Do lessons frustrate you?

[ScottL]

Iv been playing golf for about 2 years now. In 2007/2008 I played about 11 times total. So far in 2009, Iv played 10 times. So I would say, Iv really only been consistently playing for 6 months or so.

About 2 months ago I signed up for 10 lessons at my local Edwin Watts. Today I took my 3rd lesson.

Is it just me, or do you get really overwhelmed and frustrated? Basically what we do is I take a few swings, then we analyze it on the monitor.

I left there so foggy headed, i almost wish I didnt go.

my shoulders at address are open
club closed a little instead of pointing to sky at 90' backswing point
my right elbow flares out too far from my body in backswing
in downswing, i dont bring club inside, but more over the top
i dont transfer my weight to front in followthrough
my left arm/elbow dont extend in followthrough

i guess I need time to digest this stuff. But do any of these seem like easy fixes? The elbow things are killin me when I was practicing them. Just not natural for me.

Left side is my original swing, right side is where he placed me and said more like where I want to be. wish I could attach video but its 30 min long... lol

[jonnythan]

That doesn't sound like a very effective teaching method to me.

Maybe for tweaking small deficiencies, but not as a primary instructional technique.

[ScottL]

I agree, but these are only lessons Iv ever taken. What should I expect? Basically all we are doing is watching video and drawing lines on screen. Then I have to try and mimic what he told me afterwards. But he has me doing my swing in pieces and its hard for me.

[jcard71]

I agree, but these are only lessons Iv ever taken. What should I expect? Basically all we are doing is watching video and drawing lines on screen. Then I have to try and mimic what he told me afterwards. But he has me doing my swing in pieces and its hard for me.

Your swing on the left to me looks better than your swing on the right. I know you've already paid for your lessons, so Im not trying to discourage you from going back to Edwin Watts, but here's what I would do... 1) Patience is the best thing you could do for your game right now. Developing a repeatable swing takes time, hitting a lot of balls and TIME 2) I googled the best teaching pros in Texas and here is the list... http://texasgolf.blogspot.com/2007/0...hing-pros.html Obviously the first one is out unless you have a lot of $$$$ to blow. When I decided to take the game seriously, I found the best teaching pro in my area, with the best reviews and went to him.

[CarlSpackler]

I know my teacher just works on one tweak at a time and does not go to the next until that one is gone. It's a longer process, but more effective in the long run I think.

[Eeryck]

I think you need to go into a lesson very open-minded. You also need to give feedback to their method, if you are getting overwhelmed with the technical bits ask them to tone it down some.

For me, I like to see the video of full swing about 3-5 times a lesson with all the subilties and possible corrections so I have the information. After looking at it and hearing it I don't actively think about it at all just push it to the "back brain."

Then when working with the swing in real time, we typically work on a portion of the swing to fix the biggest error as decided by the pro. Here I only want one thought and a drill to work on. More than that and I will get overwhelmed and not do much right at all.

I remember one time where I was getting things pretty quickly in a lesson and the pro moved on to the next item, I was not ready and politely told him that was too many things for one lesson. We spent the last 30 min of the lesson working on the things that I had understood already just to make me more comfortable with them and less prone to forgetting them.

Fortunately for me the pro I am working with and I have very good lines of communication.

Remember, no one can read minds though, if you don't speak up a bit, they can not adjust their teaching style to your learning style.

Regards,
-E

[Leftygolfer]

I agree that is too much. I have had one lesson this year. The changes I am making are 1) moving a little farther from the ball 2) a much weaker grip 3) staying down through the shots. I know there is more to work on but he limited to this. These things felt awkard and wierd so he wasn't going to combine more than that. He said I should turn away from the ball more but said that is enough. It was. It was really wierd but now it seems more normal to me. I feel myself getting closer to the ball at times. I know when I am doing this becuase I come over the top and hit pulls.

[ControlJunkie]

I think Eeryck nailed it on the head. Dont be scared to voice your concerns (in a respectful way) to the instructor and establish good lines of communication with him, so that you can tell him when it gets to be overwhelming. I had the same problems when working with someone and got really frustrated. I'm lucky that I have a really good friend that is a high school coach and is also going for his golf teaching certification later this year. Working with him was almost an instant improvement because we worked on my two biggest swing flaws first and I wasnt overwhelmed with overly-technical advice that I really didnt understand.

I still think the single biggest reason that he was so much more helpful to me is because I felt perfectly comfortable telling him to slow down, or asking for clarification on something, or going over a certain point again.

[ScottL]

okay, edited my swings from today to a shorter video with just 2-3 swings. Quality stinks, but let me know if you guys get anything out of this. Thanks

http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...t=Untitled.flv

[ScottL]

i made this real quick... feel free to critique me

[flopdarock]

hmmm okay first off... im a huge fan of club fitting and golf lessons... that being said...
i dont think every teacher is best for every student...
from what i can understand... it seems that your pro is using a cookie cutter lesson plan that isnt suited to you but to a more seasoned golfer...
im thinking he's assuming you know alot about golf terminology/cause and affect/ lingo etc etc and isnt properly "teaching" you what he's trying to have you accomplish...
its more of... if you copy this pro's swing... you will "be" like him... but everybody has a diff swing... pro or not...
i think somebody that has been playing seriously for awhile would get a lot out of lessons like this because they'd have a better understanding of what does what...
whereas a person that is very new to the game has no clue what they should be looking at and why things do what they do in their swing...
too bad you dont live around here... id recommend you to some really good teaching pro's that are very affordable and will even help you "outside" of their lesson plan

[RC]

ScottL,

RE: the thumbnails side by side with Tiger. You obviously get into good body positions, but at the top of your backswing, your clubface is closed compared to almost every opinion of the golf swing. So I am guessing you may fight pushes and pulls.

Compare Tigers clubface and left arm and you have a far more shut clubface.

If it works well and you are happy with things then I would not worry about it. If you are a bit inconsistent, then the shut position (and maybe very strong grip?) could be the reason. Lots of people play just fine from closed positions and strong grips, so take this with a grain of salt.