I definitely prefer once a month for the sake of money. Not to mention that the odds are, my swing changes wouldn't be made in just one week.

Money aside..not that is not a consideration but...for the learning value..I think it depends on your skill level. If you are a beginner and "really" want to get better weekly make sense. 

I recently took a couple lessons a week apart and I liked it and it helped me a lot. Less to work on at the range at one time, and a quick checkup for stuff I might have gotten wrong. But for me, I have plenty of time, so that is not a consideration.

When I was taking instruction it was focus on the one aspect till I got it.

i never got it even with 3-4 times a week practice in less than a month or more.  It takes time for even what seems an easy quick change.

I'm voting weekly because I believe that if you are really committing to change and working on something in your swing, monthly is too infrequent to ingrain that change into your swing unless you are also working on it (properly) between lessons.  Weekly forces you to go back and keep progressing.

I think a good option (if someone wants to go monthly) would be to have a longer lesson up front to decide what it is that needs to be worked on and then a series of weekly (or, at worst bi-weekly) lessons after that to make sure things are on track.

Just my opinion.

I initially chose weekly but after taking lessons, I changed my mind.

The piece my instructor showed me was a lot to chew on. If I went weekly, I'd probably be exposed to too much information, and get a bit confused. While it's good to have a professional to help, a very important and enjoyable part of golf for me is self discovery.

I like to drill a move, explore it, sleep on it, then wake up and do it again. Gotta show improvement the time, and respect it requires. Suppose it all depends on where your game is though, and then your talent, discipline, and creativity. For me changing the picture in a weeks time is pretty ambitious.

I...WILL...NEVER...EVER...TAKE...WEEKLY...LESSONS...AGAIN!

My final word on the matter.  -Marv  

I know it's not an option, but I think bi-weekly would be good for me. Gives a little time to adjust to the suggested changes. I need to jump on the lesson deal that's going on at a local course. They offer 10 1 hour sessions for $300. Absolute best I can find in my area. Lord knows I need it... lol 

3 hours ago, MarvChamp said:

I...WILL...NEVER...EVER...TAKE...WEEKLY...LESSONS...AGAIN!

My final word on the matter.  -Marv  

Why ?

Not that I disagree. But I'm wondering about your reasons.

I'm experimenting on this question - take a lesson, go 4X to the range, take another lesson, about every 10 days. The reasoning is if you go off for a month or two without feedback, the old habits take over again. Having quick feedback cuts the old habits cycle. I'll take 6 lessons over 2 months and see what occurs.

If I'm told to work on a piece, I want to be sure I'm working on it properly. The longer I go between lessons, the more time/progress I'm wasting. This is why I just can't get the whole video lesson thing going. Set up the video station, do my thing...then wait a few days or longer to get input only to find I wasn't doing anything right. Rinse, repeat. At least weekly I can maybe salvage any progress and get back on track if I've been doing something wrong all along.

11 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

Why ?

Not that I disagree. But I'm wondering about your reasons.

Right...Sorry to be cryptic.  Probably my bruised ego talking when I recalled my experience.

When I came back to golf after a long time and as an oldster, I paired with a coach for two series of 5-6 lessons. He wanted at least 1 per week, sometimes 2 and I wanted to progress as fast as possible.

It was a big mistake. I learned a lot in my head but never internalized more than a few. Plus I found his communication skills lacking, and I was too proud to say "Hey, this isn't working for me."  It was an expensive lesson to learn.  So now it is my goal to work only with a coach who respects and understands the limitations of the senior golfer...1 lesson at a time, 1 thing at a time to work on. Thanks, Marv

1 hour ago, MarvChamp said:

Right...Sorry to be cryptic.  Probably my bruised ego talking when I recalled my experience.

When I came back to golf after a long time and as an oldster, I paired with a coach for two series of 5-6 lessons. He wanted at least 1 per week, sometimes 2 and I wanted to progress as fast as possible.

It was a big mistake. I learned a lot in my head but never internalized more than a few. Plus I found his communication skills lacking, and I was too proud to say "Hey, this isn't working for me."  It was an expensive lesson to learn.  So now it is my goal to work only with a coach who respects and understands the limitations of the senior golfer...1 lesson at a time, 1 thing at a time to work on. Thanks, Marv

Thanks for the feedback. 

First I wonder how hard it is for the average instructor to stop advising beyond '1 thing' when they see multiple issues

Second, (and I always analogize this to piano lessons I took as a kid), how realistic is it that the weekend golfer goes away, spends hours fixing an item, and comes back improved.

Third, it is probably hard for an instructor to separate their honest desire to help, from their need to maximize income for themselves.

