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Confession time - I've never had a lesson

the_paulo

the_paulo

Euro target practice
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
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Location
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....up until yesterday! :act-up:

Yep, I had my first ever lesson yesterday, and I've been left wondering why I haven't had some sooner! I've managed to get to a handicap of 5 without any instruction, and I think I've gone too long thinking I know my swing better than anyone.

First thought - seeing your swing from the outside is scary! There's no way I do all that!

Since I've been playing this year, I've noticed more inconsistency and a tendency to pull the ball, or balloon my irons.

Like many hard-headed people, I felt like I knew what I was doing wrong and I could probably fix it myself. BUT, for once, I decided to bite the bullet and have a pro look at my swing, see if he could give me a couple of thoughts to add some consistency.

Wow, looking at the video of my swing taught me a lot! I'm hunched over the ball, my legs are all over the place and due to this I'm creating no resistance to speak of. This is causing my hands to have to work through the ball and flick it to where I want it to go - hello inconsistency! I'm losing the flex in my right leg on the way back, overswinging, and forcing the club outside the line on the way down. This causes my hips to slide and not properly clear, so my left elbow comes out through impact to clear the club!

Soul destroying? Not so! Turns out my swing plane and body angle aren't bad at all, and it seems like all the above faults are being caused by the right leg and the hips! If I concentrate on retaining flex in my right leg, the backswing shortens, the resistance can be felt, and the trajectory and direction are much more consistent. Encouraging stuff!

So now I'm truely a Wilson staffer, as the same as Paddy, I'll be practising with a wedge under my right heel for the foreseeable future! :banana:

The moral of my story, I guess, is that I'm pretty ashamed that I haven't gone for a lesson before now. Just to see your swing and have someone point out a couple of basic improvements is such a great thing.
Having a purpose to my practice, and knowing I'm on the right track is encouraging. I'd also like to say that my club pro, Paul, is a teacher I think I could work with. Didn't try to change my swing, just looked at the fundamentals and gave me a couple of thoughts to work on - nothing confusing. I like this approach. Hopefully, the base of my swing will start becoming more solid from this point on!

So, guys....who loves instruction? And who can do without it?
 
Ditto really, although my HC is not that low..........Wish

I only recently started having lessons & had my 4th last night. (4 weeks)
I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the video & the length on my back swing.

Best of it is he's a V1 registered Pro & pings the video & audio to my iphone, so I can take it to the range.

I've been singing his praises & about having lessons to anyone who'll listen since.
 
I too managed to stumble on a great pro/coach. I only started playing last April and had my first lesson last June so I was pretty much a blank slate with very few engrained swing mechanics. When I first saw him I was happy to shoot +20...after just 1 lesson anything over +20 was terrible...and just 2 months after my first lesson I shot a +6 round. So you'll hear no arguement from me when you say lessons are awesome!!! Now I'm looking to shoot sub-80 consistantly this summer.

@Wilesy, my pro also messages/e-mails videos, tips etc... to me so I can have everything phone based, equally I'll send him videos I've taken and he'll get back to me. He's also really good at answering random questions/thoughts I have outside of lessons, I can just call/text him and he's happy to advise.
 
Paulo - I have never had a lesson either. It was something I was toying with over the winter months to get into. I really want to step my game up to the next level and I believe that lessons will be the only way to get there. Well lessons and lots of practice. Your post has further encouraged me to explore lessons, and I'll be looking for a qualified teacher soon. (not just any employee over at Golf Town)

Thanks for the post, and I look forward to following your progress.
 
I had my first lesson around 1970 and my last in October 2010. All have been by the same person. Lessons (or tune ups) should be a life long thing.
 
I have never had a formal lesson either. I am completely self taught. I was fortunate in that when I first started playing, I played a lot with my old man and his friends, one of which use to be a Pro at one of the clubs. He would give me some pointers and whatnot but nothing formal.

I've thought about taking lessons, b/c I do believe that they can be extremely useful, but I just don't have the extra $$$ to invest in my golf game right now.

I'll just keep doing it the best way that I know how, and that's by practicing, working on things, and reading THP.

Good luck paulo!
 
I got to a point where I was shooting in mid to high 70's and hit a wall.... I was playing alot then too. I had one lesson last year for the first time and having another in 2 weeks. It made me so uncomfortable going into the lesson even though I've known the pro since I started playing golf. I'm self taught and when you start talking about some swing things I don't "see" it because I'm more visual than just telling me. Gregg calmed me down and just asked what I had problems with and what I was looking to change. He was also self taught and said my grip and setup (not alignment) :D was identical even through his college golf before he went through his swing changes. He had me go with a stronger grip and it's been ongoing change just with that.

Lessons would be something I would like to do regularly. However, since I'm not getting out as much as I would like & range time it would seem to be more wasteful when I can't go work on new swing changes. I would say I'm looking for smaller changes that can be done instead of a major overhaul. My swing was working for the most part but you always want to get better. I can look at video or read articles all I want on what I'm supposed to do. But, I wasn't able to make myself change which made it very difficult and frustrating at the same time. So I really believe lessons will get me over that hump.
 
I had lessons many years ago and the guy did a world of good at the time. I remember in the beginning feeling like it was a waste of time. After 3 or 4, once a week, lessons I didn't think I was making much progress and then one day everything changed. I hit a shot that looked like it lifted twice, if that makes sense. The trajectory was a little lower, but climbing fast and at the point it normally starts to drop it had another little afterburner. From there my driver and iron's both were a ton longer and straighter and the one of my biggest issues was simply not sticking my butt out slightly, haha. He changed many other things to work with that, but that was the starting point.

