Lesson Thursday afternoon/Scramble Friday?

And above all, and you don't need to be told this, but I'll say it anyway: do not take swing change advice from playing partners. It happens enough in casual rounds, and I wonder how much it will happen in a round where your partners' score depends in part on your performance.

Perhaps reschedule the lesson? I don't like the grip it and rip it attitude I get in scrambles when some one else gets one in play. I tend to swing for the fence which allows bad habits back in my swing.

The problem is that the teacher has like a 3-4 week wait time. I made this appointment 3 weeks ago..I really don't want to reschedule. I think, if the changes aren't too drastic, that I will be okay.

Yeah, good luck with that - you're a braver man than me. I've had my first lesson ever but I spend every swing on the golf course (and I spent 4+ hours hitting balls on the range) trying to do those things.

I never said that incorporating changes would be easy.

I have taken lessons before and actually went and played rounds right after the lesson and didn't have a terrible day...its not like it can't be done.

I am getting older but I don't think I will forget what he told me in 2 days.

Sure you did: "Or should I incorporate the changes during the scramble?"

"Should I use the changes right away?" is golf-speak for "it will be easy" even if you don't literally say the word "easy."

Besides, a lot of lessons seem to be about doing drills or exaggerating something in order to generate a new kind of feeling - the kinds of things that don't really involve full golf swings under tournament pressure (i.e. for a score, not necessarily any pressure beyond that). Perhaps your guy's just a "quick fix" kind of guy. If so, I've never seen those types of teachers really improve the quality of their students' play.

You'd be surprised.

Look, I'm not you, I don't know you, and all that jazz, but it seems to me you're either not taking your lessons very seriously OR you're simply content to not get as much out of the lessons as you could. I've never heard or seen a golf instructor say "yeah, take a lesson, continue to use your old swing, and then try out what I tell you a few days later." I've never heard them say "go play a round that matters right after you take a lesson with me." It's just my opinion, but you don't seem to be doing yourself any favors.

If the changes are pretty easy and not major, you might be able to play with them the next day. However, if they are pretty extensive, then I would not play using them. It takes time to learn to trust a swing change. All it will do is frustrate you and take you out of your game. When Tiger started to change his swing, he took time off so he could really learn the change. Even after time off, it took him over a year to make the change second nature. Good luck, have fun, and go loooooooow

Wrong. That implies whatever YOU read into it.

Sorry iacas, I usually agree with you, but in this case I relate with and understand what the poster is saying and think you might have missed his meaning.

As I read it, the original post is asking if he should stick with a new swing and risk struggling mightily as a result (which is in no way making light of a swing change, he is acknowledging that this could be disastrous for his score), or if he should bail out and use his old swing at the risk of ruining the progress he makes in the lesson.

honestly if you, and for that matter anyone reading this, are taking lessons and taking them seriously as you should be if you are paying. get a small booklet, and IMMEDIATELY after the lesson write down in the book anything the pro went over. This way you can always revert back to the book for the changes. Its something anyone serious about golf should be doing.