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My GolfTec Experience

I think any lessons are really about the coach.

I agree they're totally about pushing a lesson plan to work on your swing. I mean, their "thing" is that they have high-speed cameras and motion capture, so they can quantify exactly what you're doing in different parts of your swing. If fixing your swing isn't what you want to do, you're almost certainly better off going somewhere else.

I've got my next lesson tonight, I'll report back afterward. I did run into my coach yesterday when I was test hitting the Apex driving irons and we talked about the round I played Saturday. My driving and putting are ok (could use a little work on my lag putting), but where I *really* need work is consistent distance with my clubs, pitching, and getting out of bunkers. We're going to continue with full swing lessons in the bay for now until I get the distance thing down and have a better swing, but then we'll probably transition to a local course to work on some of the other things that need work.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
I think any lessons are really about the coach.

I agree they're totally about pushing a lesson plan to work on your swing. I mean, their "thing" is that they have high-speed cameras and motion capture, so they can quantify exactly what you're doing in different parts of your swing. If fixing your swing isn't what you want to do, you're almost certainly better off going somewhere else.
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You are exactly right there. GolfTec is not a good option for the person looking to fix some minor thing or putting a band-aide on a bad habit. Right now I'm going through the most difficult change I've made my entire life - redo my driver swing. I've never taken a driver lesson and I've always fought inconsistency. When I'm on, I hit it long and straight, but when I'm not I'm spraying it left and right all over the course. What it ultimately came down to is an over the top swing and then me doing goofy stuff to try and correct it myself. It was so obvious when filmed.
 
I'm a big fan of Golftec. I have worked with them numerous times and felt it worth it.


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Lesson tonight was interesting. I had talked about how I had a hard time with my short game last weekend, so tonight we worked on chip, pitch, and flop shots. I didn't realize how those shots are basically all in the setup. I'm looking forward to putting that lesson into practice.
 
Rusty Casino said:
We just had a GolfTec open up here in Kelowna last year. I was completely undecided as to if I should switch to them for lessons. I'm also the analytical type and thought I could benefit from this. The issue for me is that I have a great instructor and he has a flightscope and uses the Nevada Bob's bay for winter lessons.
I was going back and forth on what to do until an annual Vegas golf trip last November. On the 2013 trip my buddies and I were all mid 90's golfers. They had been using Golftec in Calgary for about a year. One buddy shot low 90's and the other around 95. I was around 97. These guys had spent thousands at GolfTec. I hadn't started any lessons yet.
Move ahead to last November. My buddies spent thousands again at GolfTec throughout the year. I started lessons in February with my current coach. I maybe had spent $400 total with him at that point. In Vegas, my buddies shot the same. The low nineties guy averaged 92. The mid nineties guy averaged 94. I shot 84 and 88. My GolfTec buddies were blown away. I had improved by at least 10 strokes over the year and spent 1/3 of what they had.
I guess my point is that I think it all depends on your teacher or pro. The right one will fit you perfectly and help you the most. Perhaps it's GolfTec and perhaps not. My pro has got me looking to break 80 this summer. He has me working on one thing at a time. First it was clubpath, then clubface. Now it's body rotation. It's easy and I don't think about positions throughout the swing. I saw my buddies struggle with this in Vegas and it truly took the enjoyment away from their game.
Sorry about the rant.....
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I'd like to add:
- How much do you practice apart from the lessons. In my experience one lesson should equal at least three times practicing and I mean serious practicing for at least 90 minutes.
- How is your talent compared to the others. If you used to play tennis or field hockey (men do that too, I did) then it's much easier to get to that first big hurdle called the 18 handicap.
- How is your click with the pro. If he can't explain it to you there's no much to gain. (Also at a range a pro might give you a few pointers when you're just there practicing.)

I've switched from the local pro to one on another course. The old one didn't fit me well, the new guy works great but he's not cheap. Also I have a friend who's doing the education to become a teaching pro, he's really good on the short game and as I'm helping him with some school assignments he's helping me with my short game.

Even if I could afford it, I certainly can't, I would never drop $3.000 for lessons in a year. Granted this includes indoor training and that's nice, but 52 lessons equals about $1.800 at the top pros here so that's a lot of money for indoor training.
 
So I think that last night my whole year of lessons may have paid for itself.

You all know you're supposed to lag your club head so you get a flat wrist at impact, like so:

Hogan-Nicklaus-Faldo-Woods-at-Impact.png


Well last night I finally got it. I have always been unhinging my wrists and throwing away lag early My impacts were always with the shaft straight up and down right between my feet. Well, I decided to give it a try and see if I could make my impact look nicer. This was all about 10 minutes before my lesson--I got there early and was just warming up in one of the bays while waiting on my coach to finish up with another lesson.

I kept making swings and hitting balls trying to get my hands further and further forward. Finally it just clicked, and instead of thinking about hitting the ball I was thinking about where I wanted my hands to look pretty for the cameras, and it all came together. The key was using their camera setup, so I could see step by step what I was doing with my swing. When I got one right I left it saved in the computer so I could show my coach. He was blown away that I had figured it out on my own, and we immediately got to work tweaking it. My hands were in the right place, but I was delivering the clubface way open, so my whole lesson was just grooving my new swing mechanic with 1000% more lag and trying to find the right feel to get me to square the clubface at impact. I'm still working on it--it feels like I have my hands *way* closed when it's actually square. I'll be doing lots of practice this week to get that feeling internalized.
 
Keep working Dave. Sounds like things are coming together for your golf game this year.
 
Sounds like the investment is starting to payoff for you, that's good to hear! GolfTec is a great way to really see your swing and with how they are able to break it down, is the best. Keep up the good work!
 
One of the big things that GolfTEC *didn't* provide (at least not on a self-serve basis) is a model swing. I think one thing that helped was watching various swings in slow motion to get a better sense of what it *should* look like.
 
So just a quick check-in. This is what a month of lessons and regular practice gets you, if you're willing to put in the work and do what the coach tells you to do. The absolute hardest thing about this experience is *not* going back to what's comfortable or what works. You can see in the second video I hit it all kinds of low and right. That's consistent right now, because the swing change is in progress. I have to keep telling myself not to sweat that, it'll be right in time.

Feb 1 2015 - my "before" swing during my swing evaluation:



Mar 2 2015 - my "before" swing at the beginning of yesterday's lesson:



Still a lot of work to go, but wow what a difference so far.

By the way, these videos are exactly the sort of thing you get to see, play back, play in slow motion, step through, etc. in a hitting bay at GolfTEC. Every lesson comes with a "Before" and "After" video, plus notes from your coach, plus any GolfTEC videos the coach thinks are appropriate for whatever skill you're working on.
 
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