Way back then I went from about what I'm constant at now, mid to low 80s, down to mid to upper 70s consistantly. Guess it's time to get back to a teacher.
 
I got lessons when I started playing about 5 years ago. I take from my pro at my club, who is an ex tour player, not a teaching pro. I have also taken a couple lessons with my dad's pro in Atlanta who is a teaching pro. My guy is more of a feel teacher and my dads is more technical. But both teach the same thing in a different way. It's a good blend.

I can't imagine not taking lessons. Golf is hard and I need lots of help.
 
Taking lessons was the best thing I ever did for my game. Its both enlightening and scary at the same time when you first see yourself swing.
 
rbelbin said:
Paulo - I have never had a lesson either. It was something I was toying with over the winter months to get into. I really want to step my game up to the next level and I believe that lessons will be the only way to get there. Well lessons and lots of practice. Your post has further encouraged me to explore lessons, and I'll be looking for a qualified teacher soon. (not just any employee over at Golf Town)

Thanks for the post, and I look forward to following your progress.
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Awesome. Glad my experiences can help! I was pleasantly surprised that I don't need any 'destructive' changes (ie a change that would confine me to the practice area until it's solid), and when I think about it, I guess that was the big thing holidng me back from lessons. I thought that, just maybe, I'd be taught something very unusual to me, that might destroy my swing and set me back. In reality, very slight changes like this will only help me enjoy the game more, and play better.

OEM Kevin said:
Taking lessons was the best thing I ever did for my game. Its both enlightening and scary at the same time when you first see yourself swing.
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The truth! Just seeing your swing, then running through it in your head as you're watching....the feeling and the visual are very different!
 
I've had lesons on all aspects of the game, even went to a 3-day school out in Vegas. Problem is, after the leson, you need to practice what you've just learnt. I hate to practice.
 
I too have never had a real lesson.
 
MarcW said:
I've had lesons on all aspects of the game, even went to a 3-day school out in Vegas. Problem is, after the leson, you need to practice what you've just learnt. I hate to practice.
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Yes! It is really easy to have a good lesson and stripe the ball with the instructor next to you. But installing that swing into muscle memory is the hard part. And that can only be done with practice.
 
I have recently started taking lessons again after about a year and a half of working on my game since my last lesson. Finally my driver swing had gotten so bad that I had to take lessons and it has been night and day. Best money that can be spent on your golf game.
 
I took two lessons in the fall to help get my body in to my swing more. They were great and helped me gain some distance on my shots. My consistency also improved! I hope to break in to the single digit handicap this year due to this. I might take one more before the outing to just fine tune some things.
 
I personally take a lesson every two weeks and couldnt imagine not doing so. I find it very frustrating to play a lot without lessons, I know I what I am doing wrong most of the time, but I am not sure how to fix it. I think a good instructor is key to your progress, much more so than equipment or anything else, especially for us high handicappers.
 
I have had some bad lessons though. I paid a certified PGA instructor $20 per lesson for 5 lessons. The first three were very good. Swing fundamentals, distance control, chipping and putting were the first three lessons. Very good. Then came the long irons and fairway woods. Useless. I was just told to swing slower. Then came the bunker lesson. I paid for 30 minutes, I got 10 minutes of greenside bunker lessons and 20 minutes of talking about greenside bunkers. Then came the driver lesson. After taking a few swings with inconsistent results, I was told to slow my swing down. After being told to slow my swing down over and over, I finally hit a bunch of straight drives. They all went 200 yards. I looked at the instructor and said, "They aren't going anywhere though." His response, "At least they're straight." I wasted $100 on the guy.
 
I've never had an instruction.... After reading this, I'm thinking of scheduling my first one. Thanks for the inspiration
 
Jeremiah Taylor said:
I've never had an instruction.... After reading this, I'm thinking of scheduling my first one. Thanks for the inspiration
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Make sure it is with a PGA Pro though. It is their job to be good instructors. I find that the best lessons are from the pros at golf courses, not driving ranges.
 
I really want to get a on the course lesson. I think this would help me out a lot on management. Maybe I should just hire TC or JB for this lesson. :act-up:
 
good stuff paulo. I have never had a lesson before either, but I'm thinking of changing that this year. In fact I am going to a local golf show tomorrow that is going to have different PGA Pros from the local courses at it. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to talk to a few of them and see which one feels like a good fit.
 
I took group lessons years ago. They were for beginners but the pro had seen that I had been playing for a while, so I got a little more specialized instruction. When I was able to practice, it did me quite a bit of good, but I wasn't able to practice very often as it was the first full summer with my son, so my time to practice was limited. That fall I broke 100 for the first and only time in my life. Then I wasn't able to practice or play for a while. I would love to take lessons again, but I just can't afford it, so I have been doing it all on my own. Obviously not working real well, but I don't currently have a choice.
 
Thanks for letting me know that a course pro will help more than a range pro... i wouldn't have thought there was a difference..
 
Ryan555 said:
I took group lessons years ago. They were for beginners but the pro had seen that I had been playing for a while, so I got a little more specialized instruction. When I was able to practice, it did me quite a bit of good, but I wasn't able to practice very often as it was the first full summer with my son, so my time to practice was limited. That fall I broke 100 for the first and only time in my life. Then I wasn't able to practice or play for a while. I would love to take lessons again, but I just can't afford it, so I have been doing it all on my own. Obviously not working real well, but I don't currently have a choice.
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Have you posted in the Ask The Pro section Ryan? If you can get a video of your swing from a couple of angles, there's plenty of experienced eyes on this forum who would be more than happy to offer some advice.
 
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