1 hour ago, gregsandiego said:

Third, it is probably hard for an instructor to separate their honest desire to help, from their need to maximize income for themselves.

Yes, as it turned out the coach..highly experienced, etc....was struggling financially and to stay in his position. So he "pushed" a bit. But the fault was all mine, I think. I had unrealistic expectations of what we could achieve and of my own capabilities. I thought I could return quickly to past glory!  -Marv

In that scenario I would prefer the weekly lessons. The cost isn't that much greater, and the ability to have much more frequent feedback generally will help you stay on the right path whereas a month between lessons can let you wander off a bit. 

That said, I haven't taken lessons in several years (except for the very helpful advice @iacas has given me on occasion). I've tried several instructors, but they've all just told me to not change my swing (which is the wrong answer, I know there are improvements to be made). When I was taking lessons, however, I was helped the most by frequent lessons rather than expensive ones. 

Price is fairly loosely related to quality, when it comes to golf instruction. I think constant check-ins to make sure your priority piece is making progress is much more useful than one long lesson where you try to cram as much information as possible into the one hour since you won't have another opportunity for a month.

8 hours ago, MarvChamp said:

Yes, as it turned out the coach..highly experienced, etc....was struggling financially and to stay in his position. So he "pushed" a bit. But the fault was all mine, I think. I had unrealistic expectations of what we could achieve and of my own capabilities. I thought I could return quickly to past glory!  -Marv

So today, what's your lesson schedule?

"So today, what's your lesson schedule?"

I have found less is more. Once a month for 45 minutes. Then, practice range twice a week (sometimes three) and Saturday golf round. Plus daily prayer and meditation to help increase patience and humility.

-Marv

13 hours ago, iacas said:

Sounds like a possible "you get what you pay for" situation…

Absolutely seems like that. The only thing that gives me hope is that is a really nice course but their 18 hole prices always beat ever course in my area on Golfnow. Usually $20-$30 year round for 18 holes with a cart. If they can offer quality golf at that much of a discount then maybe they can offer quality instruction at that much of a discount also. I have no idea how they can do it but I'll just have to see for myself. The only reason I don't play there all the time is the course is a little above my skill level at the time being. Here is a link if you would like to check out a few pictures of the course. Lake Arrowhead Golf Course

I'll go once maybe twice a month depending what going on with the game. My instructor does 1/2 hour lessons and I find it's pretty much perfect for working on one thing. 

Twice a week with a coach for 1 hour, and now daily range practice and rounds of golf.

this was also my schedule pre-injury.

I go for a lesson on Tuesday and on Friday to clarify above. He watches me, tells me where I'm improving, sends me video in slow-mo using lines in blue and red to show where my arms, club , and body should be with audio over the vid explaining in depth what to work on every Sunday.  Sunday and Monday I hit balls, with his vid on my phone, and hit ball, after ball, after ball. Work on the changes. Tuesday he sees what if anything I corrected, shows me physically how to do it at quarter speed, and makes me practice, and then I practice an hour Wed/Thursday, lesson again Friday. 

I went to to a bunch of pros until I found one I liked and who really put effort into it, and has the teaching ability to get it ingrained in my body and head.

Every shot I'm going through a checklist in my mind, do this this and this while avoiding this. Grip, wrists, arms, shoulders, hips, feet. I'm going through everything kinda like my own pre launch check.  Saturday and Sunday is just playing golf. Warm up with half a small bucket, then to the course. 

On 5/21/2017 at 11:59 AM, gregsandiego said:

Thanks for the feedback. 

First I wonder how hard it is for the average instructor to stop advising beyond '1 thing' when they see multiple issues

Second, (and I always analogize this to piano lessons I took as a kid), how realistic is it that the weekend golfer goes away, spends hours fixing an item, and comes back improved.

Third, it is probably hard for an instructor to separate their honest desire to help, from their need to maximize income for themselves.

 

 

I guess it depends on how many things are wrong with a particular swing -- my experience with GolfTec years ago was that they seemed to pick one random thing to work on each lesson. Since I was doing several things wrong in my swing, fixing one thing at a time meant that I went from making (bad) contact to completely mis-hitting the ball for months and months since only parts of the swing were being fixed.

If your swing is closer to where it needs to be, working on one thing at a time makes sense, but if you're over-the-top, reverse-pivot, flipping hands, and over-swinging all at the same time, fixing one thing at a time won't work (personal experience).

As far as lesson tempo is concerned, it seems to be a function of a) how well you adapt to the swing changes, b) how often you practice between lessons, and c) your personal timeframe for getting better (i.e. weeks/months/years).