should I play a round between lessons?

If you feel like playing, you should play. If you feel like practicing, you should practice. Evaluate why you are taking lessons in the first place. Most would say to strike the ball better in order to achieve a lower score. Golf is a game.  You are supposed to enjoy it. Chances are you will never achieve perfection, few do.  You can learn something from a round to take with you to the next lesson. Keep the prize in sight....I want to "Play" better.   so......as "Old Tom" sez......"Gooo Plaay"!   Far too many people get so obsessed with practice, they lose sight of why as I alluded to in another thread. Some agree with me, most do not.   Quite frequently, while out on the course, I will hit a shot that seems so absolutely prestine, I wonder what happened. Savour those moments, and quite often you can recall just enough to take them to practice and discover what caused it.  Heck, take notes if you like.  Hogan did.

What I have done the past few weeks (working on a big swing change, getting more upright was getting to flat going back) is I hit the range literally every day I'm off.  I was playing 5-6 rounds a week and now I am only playing 1. When I play I only try to make my swing I'm working on, I dint try to draw, fade, hit low or high or anything else.  I just try to play a normal shot and get it close to where I need it to go.  Plus you need to take it to the course some and see how it holds up under pressure.  It will be easy to get into old habits really fast.  You might enjoy a solo round so you can take your time and focus and not have buddies around you while you play.

Great post and answers by everyone and it's lots of fun to read everyone's insights.  Teaching the game for 33 years, this is something I get asked nearly every day with one of my own students.  Great question, should you play in between lessons or not.  I like working through the swing with a student and they know that after just 1 or 2 lessons that their swing might not be complete yet.  We've improved lots of things but maybe there are some we haven't touched on yet.  When they ask about playing I tell them the same as some of the other posts.  Go out and play and have fun but your swing might not be there yet since you haven't worked on it enough yet.  Most folks tend to go back to their 'old' swing when the get on the course.  Their new swing hasn't clicked in yet.  I think as long as they know that then they're not expecting any miracles.  Some of them do improve the very first time they try their new swing on the course.  Kind of depends on what we're working on and what changes we needed to make.  Time on the range is more productive since they can work on the new move over and over but is is rewarding when they can do the new thing on the real course.  Good luck with your game and keep us all informed.

Steve

I like about 60% of the weight on the back foot at address.  Picking up the left foot entirely is extreme but maybe your teacher was working on a feel with you or something.  I do teach, as Venturi, Hogan and Nelson all wrote about to have your weight a bit toward your heels at address.  A great checkpoint that's in all of their books is to be able to wiggle your toes at address.  Baseball, tennis and every other sport has your weight on the balls of your feet but golf is different because you don't go 'run after' the ball after you hit it.  I'm about 50/50 with my weight on mid irons and then go a bit more on the front leg for the high clubs.  Sounds like you're doing great.

S.

Here is something you might try:  Instead of trying to swing easier, try to swing twice as hard as you do now. The disastrous results "might" make you want to slow it down and in the process become comfortable with the idea. Just the effort in slowing down especially if you get immediate positive feedback, just might work.  Not saying it will, only it might.  Try it!

As an addition to this, you can always take one club up from what you would usually hit. Take a 7-iron instead of an 8 for example, which requires you to slow down at least a little so that you avoid flying the green.