Bad Expensive Lesson Experience

[wakefield724]

I been golfing about 9 years now and occasionally get lessons when I feel i hit a  plateau. I wanted lessons on putting and short chipping as that is the weakest part of my game. I found a lessons flyer from pro golfer my local simulator and shot him an email. I told him that I only wanted to work on putting and short chipping as that is what im trying to improve. He told me $160 per hour and i agreed. 

We meet up at the putting green and i told him again that im really focusing on improving my short game with putts and short chips. He seemed anxious doing so and we spent about 10 minutes putting where i hit maybe 10 balls. Immediately took me to the range and wanted to work on my irons. I can confidently say i am a great iron striker. I stink at everything except irons. He spent the entire session trying to get me to change my swing entirely. Being a 6'7" 315lb muscular guy, i dont have the flexibility or swing as others. He didnt accept that.  

Morale of the story, i completely wasted my money. Only thing i learned is to keep my head down a tad longer when putting and that more money doesnt equivalate to higher quality lessons. 

[ChetlovesMer]

After the 10 minutes of putting, when he suggested going to the range to hit irons, did you question why he wanted to do so? I'm curious as to his answer. 

 

[billchao]

24 minutes ago, wakefield724 said:

I been golfing about 9 years now and occasionally get lessons when I feel i hit a  plateau. I wanted lessons on putting and short chipping as that is the weakest part of my game. I found a lessons flyer from pro golfer my local simulator and shot him an email. I told him that I only wanted to work on putting and short chipping as that is what im trying to improve. He told me $160 per hour and i agreed. 

We meet up at the putting green and i told him again that im really focusing on improving my short game with putts and short chips. He seemed anxious doing so and we spent about 10 minutes putting where i hit maybe 10 balls. Immediately took me to the range and wanted to work on my irons. I can confidently say i am a great iron striker. I stink at everything except irons. He spent the entire session trying to get me to change my swing entirely. Being a 6'7" 315lb muscular guy, i dont have the flexibility or swing as others. He didnt accept that.  

Morale of the story, i completely wasted my money. Only thing i learned is to keep my head down a tad longer when putting and that more money doesnt equivalate to higher quality lessons. 

To be fair, if you’re HI of 16 is accurate, you’re not a great ball striker. That said, if you went to him for a putting lesson and he agreed, then didn’t give you a putting lesson, why did you pay?

[StuM]

I've never had a pro not focus on what we agreed to.  Usually there is a conversation about my game, strengths & weaknesses and they they watch a few swings, usually starting with 6i so they can see where I am at and then we agree what to focus on but if I say "I want this" then that is what they do.  Right or Wrong, it is My money, My time, My lesson.  They can turn it down if they want.

[wakefield724]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

After the 10 minutes of putting, when he suggested going to the range to hit irons, did you question why he wanted to do so? I'm curious as to his answer. 

 

He came there with the mindset of changing my iron swing before he even saw me. He immediately asked if i wanted to go to the range on arrival. I mentioned in that i said in the email i just wanted to learn how to putt better and maybe short chips. He seemed annoyed, watched me putt, showed me one thing and skipped chipping all together. Really weird guy. Like he knew what he wanted to show me before he even saw me swing. The main thing he wanted to show me was to turn my hips more like im pulling a lawnmower pull rope and to open my clubface during my backswing. I have lifelong knee injuries from college football. That rotation caused me pain. He didnt know what to do when i told him i was pain and he saw it was hurting me. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

To be fair, if you’re HI of 16 is accurate, you’re not a great ball striker. That said, if you went to him for a putting lesson and he agreed, then didn’t give you a putting lesson, why did you pay?

Both parts of this are what I’d have said.

You may be conning yourself. Also, you shouldn’t have paid.

[colin007]

I'm a relatively big guy, but I'm gonna go along with p much whatever the 6'7" 315 lb dude wants to work on lmao