New at Golf

[brookskoepkaclone]

Hi everyone,

I am an 18 years old male and I just start playing golf two months ago. I take golf lesson once a week for an hour at a cost of $140/hour.  I also practice on the driving range on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 2 hours on weekday and 4 hours on weekend.  Prior to golf, I am also a very good athlete, I was trained as a tennis player since the age of 6 and have been a very serious tennis player until a few months ago.  I played four years for my high school varsity tennis team at #1 single and double.  I could have played tennis college but have decided not to.  I also do fitness training everyday for 90 minutes.  My favorite golf player is Brooks Koepka.  Currently, I am 5 feet 11 and 175 lbs.  I would like to put on a little more muscle but my instructor is totally against it but I look at Koepka and he is pretty ripped.  Is my instructor right?

I pickup golf two months ago and absolutely love it.  I hit about 200 balls on weekdays and 400 balls on weekends at the driving range.  Today, for the first time, I can drive the ball straight close to 300 yards long on a consistent basis.  I am so happy.  With the 7 iron, I can drive the ball about 175 yards with nice trajectory.  My golf instructor said to me that my golf game is improving quickly because I am a good athlete and that I know how to rotate my hip and quite relax when I swing the club, just like a tennis forehand.  He said that I should not play on an actual golf course for another three months, once I master chipping and putting. 

Is my instructor right?

One other thing, my tennis UTR rating is 11.5 and I've been doing it since the age of six.  How long is it going to take me to achieve similar in golf, or is it already too late for me? 

TIA.

 

[dennyjones]

Welcome to TST.   We're glad you've decided to join and participate.   I believe it's great you  found an instructor to understand the basic.   Great idea.   

I don't believe it would be unrealistic to jump on a golf course for a practice round of golf.  You'll learn a lot about your game playing and realize it's different on a golf course compared to a driving range.   

 

[ChetlovesMer]

Greetings and welcome to the forum. 

I don't know your instructor. Having said that. If you want to play golf then go play golf. If you want to put on more muscle than put on more muscle. 

I really can't think of a reason not to play golf if that's what you want to do. Did you ask your instructor why he doesn't want you on a golf course?
As far as muscle goes, just continue to work on your flexibility. 5' 11" and 175 is a long way from over-muscled. At some point your muscles will affect your ability to move, but you aren't there. 

[iacas]

I think a few things:

• Weekly $140 lessons? Your guy must love you.
• 300-yard drives and 175-yard 7-irons, and you haven't gone on a golf course? I mean, you can be a +2 without doing either of those things, and yet you've been playing for… a month? A few months? Even if it's two years… hmmm?
• What's the frequency of the above?
• You should start a Member Swing topic, even if it's just for you to write down what you learn in your weekly lessons and ignore anything anyone has to say to you.
• Go play golf.

[StuM]

IMO you've already done more prep-work than many joining the game.  Go have some fun on the course.  

[Carl3]

11 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

5' 11" and 175 is a long way from over-muscled. At some point your muscles will affect your ability to move, but you aren't there. 

Chet, those height/weight measurements mean something different at 18 than at 48. In Jr High I was 5'-7", weighed 145 lbs and bench pressed 225 lbs. I bet this guy has some pretty low body fat and could take us both on in a rumble.

[ChetlovesMer]

9 minutes ago, Carl3 said:

Chet, those height/weight measurements mean something different at 18 than at 48. In Jr High I was 5'-7", weighed 145 lbs and bench pressed 225 lbs. I bet this guy has some pretty low body fat and could take us both on in a rumble.

Well, to be truthful, I'd be very worried about anyone that couldn't take me in a rumble. 🤣

Even if he takes his shirt off and looks like an anatomy chart, I still think he's a long way from the kind of bulk that actually starts destroying your flexibility. Amazingly, in the face of tons of evidence to the contrary, it's still a common misconception that muscular people aren't flexible. That's simply not true. If you work on your flexibility while you gain muscle there's no reason you can't be built like a Greek God and still be very flexible. 

 

[mcanadiens]

Imagine spending over $1000 on lessons, hitting thousands of practice balls over a two-month span and then going on the course for the first time and finding out that you hate golf.

Lessons early are great and something I really should have done myself, but @brookskoepkaclone has definitely taken it to an extreme here.

[StuM]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

I think a few things:

• Weekly $140 lessons? Your guy must love you.
• 300-yard drives and 175-yard 7-irons, and you haven't gone on a golf course? I mean, you can be a +2 without doing either of those things, and yet you've been playing for… a month? A few months? Even if it's two years… hmmm?
• What's the frequency of the above?
• You should start a Member Swing topic, even if it's just for you to write down what you learn in your weekly lessons and ignore anything anyone has to say to you.
• Go play golf.

Just curious, my lessons are $65 for 1/2 hour or $120 for an hour (Private).  "Juniors" are $80/hr.  Only a little below @brookskoepkaclone stated.  Naturally, price goes down a little if purchasing multiple lessons at once (ie: @ $380 for four 1 hour lessons).  Are you saying we are paying too much?  I would expect geography may play a roll in pricing.  What would you consider reasonable?

