What is my best option for lessons? Four different ones...

Here are my options:

1) The local pro: I don't know much about him, but should I assume that he's a good teacher because he's been at the club for 17 years? If so, this is what I'd like to do. 5 lessons are $185 total

2) Golf Galaxy: 3 for $150

3) Top Golf: If you don't have one in your area, it's basically an indoor facility. It's not Golftech, but they use all types of computers, things like that. 5 lessons are $275

What would you suggest?

I'm a 25 year old golfer who shoots in the 120's. My game isn't as awful as it sounds. Yesterday I hit 4 pars, but on two holes I scored 15's. Basically, my game is spotty. I can have an amazing hole...but the next might be complete garbage.

Suggestions?

Thanks vets.

I was in your boat last year. I'm 26 now and one year into golf. I did okay I guess last year learning the game from just books, the internet, and television, but I finally cracked a couple weeks ago and got myself a lesson.

I think the first place you should go is finding the closest PGA Teaching Professional and sign up for just one hour long lesson. See if you guys click (You probably will), and then decide whether not you wanna get a nice package deal with him.

When you do get the packaged deal, take a pencil and pad with you and try to quickly jot down some key notes after the lesson so you don't forget anything. Also, try to space out your lessons as long as possible, like 10 to 14 days. Swing changes take time to become part of your muscle memory, so the more you can stretch out of your dollar, the better. You will get much more out of the lessons this way too.

Four pars? That's really good at your stage. You have to have a good foundation to be able to do that, so kudos to you, but my final suggestion would be to really let yourself go during the lessons and let your teacher do his thing. You'd be surprised how many things you are doing wrong at your stage (mine too, don't get me wrong!).

Anyways, hope that helps. I think I'm going to sign up for lesson no.2 soon with my guy. He's a very young 70, I like his personality, and I respect his opinion on golf swing theory. He's probably forgotten more about golf than I can ever hope to know. I've also noticed a bunch of the low handicappers on these forums talking about stuff that he's tried to teach me to do.

Good luck finding the right teacher for you! Just poke around the area until you find one you gel with and then enjoy the process! The best teachers teach us how to practice by ourselves. He'll throw some solid drills at you that will keep you busy for a while!

This is all my opinion and you may take it with a grain of salt:

I think how well you click with your instructor is more important than your instructor's credentials or how long he's been somewhere. If you don't gel with the person teaching you, you will not take as much from the lessons. My advice would be to get the minimum lesson from your prospective sources and see what you think. I take lessons across town now because I like the instructor better on a personal level than anyone close by.

I'm a beginner too, but if it were me, from the sound of it I'd go with the local pro to start with, especially if he's got a good reputation and seems like a decent guy. If you play at the club a lot that might be a bonus too. I took lesson from the instructor at my course, and I see him frequently on the course. He's able to watch me play holes so he sees mistakes and tendencies in my swing in a non-instructional setting. He also stops and chats when he sees me, and offers some friendly reminders ;).

That's my experience anyway... your mileage may vary.

I had the same question when I was looking for a good instructor...
Chose the local pro (CPGA pro) Best choice I could ever make... I paid for 45 min lessons, most of our lessons go 2 hours... calls me twice a week to see how I'm doing... Makes me call him after my round to tell him how it went and what I need improvement on... gives me deals on equipment...
I found the Cookie Cutter instructor from the local discount store would just tell me what I wanted to hear instead of the bare bones truth and what my problem was, then try to sell me the next best driver that just came out...

I think you would benefit the most with lessons from your local PGA Pro. in my opinion.

I'm facing pretty much the same choice right now.

Today at the par 3 I had about a 5 minute impromptu conversation with the manager, an 80+ year old golfer who has been playing all over the place for a long, long time. I took one swing and in about 30 seconds he had identified a couple of really key things that I was doing wrong, and I noticed immediate improvement.

I think that the technical stuff can probably be very useful for tweaking when used by someone who really knows what they're doing with it - but, at our level, a bona fide experienced instructor is absolutely the way to go.

Thanks for the responses so far.

I'm heavily leaning toward going to the local pro for 5/$185. I can always go to my first one I'm sure and if I like him, add the next 4 and still get the $185 rate (it's 40/each).

I mean, the guy has been at the place since 1991 and it's a good course. He has to be at least decent or he wouldn't still be working there, right? I've tried looking him up online for reviews but found nothing.

Any other suggestions or is this a good idea?

Does anyone suggest a one hour session off the bat even though I've never met him?

I would go for your local pro, he has years of experience and will add a personal touch that pro's at golf galaxy won't.

As for the indoor lessons, stay away from them, thats what I have at golf college and feel that the instructor must be able to see the ball flight to teach effectively.

I too would suggest going to your local pro. I think the hands on instruction is much more benificial, they can take you through small steps that will lead up to big improvements.

Local pro, not a doubt in my mind.

I've had six of a paid 8 lessons this year so far with my local pro, and the relationship & teaching are so great. Dropped a whopping 24 strokes from one round to the next after 3 months of ingraining what I had been taught. Of course, I have a lot more strokes to go -- went from a 137 to 113. :D

Just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. I don't know about option #3 but GG is okay. If I buy any equipment, it's from one specific store because I trust the pro who's there. As far as lessons go, it's indoors so you can't see the ball flight however they utilize videos and to focus on the basics isn't such a bad thing.

As for your #1 option, don't assume anything. Just because he's been there forever shouldn't be your deciding factor. Having said that, ask him for references or at least sit down and chat with him for 10 or 15 minutes prior to deciding on lessons to find out about his teaching philosophy, personality etc. Let him know upfront what you are looking for and what you want to accomplish. The guy I ran into for my free PGA 10 minute lesson in May spent over 30 minutes with me and then spent another 15 minutes detailing what he would like to do if were to do a lesson package (short game, putting, course management). He's not the closest to my house but his personality and demeanor and not being super technical about the golf swing won me over. Also, the $185/5 lessons price seems very good (My lessons are $250/6 lessons). I would go with #1 but that would depend on meeting with him first. Good luck and let us know how it goes.