1 lesson, how much improvement???

I read a thread a few days ago describing the improvement in someones game with each lesson they had. I'm going through the same thing at the moment so I thought I would document my results as well.
I'm mainly doing this as I firmly believe a lot of high handicappers (like myself) do not realise how much difference a few lessons will make & would prefer to use the money on the latest "wonder club"

I have been playing for around 2 years, I play most weekends. I got a handicap of 21 last year & haven't really got near that since. My driving has caused me to lose a few shots in OB every round, my irons were inconsistent, chipping & putting were usually the round savers, mainly because I could practice these in my garden & living room.

I was contemplating a few lessons to straighten my slicing driver & tweak my irons, then I had the 9 holes from hell. I went round in 76, mis-hitting every iron & drive, that was it, I went straight in the clubhouse to book some lessons.

I booked 1 lesson (I'm new to the club so I wanted to see what the pro was like before comitting to more).

On the morning of the lesson I was feeling good about getting my driver straight & hopefully having a play with the irons as well, if we get time. 1st instruction, hit a few 7 irons to see where we are. I couldn't hit a good iron shot for love nor money, so the whole swing rebuild began....

I thought my swing was almost right but just needed some tweaking, boy was I wrong, my swing plane forced me to come over the top on the downswing, I was swinging mainly with my arms & he wanted the baseball grip changed to Varden. First thing to do was get the club back on plane & the downswing more from the inside (feels like your trying to hit the inside of the ball & push it out to the right) also getting a bit of rotation in there as well.

My biggest mistake was booking a tee off time for just after the lesson, I had a terrible round trying to change my swing on the course. After the round I went to the practice ground for a few hours to try to get this "new swing" feeling a bit more natural, this is what I should have done instead of playing a round. I came off the practice ground feeling like I had made some real progress. I booked up a course of 7 lessons which start this Saturday.

I played my usual 9 holes on Wednesday evening & amazed my buddies by carding a 42 (par 34) which is by far my lowest for ages, hitting some amazing approach shots & keeping all my drives in play, still had a fade & some hit the rough, but they were still in play!!!!

I can't wait for the next lesson, weight transfer & lower irons are next on the list from my instructor. He seems to have a plan on how he wants to progress, after the results of the 1st lesson I will leave it up to him.


I will update the thread after each lesson.

That's great, and awesome you're showing improvement so quickly. Sounds like you've got a good instructor.

I got on really well with the instructor, he explained things in a way I understood without too many technical terms. I really couldn't believe the results after one lesson, we are starting with 1 lesson a week & hoping to space it out nearer the end of the course of lessons.

The price is reasonable as well, £105 for 7 lessons, around $160.

Awesome on the improvement.. I'm 2 lessons in and I can see the improvement coming but I'm not hitting the course yet. I want to really get my swing changes ingrained so I don't have to think about it when I'm playing. My plane was pretty good and grip were good but the posture change and hips have me more inconsistent that I was with my ball striking but more consistent with the directional misses

That's a good idea. My friend gets a lesson every week, and then goes and plays on the course on the weekend. He gets so frustrated because he is getting worse before he gets better due to the changes in his swing, which of course leads to him getting pissed off and irritated.

It would probably help me if I didn't hit the course, but I just can't say no when my buddies ring me up with the tee off time

We are having some good weather in UK at the moment as well & that doesn't come along very often so I want to make the most of it. I wish I could disappear for 2 months & work solely on my swing, then meet up with my buddies again & show them the full extent of my improvement, but I miss golf too much when I'm not playing.

great on the improvement! are you naturally athletic?

I'm on the same path. Took one lesson, played a round, and was horrible, worse than before -- mix of old with new, and couldn't rely on either. Now, six lessons later, I haven't been on the course yet, but my confidence on the range is soaring. It's been a couple of months of intense training, but by far the best golfing months of my life. The time on the range has really become fun for me, and it's just that -- me time. I'm ready to get on the course again, this time with a whole new swing ready to go.

For us high handicappers, I firmly believe, after having experienced both, that our best time and money is spent on with lessons & range time, instead of trying to put it together on the course.

I never work on the course. I don't try and hit shots I've never tried and I don't make changes to my swing. All my posture, alignment, etc is worked at the range and when I hit the 1st tee box I trust what I've worked on and go with it.

This weekend I'm playing with my pops over memorial day and we'll see what swing changes and 3 lessons and a lot of practice get me. I"m looking forward to it

Yes I'm reasonably athletic, I played football (soccer) for 20 years, I'm now 31 years old & still in pretty good shape. I'm of quite a big build & 6 foot tall.

