New kit or new swing?

[Matty]

After 4 hours of tutoring I do hope he wrote you a list of all the important things to remember and work on!

For me personally, I think I'd prefer several shorter lessons with just one or two key messages to take away and work on until next time.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

New bats.
After all, it's of no use having a good swing if your clubs aren't up to the job............

 

[Whereditgo]

After 4 hours of tutoring I do hope he wrote you a list of all the important things to remember and work on!

For me personally, I think I'd prefer several shorter lessons with just one or two key messages to take away and work on until next time.

Same for me, the Pro I am using works on a couple of tweaks at a time then checks that they have been taken on board at the start of the next lesson before moving on to anything new.

He also emails me a clip of the swing and a crib sheet of drills and bullet points that we have worked on.

Lessons are the way to go for big improvements - though the lure of the shineys is never far away.....wood shafts are too soft now so will be more new toys in the bag before the summer is over no doubt

 

[GB72]

On Friday I had a 4 hour lesson on my swing. It was an expensive investment in my game, but I can't tell you how good value it was. What price do you put on gaining knowledge about how to hit a golf ball solid with compression?

I still have a long way to go, but there is no shiny new driver on earth that could put a bigger smile on my face than I have right now...

A review of the lesson is posted here

But how many of you would invest in lessons rather than new kit?

I would happily spend money on lessons but since starting the game a few years ago I've paid a couple of different coaches for absolutely garbage lessons. Lost faith in it tbh. Guys that were clearly good players but had no clue how to "teach".

I have to say that my experience has been similar. Not yet found a pro who teaches in a way that suits me or lives up to what I expect from a lesson. People talk about small adjustments and being given drills to help practice but never happens with the pros I have been to. Until I hear some really positive commentts about a pro then I am going to stick with what I have got swing wise.

 

[crux]

After 4 hours of tutoring I do hope he wrote you a list of all the important things to remember and work on!

For me personally, I think I'd prefer several shorter lessons with just one or two key messages to take away and work on until next time.

Ok, I have had a bunch of traditional ½ hour lessons, most often they go a bit like this; the pro looks at you hitting a 5 iron, asks what you’re working on and what issues you have. Then you go up to a video room, get your swing recorded and shown back to you which is usually hideous looking. The pro then shows you on the video what the main problems are and compares your swing to a clip of Tiger/Ernie Els/ Aaron Baddeley etc..

Then he tells you what to work on, you spend 10 min’s back on the range doing what he just said and there you go, he gives you a few drills tells you to practice and that’s £25 please.

Essentially that kind of lesson is a band aid approach, unless you sign up for a series of lessons to rebuild your swing or you only have a slight issue to fix, then it can be hit and miss as to if it is much use at all.

In these short lessons, I never got the feeling that the pro helped me truly understand why I was having that issue, or what it was that I did well versus what I did poorly and why? That is not the pro’s fault, how much can anyone go into depth in 30 min’s?

What I truly found useful in the long lesson was sitting down with a good teacher and analysing my swing warts and all with me being able to ask tons of questions. Why does my right leg straighten in the back swing? Why do my arms not get above my shoulder plane. Do I really come over the top? Why can’t I get back to the ball from the inside? How do you even do that? Why did I just shank that pitch? What do you mean my hips spin out and my weight gets stuck on my right side? How do I solve that? Why am I scooping that shot and not extending through it like I was trying to?

All that takes time and IMO is useful to give you an understanding on what it is you’re actually trying to achieve.

I’m not saying it’s for everyone but for me it was far better than a normal quick video lesson.

And yes, your right, you do need to remember it, I have a 1.5 hour video & audio file with all the relevant info, analysis and drills on it as well as dozens of swing shots, recorded by the pro as we did the lesson.

 

[EZprophet]

If you gave ME £2000 and said that I could either spend that on a completely new set of custom fitted clubs or I could spend it on one lesson a week for the next year (with the goal of improving my handicap as much as possible by years end) there is no doubt I would take the lessons.

If you said I had to play a match tomorrow and gave me £300 with the choice of one day of lessons or a new custom fitted driver, I would probably take the driver.

The answer to the question of whether lessons or equipment are better value is completely dependent on the player.

Some people just don't seem to benefit from lessons at all for one reason or another.

Others might have a driver that suits them just fine but just can't swing the club anywhere near consistently enough to benefit from a custom fit that just squeezes out an extra 6 yeards on their on center hits.

Some people gain huge amounts of confidence from new equipment that looks good to the eye, which can be priceless, while other will have that eureka! moment in a lesson that they would give away all their brand new gear for in a second.

So yeah in answer to your question:

I dunno... it depends...

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Finding a good teaching pro is the most important thing for lessons to have an impact on your game.

You also need to be mentally right, be prepared to change and believe in what you are being taught.

As others have said they have struggled to find a pro who can help them.

I have touched lucky with my teaching pro as he keeps his methods simple and also gives me so much confidence in what i'm doing.

New shiny gear is great but being able to use them properly is greater.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

New swing every time - the only problem with my clubs is the idiot on the end of them.