was interested in was getting as much money out of me as possible with block booking sessions and trying to get me to buy gear from the club shop. They were 30 minute sessions and I'd be lucky to get his attention for 20 of those minutes. Needless to say that I quickly ditched him.

 

[Neilds]

While it may seem good to get value for money, how are you meant to find time to practice what the pro is changing in your swing? You need to get one improvement bedded in before you make the next change

 

[Dasit]

I would love to find a coach that cared like that

Maybe you have caught him when his diary is relatively free and he is keeping busy helping you


My guy is a clock watcher, less start on the dot 50 minutes later it is over and I am 60 quid lighter

 

[GaryK]

While it may seem good to get value for money, how are you meant to find time to practice what the pro is changing in your swing? You need to get one improvement bedded in before you make the next change

That's a very valid point about having time to practice. My concern is that the changes that he has introduced will initially have a negative impact on my game - until I have time to work on them. Starting lessons less than a week before our club championships is far from ideal, but hey ho. I may revert back to my old swing just for the comp and then continue to work on the changes afterwards.

Having said that, given that I have had 5.5 hours of lessons this week, I would say that they have also providing something in the way of practice in terms of repeating the change time after time. My concern is that my yardages have probably changed, so club selection whilst playing may be an issue to start of with.

I have postponed today's lesson as I'm aching and really need to get some things around the house sorted out, but will probably head over to the range later on today.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

While it may seem good to get value for money, how are you meant to find time to practice what the pro is changing in your swing? You need to get one improvement bedded in before you make the next change

This. I'd be worried that I can't implement the first change sufficiently before next lesson and more changes and would simply get to a point where to much has been changed too quickly for me to remember all the information and for me to work and integrate it. I love the fact that the pro is prepares to invest so much time, but there needs to be more time between lessons. If he's keen to invest in you as a project he'll be happy to wait and have you as regular ongoing customer