Self teaching vs Lessons.

[kid2]

Well iv been mulling over posting this for a while and i said id throw it out and see what the general thoughts are on the subject....

A little about me first....Iv been playing 3 years going into my 4th and iv never had a lesson....I started with a handicap of 21 and im now down to 15....Iv learned a lot through the internet and through magazines and books and to be honest a lot has been trial and error.....And a lot of heartache..
But i feel that having lessons or no lessons i still would have been frustrated...

I cant say that im 100% self taught as iv had some very good encouragement and direction from Justone and Bob...Without them i feel that i would have been still up in the late teens or maybe even early 20's....
I would also feel that i have a decent amount of natural ability as without it i dont think that i would be where i am now.

I may be missing out on a quick way of getting lower through Not having lessons but i feel i get more satisfaction from fixing things myself.....

Iv fiddled with Grip, Posture, and Alignment and at the moment Im working on my swing plane...
The other fundamentals i feel i have gotten to a good standard and im starting to realize what the outcome of not having sound foundations can have on your game....

I cant really speak from a teaching point of view but i would take a guess that having lessons from day one might be the best way to go and i suppose any good teacher would work with the good points of a players swing and build from there rather than ripping everything apart and getting the student to swing the way the teacher wants them to swing.

I guess that this is more of a general topic rather than which is better lessons or not but i think that if i can get to maintain a low handicap on my own steam it will feel so much better and give me a greater sense of achievement...

I think that from educating myself with all the different types of grip and swings that are all about and what works best for one person may not work for another it seems that the only thing that matters is getting that club square at impact and hitting it down the target line....

Iv seen a lot of players on here and even at my club that have had lessons and play low and have never had a lesson and play low...
And i suppose that you have the odd player that gets heaps of lessons and never gets better.....
I guess its each and everyone to their own really isn't it?

 

[JustOne]

If you have lessons it would solely depend on the knowledge of the instructor (things have changed) and your own ability to execute instructions.

There's no reason why anyone can't improve their short game. I would say that anyone who backs away from a driver really doesn't have it (not that they can't end up playing at a sufficient level).

Nothing wrong with being 'self taught' via the internet... however you need to take VIDEO... else it's guess work.

 

[duncan mackie]

I am going to be controversial here and suggest that most people will die without getting close to their potential at the game without professional tuition.

You won't 'get there eventually' without it - but you will get somewhere. Not a problem for the majority as it after all all a game/sport/pastime.

As to the difference between potential and reality; a huge amount will depend on when in life you get tuition, how good it is, whether you can/do put it all into action inc motivation etc

A good parallel would be skiing because learning before the head gets involved, and before the muscular developement provides (bad) alternative approaches, will deliver huge progress to most people.

 

[DCB]

I'd certainly be looking at getting lessons to take it a stage further. It doesn't have to be a swing rebuild, it can be as simple as short game lessons, approach shots, putting and if you're brave enough get a on course lesson to see how you should be tackling a hole during a round. Of all the lessons I had when I was in the mid teens and trying to get better, the on-course lesson was the one that gave me most food for thought.

 

[Wolfman]

Dont knock self tuition, in fact you could say this is still having lessons allbeit from the internet or mags etc


One to one tuition has got to be better but in reality some people cannot afford regular lessons and have to make do with alternatives

My first lessons i feel were a total waste of money, never had a clue, after 6 lessons, still didnt know much more. Second batch of lessons a year later were far better as i knew what faults i wanted to cure

3rd group of lessons a year later and at last my swing was getting somewhere

It also depends on the individual, give a golf club to some and they are more natural and need a small amount of tuition, others will never be natural and will takes years

i think there is room for both neither is right or wrong, a mixed balance of both is good i think

 

[Scadge]

I'm in the lessons / coaching camp - and your thread reminds me it's time for a brush up. My view is that these days a pros ability to show you what you are and should be doing with the latest video technology is fantastic and anyway if the likes of Donald, Westwood, Woods etc benefit from coaching even with their obvious knowledge of the game it must make the argument for someone of lesser capability like myself self teaching far less compelling.

