Could lessons have messed me up?

[tfauss]

Before i got lessons i was shooting low 40s, high 30s. I was pretty happy with my game, all except for my driver. This was the only reason i wanted to get lessons.

So i got lessons, and my drives came along really well for that whole week, but one of my usual bests( my iron play) became terrible. The next week we worked on my irons. I hit them awesome during our lesson.

After going home to practice some more with my irons and my driver, i was feeling that my drives were falling apart.

It turned up that a little less than a week later, i was doing terrible in both categories, and my game was falling apart. i played in a tournament yesterday and shot a 94, where i would normally shoot in the mid 80s.

Do you think i should have just stuck with my old swing, and not get lessons? Do you think he messed me up?

[TempoIsKey]

Hard to say, did you make some drastic swing changes?

[Keep It Simple]

It is quite possible you are now swinging with a hybrid swing - part new / part old. What happens is your instructor during the lesson keeps you working to the new standard. When you are on your own you slowly slip back to what is comfortable. I like it when an instructor has you exaggerate the feel of a new movement. This way you can always revert back to the exaggerated feel when you start to slip away from the new method. Example: If the instructor wants you to have a flat left wrist at the top of the backswing because you are cupping your wrist, then try severely bowing your left wrist at the top to get the opposite feel of a cupped wrist. It works for me anyway.

[tfauss]

I've only made a few changes. I've had to change my setup, have a different backswing where i swing the club back instead of picking it up, and make sure i keep my head behind the ball. That's all we really worked on.

[JML22]

you 're not into the changes yet
it takes time

[case31]

you 're not into the changes yet

I agree. Whenever I get a lesson, I'm a mess for quite awhile until muscle memory kicks in.

[JML22]

ya
with every lesson always expect to get worse before you get better

[sean_miller]

ya

Did you just say what I think you said?

[clam fist]

Stick with it.

[James_Black]

Did you just say what I think you said?

he's new.

He wasn't here for the thread lol. If your not hitting the ball well by the end of a lesson, you won't be striking be striking the ball well after the lesson. If you are striking the ball well by the end of a lesson, it'll take a few swings but you should be striking the ball well.

[sean_miller]

he's new.

Maybe he meant during the lesson - why would a pro send a guy out into the world if he hadn't grasped the concept covered in the lesson, before it was over?

[JML22]

No i meant that once your lesson is done, those concepts and changes he's making arent gonna stick
and you will get worse because your muscles need time to change to the new changes.

[ibigler]

my dad used to be a great golfer. key phrase, "USED to." He used to hit crazy long drives, have a delicate touch with his wedges. he took a couple of lessons and now he refuses to play golf because the instructor completely tore apart his swing... It really all depends on the instructor. If the instructor is great and individualizes his lessons, then it can help out your game, but if he thinks the same lesson can be applies to every player, then your in for a nightmare...

[Weezy]

my dad used to be a great golfer. key phrase, "USED to." He used to hit crazy long drives, have a delicate touch with his wedges. he took a couple of lessons and now he refuses to play golf because the instructor completely tore apart his swing... It really all depends on the instructor. If the instructor is great and individualizes his lessons, then it can help out your game, but if he thinks the same lesson can be applies to every player, then your in for a nightmare...

Ahh another satisfied Haney student eh lol. Well to the op the stuff you say you are working on are fundamentals, I'm not sure how you were shooting in the high 70's low 80's(high 30's low 40's) without doing those things. My guess is that you were too steep with you head in front of the ball, which let you hit your irons pretty well but had no chance hitting driver like that, and now you may have taken staying back too far and are flipping at it? I would say see the instructor until it's ingrained or at least get a tune up with him because like i said that stuff you are working on is fundamental and something you have to be doing in order to hit every club well.

[NZGolfer]

ya

Isn't an alarm bell supposed to go off when you say this?!?

[Weezy]

Isn't an alarm bell supposed to go off when you say this?!?

Why? Every pro i have ever seen make a swing change had a period of bad play before they got it sorted out. Which thread are you guys talking about as I a new here to.

[NZGolfer]

Why? Every pro i have ever seen make a swing change had a period of bad play before they got it sorted out. Which thread are you guys talking about as I a new here to.

Thats not true Pros who make adjustments often win tournaments its only the Pro's who drastically alter their swing who go through bad patches and this is because their old swing is so engrained that the have a hard time getting the new swing engrained so that its flawless. For the average joe, coming out of a lesson

you should be hitting the ball better because the pro should have made small change to improve your ball striking. There was a thread on this a while back btw.

[kafka01]

You cant really compare pros with us amateurs when we make a swing change. These dudes hit so many balls in their life, when they are gonna change something, its probably not a complete new feeling for them and they already know what it should feels like.

Completly different to us amateurs - if we change something, its most likely, we never expierenced this feeling before and have to get used to, and despite it might only be small changes we still have to get used to it - fight old tendencies and so on.... When i first visited a pro i had no idea what he was talking about and i just did what he told me - nowadays i like to keep my lessons more "discussion-oriented", discussing and understanding the effects a change in my swing has - that helps me work more efficent on the swing change.

I'm not sure how you were shooting in the high 70's low 80's(high 30's low 40's) without doing those things.

Easy forgiving course where you cant mess up? That masks a lot of swing problems, cuz people never bother fixing them, since they are shooting well already without putting too much though into it.