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Have you had a lesson from a "Golf Digest" Top Teacher?

Pkielwa

Pkielwa

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I just received my latest Golf Digest and saw that the annual rankings for teaching pros was inside. Curious as to how many THP'ers have had lessons from ones on the list by State or even the Top 50 in the USA. If so, what do you think of the pro and their "style"? Did the lesson help your game? Did you go back again? What did you think overall?
 
Three of them that have popped on various list, Pat O'brien, Chris Como, and Chris O'Connell. Pat is a great guy, and really liked his teaching style. Would definitely go back to see him. O'Connell was ok, just never really meshed with him for some reason. Chris Como was great to work with, and enjoyed just being around him. Real bright guy, that has probably forgotten more technical golf swing and body movement stuff than I will ever know. His lesson was by far the most expensive of the group, but if it is in your budget would be worth it.
 
I spent a morning with Stan Utley in early February (it was a lesson for 2 - myself and a client).

We spent about 2 hours on short game and an hour on general ball striking. From a personal perspective, Stan is very easy going and likable. He's very positive and really reinforces what is good in your game and nudges you on things to improve on in a good way. He ragged on my posture and that is certainly something that I should work on. He pointed out some subtle things in my alignment that have really improved my accuracy (feet vs. shoulders). From a technique perspective, he put me on a path that has really improved my ball striking and approach to the game. Ironically, my short game technique has probably migrated more towards what Dave Stockton teaches but that migration is based on the understanding that I developed talking with Stan so he gets a lot of credit in my book on that too.

He also recommended I change out my driver shaft and his tips put me on a path to where my driver is probably 30 yards longer than when I saw him and my FIR tends to be in the 70-80+% range (have had 3-4 rounds at 13/14).

Would I go back to Stan? Sure. But I would also try other instructors too as I think it helps one develop a more complete perspective on how to play.
 
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I saw Rick Smith for quite a few lessons back in the mid 90's at tree tops resort. His info was very helpful and his swing change gave me beyond excellent results for easily a decade after. It took me about 3 golf seasons to make the changes , but once they kicked in they were golden. Unfortunately if you can't keep in touch with these guys or gals bad habits creep in and unfortunately I lost what we worked on.

move forward to the present and after a few more instructors I now have access to one of Australia's best teachers via the Internet and email. Slowly a lot of the feels that I recall from Rick are slowly coming back thru the new instructor. It's a process and many give up on all the time and effort it takes to make these changes. A lot of changes take multiple seasons to notice the effects
 
I haven't seen the latest issue but Rick Murphey is usually on that list, and I recently took a lesson from him. In doing so, I shaved 10 strokes off my game just by him changing my grip.,
 
Mystery Meat said:
I saw Rick Smith for quite a few lessons back in the mid 90's at tree tops resort. His info was very helpful and his swing change gave me beyond excellent results for easily a decade after. It took me about 3 golf seasons to make the changes , but once they kicked in they were golden. Unfortunately if you can't keep in touch with these guys or gals bad habits creep in and unfortunately I lost what we worked on.

move forward to the present and after a few more instructors I now have access to one of Australia's best teachers via the Internet and email. Slowly a lot of the feels that I recall from Rick are slowly coming back thru the new instructor. It's a process and many give up on all the time and effort it takes to make these changes. A lot of changes take multiple seasons to notice the effects
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I have definitely kept this in mind as I started this year with my coach. It's going to take a couple years for changes to become second nature. If it takes a pro two years to really ingrain a new swing with as much time as they put in, it's gonna take me longer. Next week will be my final lesson for the year, but it's amazing how much better my swing is from January to now. When I miss, the result is a lot better than it used to be for sure.
I go to Rob Noel in Abita Springs, LA, and he's been on the list for years now. One of the cheapest "Top Teacher" options there is and he's just a great guy and fantastic teacher.
 
Pkielwa said:
I have definitely kept this in mind as I started this year with my coach. It's going to take a couple years for changes to become second nature. If it takes a pro two years to really ingrain a new swing with as much time as they put in, it's gonna take me longer. Next week will be my final lesson for the year, but it's amazing how much better my swing is from January to now. When I miss, the result is a lot better than it used to be for sure.
I go to Rob Noel in Abita Springs, LA, and he's been on the list for years now. One of the cheapest "Top Teacher" options there is and he's just a great guy and fantastic teacher.
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You will be fine. Many fail to realize you will hit a lot of bad shots and play some bad golf for a while until the smallest of changes become ingrained. If I hit the ball great right from the start I know deep down I'm falling back on old habits and not using the new info I acquired. For most of us , these changes the top teachers make are real dramatic. I went from 10 degrees ott approach to the ball to now 8 degrees from the inside. That is a huge huge difference for the body to become used to. Hitting bad shots during a transition change like that are to be expected
 
Good Stuff said:
I haven't seen the latest issue but Rick Murphey is usually on that list, and I recently took a lesson from him. In doing so, I shaved 10 strokes off my game just by him changing my grip.,
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Rick is a good teacher and has been on the list in the past. He is currently #7 in NC.
 
Is the list posted online somewhere? Looked briefly on their website and did't see it....
 
DGord said:
Is the list posted online somewhere? Looked briefly on their website and did't see it....
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I haven't seen it, but I'll keep looking.
 
In the late 90's my wife got me a lesson with Hank Haney as a Christmas gift. I got the impression that because I was not a pro, a top am or up and coming junior that I was wasting his time. He even made a comment about me never hitting the ball "that far".
 
BigTex said:
Three of them that have popped on various list, Pat O'brien, Chris Como, and Chris O'Connell. Pat is a great guy, and really liked his teaching style. Would definitely go back to see him. O'Connell was ok, just never really meshed with him for some reason. Chris Como was great to work with, and enjoyed just being around him. Real bright guy, that has probably forgotten more technical golf swing and body movement stuff than I will ever know. His lesson was by far the most expensive of the group, but if it is in your budget would be worth it.
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I see Chris once a month and we go over some things and he is a bonafide swing genius. His understudy John Hardesty will be on a top teacher list very soon
 
Atxpkrgolf said:
I see Chris once a month and we go over some things and he is a bonafide swing genius. His understudy John Hardesty will be on a top teacher list very soon
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Yeah Chris definitely knows his stuff. Not sure why I just never really clicked with him. Could be he realized did not have much to work with once he saw my swing.:glasses-nerdy:
 
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