[brookskoepkaclone]

1 hour ago, StuM said:

IMO you've already done more prep-work than many joining the game.  Go have some fun on the course.  

Thank you.  I was raised by a "tiger" mother and white father.  My mother tortures me on the academic side and my father tortures me on the athletic side 🙁.  My father is looking around for golf country clubs to join and he is narrowing it down to two expensive one.  My father wants me to keep practicing at the driving range until we become members which should happen in a couple of months.

I was supposed to start college last month but covid-19 threw off my plan.  I am taking a gap year so I have plenty of free time working on my golf game, tennis, physical fitness, and working on improving my guitar and vocal.  Because of the covid-19 pandemic and my mother has compromised immune system, I do not hang out with people my age without risking passing covid-19 to my mother.

I also purchased the swing caddie last week and I really like this gadget.  I don't know if $140/hour is reasonable or not because my father is in charge of the bill.

17 minutes ago, StuM said:

Just curious, my lessons are $65 for 1/2 hour or $120 for an hour (Private).  "Juniors" are $80/hr.  Only a little below @brookskoepkaclone stated.  Naturally, price goes down a little if purchasing multiple lessons at once (ie: @ $380 for four 1 hour lessons).  Are you saying we are paying too much?  I would expect geography may play a roll in pricing.  What would you consider reasonable?

My father told me that he took several private lessons from Butch Harmon back in 2010 at $1000/hour.  My mother still makes fun of my dad every now and then that he still sucks 😁.

I live in Potomac Maryland, and it is an expensive COL area.

[FlyingAce]

Sounds like your Dad is planning this out for you to get into golf to achieve more than just playing for fun. If you feel you want to go out and play, I don’t see why you should wait. Unless you have to listen to your dad (since he is paying for everything) and your coach (since it sounds like you are in some sort of accelerated/structured training more than normal lessons/practice), then you have no choice but to wait for their approvals.

Your Dad must be really into golf - I am surprised he did not start you any sooner!

Anyway, welcome to TST and to the game!

Edited October 5, 2020 by FlyingAce

[iacas]

3 hours ago, StuM said:

What would you consider reasonable?

My comment was more about the weekly part of that sentence.

[StuM]

55 minutes ago, iacas said:

My comment was more about the weekly part of that sentence.

👍

[SAGolfLuvr]

For that kind of money, I hope your instructor takes you with him several times to Par 3 courses and then for your 1st round on a real golf course. I'm sure he's concerned about your accuracy and your short game. The previous responders are correct that learning must also happen on the golf course. Par 3's are fun and challenging and will definitely help prepare you for a real golf course.  

 

[iacas]

29 minutes ago, SAGolfLuvr said:

For that kind of money, I hope your instructor takes you with him several times to Par 3 courses and then for your 1st round on a real golf course. I'm sure he's concerned about your accuracy and your short game. The previous responders are correct that learning must also happen on the golf course. Par 3's are fun and challenging and will definitely help prepare you for a real golf course.  

$140/lesson is pretty average.

[SAGolfLuvr]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

$140/lesson is pretty average.

I'm used to paying that in a package deal for multi-lessons. Good news is I have met many good instructors willing to teach me and charge between $40 and $60 per lesson. 

[iacas]

50 minutes ago, SAGolfLuvr said:

I'm used to paying that in a package deal for multi-lessons. Good news is I have met many good instructors willing to teach me and charge between $40 and $60 per lesson. 

That's awfully low.

I'm $80 and incredibly inexpensive.

Anyway…

[brookskoepkaclone]

12 hours ago, iacas said:

That's awfully low.

I'm $80 and incredibly inexpensive.

Anyway…

I agreed that $80/hour is incredibly inexpensive for golf.  I used to take tennis lessons twice a week until this spring and the tennis lesson costs $170/hour at a tennis academy in Maryland (JTCC).  A few years before that, I took tennis lessons from a former Junior Wimbledon tennis double champion for $200/hour. 

the golf instructor I am taking lessons from used to compete in the PGA tour for three years so I guess $140/hour is a good deal. 

Since the start of this year, my mother hires a personal fitness coach to train her back in shape, and I also got to train with the fitness coach.  The fitness coach is a former 4 times Olympian and a gold medal at the world championship in Track and Field.  He put my mother and I on a healthy and "extreme" diet to whip us into shape. He has also been helping me to put on lean muscle.  I hope it will not mess up my golf swing.  I feel that I am in very good shape because my best time for the one mile run  is 4 minutes and 40 seconds.  I ran the marathon events, around a high school track, two weeks ago with ten other runners and I completed it in 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Golf is also giving me the opportunity to bond with my father.  I am not close to my father like I am with my mother.  Since I am not attending college this year, I have a lot of times to improve my golf game and fitness.