The real advantage of having lessons

[millsan1]

I'm a big fan of lessons for any activity where skill is involved. I've done a lot of competitive or skill based hobbies in my life, and I almost always had a teacher or coach.

I was reflecting on my way in to work today about a struggle I am currently having. I am pulling my 5W off the tee. My fixes are not working.

BUT

I know for a fact, that when I next see my Pro, I will tell him what happening, I will hit 2 or 3 shots and he will have the fix. He will have the fix for me, because I have been working with him for 18 months. He knows me, knows my swing, knows my practice routine, knows my tendencies, etc.

If I went into a lesson cold, with this issue, that Pro would see what was wrong, but wouldn't have all the other info about me, my swing, progress, tendencies, etc, and might not be able to get me to the fix so fast.

I purchased a Pro Pack from Golf Galaxy, at Christmas, for about $600 or so. It gives me 26 lessons for the year. The Pro at my local GG is very good, teaches to your learning style, and is a nice person. The $45 or so per lesson is well worth it for me. At this point, I go to him to work on finer points, or iron out little leaks in my game, etc.

I often see people on this forum speaking about shot problems they have, asking for advice, trying advice, watching videos, etc. It is my opinion that, if you had an ongoing relationship with a Pro, these problems would get ironed out quickly.

For the amount of money I spend on golf, that $600 is the best I spend. It has helped me move forward at a pretty good pace, and also helps my backslides be shorter, as he can help me fix the errors quickly.

It is my opinion, that if you are serious about getting better, budget the time and money to establish a long term relationship with a pro.

 

[zbeekner4]

I don’t spend nearly as much on lessons as you but imo they truly are the quickest way to get to the next level. It’s the only reason why I’ve gone from a 20+ cap to a 4.6

 

[vdubtx]

Well said millsan1. I have only taken 1 golf lesson so far since getting back in to the game. But, I know first hand what professional lessons can do for ones game.

I can relate a lot of things in golf to bowling, which is my main "hobby" or passion. I can compete with the pros and quite often beat well established pro players that are seen on TV. I have gotten to this point in bowling due to lessons I have had with coaches over the years.

 

[Et Tu Brute?]

I hadn't seen my teaching pro in gone two years until a few weeks ago. He immediately latched onto a couple things I needed to work on changing and after just a little bit of practice his suggestions got me mostly back on track.

But it all really "clicked" when I went for a followup the other day, showed him what I'd been working on from what he said earlier, and he added one drill to work on one additional problem with (surprisingly) both my full swing and my chipping/pitching. Within like 15 minutes I was really back in my normal groove. So far after a couple rounds it's transferring pretty well to the course but I tend to revert back to my bad habits late in the round.

My guy charges like 60 bucks for a 75-minute session which seems extremely affordable to me. I'd sure charge that much or more for standing out in the hot sun fixing yet another duffer's baaaaaad grip/posture/alignment/tempo/whatever!

That's the problem with second-hand advice or watching videos or whatever. There's no feedback and fine-tuning possible. I might or might not have stumbled on the couple of things in that first lesson but no YouTube video could have checked me out two weeks later and noticed the one missing element to the puzzle.

 

[McLovin]

the more i play this game, the more convinced i am that self-diagnosis is all but an impossibility. case in point: my short game. i've been convinced my alignment was off, that's why i'm chunking and blading and double-hitting the ball. then i was convinced it was the bounce of the club working against me. then i was convinced i just needed more face rotation through impact.

two shots and he diagnosed exactly what was wrong. i've been working on it since then and have had the best short game sessions i've had in years.

 

[wubears71]

I just signed up for 10 hours of lessons with a new instructor. I’m a big believer in spending money on lessons instead of new equipment or swing aides and trying to self diagnose swing issues.

 

[millsan1]

I just signed up for 10 hours of lessons with a new instructor. I’m a big believer in spending money on lessons instead of new equipment or swing aides and trying to self diagnose swing issues.

Amen brother.

 

[Just_Brad]

Completely agree. I have wasted far too much time trying to self-fix.

The money I spent on a quick refresher lesson is the best money I have ever spent.

 

[fuffle master]

I would agree if you truly want to become better you need to have a qualified teacher to work with you. Yea, I can kinda tell what I am doing wrong on a certain day, but I don’t know how to fix it.

Now, that being said, I did sign up for lessons this year and they have not worked out well so far. We are completely changing my swing to try and get more consistency in my ball striking. This has caused me to hit poorly all summer so far. I am hoping it’s more of a one step back to take two steps forward in the end.

 

[millsan1]

Now, that being said, I did sign up for lessons this year and they have not worked out well so far. We are completely changing my swing to try and get more consistency in my ball striking. This has caused me to hit poorly all summer so far. I am hoping it’s more of a one step back to take two steps forward in the end.

The actual coach and style is very important. For instance, my Pro has never said anything, but I know when I watch myself on video I am hyper critical of my form. So he never shows me the videos, only he looks at them. He thinks I don't know it, but I do.

My pro does not overhaul my swing, mainly because he helped create it, LOL.

We make incremental improvements and tweaks.

 

[tomcat]

I love having someone that I can go to and get the "reset" button pushed. Someone that isn't afraid to ask, "what the heck are you trying to do?"

 

[-CRW-]

As someone who's had over 40 lessons, I think they can help. But I think there's a place for self-diagnosis if you take the time to learn the swing and have the tools to do so.

You'e also lucky to find a decent instructor at a big box store and/or for that price. The majority of pro's in my area are close to $100 an hour/lesson.

 

[millsan1]

As someone who's had over 40 lessons, I think they can help. But I think there's a place for self-diagnosis if you take the time to learn the swing and have the tools to do so.

You'e also lucky to find a decent instructor at a big box store and/or for that price. The majority of pro's in my area are close to $100 an hour/lesson.

Totally agree about self diagnosis. I can fix some of my flaws myself, but when my self help is wrong, my pro straightens me out.

For a month I worked on trying to get more inside to out in my swing, but I was still pushing like crazy. I could not get a draw going. Turns out that Path wasn't my problem, so that was a wasted month. He even said "why are you doing that?"

 

[Acesteve]

I've had lessons in my first 5 years of golf and they helped me but never got me where I wanted to go. I topped out as a high 80's player no matter how much I practiced and played. After a 15 year absence from serious play I got started again about 5 years ago and sought help. To my disappointment both Pro's I saw wanted to push an approach vs asking me what I wanted to do and how hard I was willing to work. In the end, they filled my head with stuff that was forgotten in 2 months. So about 3 years ago I started to self diagnose seeing the learning process as much a part of the game as playing. I improved but much of it was learning to putt. by fluke, I reread and 1950's book by Tommy armour that basically called out swing concept flaws I had that would not let me break through. You can look the book up in Amazon and look at the review comments. I was not aware of the views that are similar to mine until I went to buy my golf rotation each a copy this week.

 

[DG_1234]

I'm a big fan of lessons for any activity where skill is involved. I've done a lot of competitive or skill based hobbies in my life, and I almost always had a teacher or coach.

Great message and I agree.