 

[Slicer30]

Kid- I am in the same boat as yourself.

Getting there slowly week by week, tweaking little bits here and there. But recently I am contemplating a lesson to see if perhaps thats the easier route.

I think its become a bit personal for me now, I have taught myself to a degree where I have broken 80 and making good progress.

This is my argument for the self taught route:

At work when I have been staring at an issue for 6 hours, I check everything looking for the source. Finally, I give in and ask someone if they have any ideas. The fact they are looking at it from a fresh perspective they find the problems instantly.

Some might say, I should have asked sooner. But for me, this is where I truly develop the knowledge of our system. Where the issue, forces me to try to understand the inner workings.

The fix is usually, easy and very obvious. And if I had worked on something else and came back to it I'd probably have found it as well.

So - back to the golf :

When I get to the point where I cannot fix the problem then I will seek out a professional for help.
I feel my understanding has developed from solving all my issues.

P.S I also find that I have nothing to do during the week when I have nothing to fix lol

 

[FairwayDodger]

I think it's hard to say which is "best" unless you've tried both.....

I had lessons as a child then spent 30ish years playing intermittently and tinkering myself. Had lessons over the winter and am now playing the best golf I ever have. Admittedly, I'm also playing more than ever but I think the lessons were fundamental to my improvement.

 

[garyinderry]

im self taught although ive used every video, book, forum and mag tip i could gather. its been a hard graft although ultimately satisfying. i have no doubt that if i had a bunch of lessons i could improve further. ideally i would like to have driver and wood lessons as they are my weakspots. i think i will eventually go for lessons as i have seen the improvements in my friends games who i taught the basics to and got hooked then went for lessons.

 

[Imurg]

My problem with lessons is, always has been and always will be, putting in the time to make the changes stick.
I'm the first to admit it - I hate practicing, I'm a poor practicer so I don't do it much.
I got to my first handicap of 15 by hitting the range over a Winter. Not wanting to embarass myself by joining a club and being crap.....so I thought. I used tips from magazines and generally just worked it out myself.
After putting my cards in I found myself straight into Div 1 only 8 shots behind the best player in the club...
When I joined I was given a free 20 mnute "MOT" by the Pro - all I can say is it's a good job I didn't pay for it!
Carried on with the DIY approach and got myself down to 8.
Had a break for a few years for various reasons then began again at 13, again down the DIY route. 6 years later and I'm playing off 5.
Lessons may have got me lower but with my lack of practicing they wouldn't have been worth it.
That's my journey - I can't say it's the best way or the worst way - It's my way.........

 

[fundy]

If you have lessons it would solely depend on the knowledge of the instructor (things have changed) and your own ability to execute instructions.

There's no reason why anyone can't improve their short game. I would say that anyone who backs away from a driver really doesn't have it (not that they can't end up playing at a sufficient level).

Nothing wrong with being 'self taught' via the internet... however you need to take VIDEO... else it's guess work.

Can you please explain more what you mean James?

 

[USER1999]

Self taught got me to 12 pretty quickly. Stayed there for 20 years odd. Luck got me to 9, but I was going back up. No reason not to, as nothing had changed.

Have rebuilt my swing, completely with lessons in the last 6 months. It's been interesting to say the least. Some of what I have been taught you would not stumble upon.

With my new swing, I shot 24 points today round sand martins. Could not get the ball off the ground. At all.

Putted like god though. Otherwise I dont think I would have hit double figures.

Worth all the angst? And the money? And the practice?

 

[Region3]

Self teaching is fine if you know enough about the swing to know what you should be doing, and to diagnose your own faults.

The problem with internet instruction and magazine tips is that people will think "yes, that's me" but unless you can identify the real fault, you don't know which tip is the one that will work (instead of introducing another compensation) out of the 1001 "cure your slice forever" tips.

