Just reading this entry gets my blood boiling. We either had the same first instructor, or they learned the same teaching technique.

Of course, why would we (newbies) think it was anything but our own fault when we don't progress? In retrospect, I now believe mine had given up after our initial lesson. How anyone can approach their job with that kind of indifference is beyond me. I wish he had simply told me he wasn't interested in taking me on as a student.

Oh well, live and learn.

That's a shame. I hate to hear those types of experiences. It's amazing how many awful instructors are out there. I got to know a guy I saw frequently giving lessons at my old range. I overheard some pretty terrible advice he'd give different students  i.e. "Don't worry about your clubface so much...it's the path that will direct your ball flight." He'd have new students on the green all day and say " We'll get to the range..that's your least concern right now...it's right here on the green that separates the good golfers and the bad golfers" just killed me. You're right though, live and learn. I hope you haven't lost faith because there are some really good instructors out there. Just do some research and you'll find one.

I was very eager to learn and wrongly assumed that because he was a certified PGA Instructor that he was qualified to teach me how to properly swing a club.   I spent at least 10 hours per week practicing what he was taught me only to find out a few years later it was a completely flawed swing.  

I found a great instructor at the end of last year who took video of my swing when I first walked in his door (the first instructor of the four I've been to ever use video analysis).  He was pretty amazed that after taking lessons for 3 years my swing was so fundamentally wrong and that none of them used video as part of their lessons.

Wow @newtogolf, that is an incredible story, my sentiments echo @JonMA1 and I would be extremely upset.  I do not understand how that person could be a PGA certified instructor with his main advice being to "add a little salt".  One would think that the swaying would be part of the first set of major issues to notice and address.  That the instructor thought you should purchase and spend that kind of money on instruction for a full year before you would be comfortable and able to play a round on a course would have sent me over the edge.  I don't understand how a pro could think that people would pay that type of money and make that type of commitment to not see good improvements in a respectable time frame.  

I love the video that my instructor takes, (once I have a few more things worked out I will probably start a my swing thread). One of the very first things I noticed was the swaying I was doing, and just seeing it helped me out tremendously to remember to keep my head steady and to coil. 

For everything you went through starting out it's good to see that you still love the game and stuck with it.

This is a great set of blog entries, thank you for sharing with the group.  

This hits home here as well.. My first instructor told me I had no swing flaws to fix... As I'm hitting them left right and rarely center...  I'm glad those days if ignorance are gone!

@newtogolf, you should be in writing business.  You've got talent.  Maybe, you can turn your blogs into one.  I enjoy your writing (but I am a little impatient reader and I can use a cliff note version ).

Thank you all for the positive comments.  Hopefully this will help anyone who is new to golf to avoid making some of the same mistakes I have.

Unfortunately, all of us have similar beginner's stories. Newer people will probably make the same mistakes many of us did.

The real crux of the matter is that we all have unrealistic expectations of ourselves in the beginning. Most of us thought or think "How hard can it be to put a ball into a 4" hole from 400 yards away in 4 strokes?". The game is deceptively hard, and some people reading this are probably thinking "I'm an exception and hit farther than everyone else and can chip and putt like a pro. . ." We don't.

Really, this game is hard, but can be played at any level of proficiency on the same course. Scratch players and 36 handicaps can even play from the same set of tees. The double bogey golfer hits one good shot (not necessarily with a good swing), and thinks that with a little more practice and or lessons that he can easily be as good as the scratch golfer someday. Every time you miss a shot, do you think "I can hit better than that because I did it 10 times in a row at the driving range." We should really ask ourselves, "Could I, really?"

I think real improvement only comes when we realize what we can actually do on the course, and how good those better players really are than us.

The key is in your title.