I find playing rounds while learning is useful as you get get different lies on the course than you wouldn't get on practice ground or the range, as long as you don't take the bad scores to heart & enjoy the good shots. My instructor is not discouraging me from playing rounds, in fact quite the opposite. In general I'm a fast learner, so when swing changes are made they become ingrained quite quickly making it quite easy to change my swing, the downside is that it would be just as easy for me too slip back to my bad habits, only time will tell on that!! The changes in my swing from just one lesson were quite dramatic, I felt like giving up after the first few holes & going back to my old swing, but my playing buddy kept encouraging me to keep going. Now I can see the improvements, on the course, I want to keep learing & keep getting better. One piece of advice I would give though, if you are going to take lessons, listen to the pro & try to do what he says. There is no point having lessons if you are not willing to change any aspects of your swing, stance or grip. I had a friend who had a course of 5 lessons, but at the end of them said "it feels too wierd, I'm going back to my old swing" he is still stuck on a handicap of 26, after playing for 7 years.

A couple of really important things about playing a round after lessons. 1.) Don't try to "tweak" what you're learning during the round. Just stick with it. and 2.) Don't get discouraged when it takes time to bring it to the course.

Sounds like you're on your way - Good Luck!!!

I try not too take any notice of my score just after a lesson (unless I win

) but just take the positives of good shots. When playing straight after the lesson, I just concentrate on doing what I have just learnt, not a hybrid of my old swing & new adjustments.

Right I have just got back from my second lesson (couldn't make Saturday so I brought it forward) heres the update:

We started again with 7 iron, I was hitting much better shots this week so we quickly moved on to a 4 iron (I hate the 4 iron, never been able to hit it)

I started duffing a few in my usual fashion with a 4, so the pro got me to start moving the weight to the inside of my right foot on the backswing, massive improvement (for 2 shots). He then told me I needed to get my hands "higher" & keep my right elbow tucked in, it felt very strange & uncomfortable to start with. As I swung more & more it started to feel a lot easier, & to my amazement, my 4 iron started going high & straight.

I think this is going to take a lot of getting used too, it almost feels like my hands/arms are getting too high & the weight wants to go back to my front foot at the top of the swing.

I can now understand what people mean when they talk about turning against your right leg & feeling the resistance. It does feel like I'm sort of winding up.

I am playing 9 holes this afternoon, I will post my score later. I'm going to go to the practice ground as well to try & get these changes feeling a bit more normal.

I have the next lesson booked for 30/05/09 so I have a bit of time to work on this.

Hi all just a quick update on how it's going.

I have had my 3rd lesson now, that was working on keeping my elbows tucked in. We did the "towel under the arm" routine. I have worked on that a bit swinging in my garden (not hitting balls, just concentrating on keeping my arms more together)

I played 18 holes on sunday & really got it settled so it feels comfortable now. There was no-one else on the course so I got to play 3 balls on every hole, I got quite a few pars (but then you expect that when you play 54 holes!!!).

All the work i've put in was put to the test last night though, I turned up at the course to play my usual midweek 9 holes with my mate, only to find it was a stableford club night. My mate rang to say he couldn't make it, so the only way I could play was in the competition with 2 strangers & from the dreaded WHITE TEES!!! Anyway I was a bit nervous but did really well. I scored 18 points, with 2 blobs, 2 pars & a birdie!!

The blobs were a bit annoying as I hit good shots, thought I would find the ball so I didn't hit a provisional.... Big mistake. Still at least I have learnt for next time, if it is slightly dodgy hit a provisional, you can always pick it up when you find your 1st ball.

I have a week & a half until my lesson (I'm trying to space them out a bit so I get time to work on what I have been taught before learning something else new) So all is going well & I'm in love with the beutiful game... long may it continue.

I have had one lesson recently and I am very happy with my results. I am still hitting some wild shots but my good ones are really good.

People should expect to actually get a little worse when taking a lesson. With changes, it feels awkward. At least that is the case for my grip change. I feel like the club could just come out of my hands but it hasn't.

That is great though. Congrats.

This is certainly true, the number of people I have heard say after a lesson "it feels really uncomfortable, I'm going back to my old swing, it feels better."

If you are not willing to change your swing, don't waste time & money having a lesson

Ive been taking a lesson a week for 3 weeks now, saturday is the fourth, I bought a 10 lesson package, and my game is improving dramaticly. I cant wait for my handicap to come back after this reporting period. My average round is low 90's, and ive broken 90 4 times in two weeks.

me too. I'm still not totally comfortable with my longer irons/fairway woods, so instead of duffing it up on the course going for it all the time, I lay up. So far it's been a much better strategy for me; keeps me in the short grass and out of the bunkers.

I took 2 lessons to focus on chipping and putting and they helped a lot. I now have a better, consistent putting routine and I corrected some bad habits I developed over the last 10 years: moving lower body slightly when putting and corrected my weight being shifted from my back foot to front foot when chipping. Best 80 bucks I have spent.