Not picking on you Kid2, but JustOne's post of your swing is a good example. Before you sent it to James, did you know you were taking the club away miles on the inside and asking to hit across the ball, or did you think you were making sure the club was coming from the inside by being there on the way back?

 

[Bucket92]

I tried my heart out trying to find a cure for my slice, reading all the magazine articles, all the internet articles and watching all the youtube videos, for no real gain. Then i had one lesson on driving with a local pro 2 weeks ago, now i'm driving very accurately and decently far. So i definitely think lessons work!

 

[BLAM]

This is something I've been thinking about as I'm recently returned to golf after nearly 20 years away. Back in the early/mid 90s I didn't set foot on a proper course until I'd had about 5-6 lessons. I graduated from a range to a short (par 3) course and then to the main course and each time it was with the Pro accompanying me. Looking back I felt this was definitely the way to go as I was ingraining good habits which tended to stick.

Bearing in mind this was the age of VHS and rec.sport.golf (anyone remember that?) and of course golf books/magazines and I feel I would have had a much longer and more circuitous route to the modicum of success -mid teens h/c- that got to I enjoy back then.

Fast forward to 2012 and it's a whole new world: Trackman fitted clubs and slo-mo video aplenty on YouTube and elsewhere. I've been playing for a few months and have had more fun sorting my own problems out by self-analysis. On admittedly easier/shorter courses I've managed to get back to shooting the scores I remember from back when.

Now while I suspect a combination of residual swing memory and better kit is part of the reason I've got my game back most of the way I have been able to add a few things in purely from the Internet. Putting, chipping and drawing the ball are all the result of an assortment of tips drawn from on-line sources.

However the OP's question is still valid because I'm wondering whether I could improve on my previous best by throwing myself at the mercy of a modern pro and teaching equipment.

 

[kid2]

Self teaching is fine if you know enough about the swing to know what you should be doing, and to diagnose your own faults.

The problem with internet instruction and magazine tips is that people will think "yes, that's me" but unless you can identify the real fault, you don't know which tip is the one that will work (instead of introducing another compensation) out of the 1001 "cure your slice forever" tips.

Not picking on you Kid2, but JustOne's post of your swing is a good example. Before you sent it to James, did you know you were taking the club away miles on the inside and asking to hit across the ball, or did you think you were making sure the club was coming from the inside by being there on the way back?

To be honest Region I wasn't 100% sure where it should have been as per my swing....The thing is i went from always fading the ball to drawing it and hooking it with the odd push thrown in for good measure....

I have a fair idea what my swing feels like and i know that im closer to a more rotary swing than a 2 plane swing....
I was more curious as to what was causing me to miss left of the target.

One thing with me is i dont take the club inside the target line with my hands....I start my backswing with my body first...



As you'll see here..............[video=youtube;pmNiGkurepM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pmNiGkurepM[/video]


I was swinging flat with an upright posture.....Now i have the posture sorted the plane is next.

 

[AmateurSwinger]

2 words- bubba watson

 

[USER1999]

2 words- bubba watson

Never had a lesson? Honestly? Pah. How did he get through the American college system on a golf ticket whilst avoiding any coaching? I don't think it's possible. You would get chucked out.

 

[CMAC]

I was self taught till I got to 5, and this was pre Internet, I only used John Jacobs instruction book and trying to copy other golfers. 35 years later I'm back up to 5 but now I've had loads of lessons and buy new technology.......

Go figure

 

[Tab373]

Finding the right teacher is the hardest thing to do the one I got listened well and worked around my swing rather than starting again I was self taught and play off 6 but 8 months ago as I was struggling so I had a lesson. He looked at grip posture alignment etc and said that my swing reminded him of g McDowells swing as a touch laid off at top. He asked what My goal handicap is which was 4 and all he did was work abit on alignment as it was out. He said he would work with what I got no point trying to pull swing apart as that would take a year and lots of hard work after 30 mins he took me to the chipping area and got me to show him how I chip. This is the area he works on most. The scoring zone he said.