First lesson tomorrow. Need advice.

[bamagrad03]

Hi guys! This is my first post, thought I'd seek your advice.

First of all, a little background: For all intents and purposes, I'm completely new to golf. When I was 13 I went to the range with my dad and crushed it like a child prodigy. Went 10 years later and could barely make contact. Slice was awful, and a few times almost hit the person next to me.

But, I want to learn to play. Seriously. I love golf, but that last trip to the range made me incredibly gun shy and I haven't been since.

So I decided to get a lesson. Since I'm basically a clean slate, I really wanted to get a lesson before I learned a bunch of bad habits.

I'm 6-4 210 and athletic. But not very flexible.

My questions:

Can you guys offer any tips/pointers/keys for me in how to approach this lesson? What should I expect to get out of it? What's the best way to retain what I get out of this lesson?

Should I follow up immediately with practice? Or should I get a few lessons under my belt before I start pounding balls at the range?

Is it wise to supplement my lesson with instructional DVDs or books (I did pick up Ben Hogan's book)...The 5SK series that I've seen on this site is very intriguing - but maybe it's not for new golfers...

Since I'm completely new, any insight would be immensely appreciated.

Love the site, so glad to be here! (sorry for the long-winded first post)

[Harmonious]

I think you have raised some good questions.  Rather than pose them here, I would suggest you ask your new instructor what he/she thinks.

[WUTiger]

Just go into the lesson open-minded. And, you're right, you can start with a clean slate given your limited playing experience.

A big part of Lesson #1 is getting to know the pro, and him or her getting to know you. Be ready to tell him what goals you have for your first golf season. Be sure to mention your concerns about flexibility. He can watch you and possibly suggest an exercise or two.

Toward the end of the lesson, the pro hopefully will give you a couple of drills to do to reinforce what you've learned.

You need to allow practice time before you take your second lesson. You'll never really learn the game without some practice - on range and on the course - between lessons. Some pros will tell you to phone them if you have an early swing problem that disrupts your practice.

Teaching pros vary in their approach to beginners. Some start out teaching putting, move to chipping, and then to full swing. Others will start on full swing.

Once your swing starts to take shape, some pros will give you a video summary of the lesson - before, and after. You can review this before you leave for practice. Or, you can load it onto your iPhone and play it when you get to the range.

Welcome to golf, and keep us posted.

Note: Stay away from "how to" videos the first couple of seasons. Player X may have a swing plan quite different from your pro's, and this could mess you up more than help you.

[glock35ipsc]

Only thing I can offer is approach your lesson like you've never played before.  Don't go in thinking you already know this or that, and let the instructor evaluate your swing and see what he/she recommends.  After that, focus on just one or two things to work on.  Any more than that will just scramble your noodles.  At least, that's how it worked for me!

I played my first round about 2 years ago, then went to see an instructor before I played my second round.  He had me thinking of so many things and wanting me to focus on so many things, that I think I played better my very first time out than I did after that lesson!  Two years and two other instructors later, my current awesome instructor and I focus on just one or two things during the lesson, then my practice revolves around that until we see each other the next time.

Originally Posted by WUTiger

Note: Stay away from "how to" videos the first couple of seasons. Player X may have a swing plan quite different from your pro's, and this could mess you up more than help you.

^^ Definitely agree!!

[lisevolution]

I decided to take lessons as pretty much a brand new player after going out and hacking up a couple of mid 130's rounds with some coworkers and I'm glad I did it early because I was already starting to develop some terrible habits.  I'm using golftec because I liked the idea of leveraging their video system to go over my swings and identify what I am doing wrong.  I definitely agree about trying to connect with the trainer though because even though we've only been working together for a few weeks now I already feel like he gets where I'm coming from and what my goals are and that makes the sessions go super smoothly.  Go into your lesson with an open mind and most importantly, listen to what he's telling you.  After that it really comes down to practice to try and get things to come together properly.  The weeks I am able to invest the time practicing whether at the range or hitting into a net in my backyard the results are much stronger and the feel of doing things properly definitely sticks.

[Goat Green]

About 2 months ago, I decided I wanted to start playing golf.

Just like the OP, I took a lesson from a Pro before doing anything else, "so that I would be a clean slate."

Here are two big mistakes I made:

1. Practicing too often. Once I get into a groove, then I probably can't practice too much. But when starting out, I hit enough fat shots that my left wrist started to really hurt. So I took a few days off, and now I only allow myself to go to the range every other day. I work on putting and play the par-3s on days I am not at the range. Point being, bad technique can result in injury, and starting out, I have a LOT of bad technique. So it is best to "walk before I run" so to speak.

2. Too much information. I asked my instructor for a good practice routine. He said "for now, I just want you working on the toe-up to toe-up drill." But did I listen? noooooooooo. I had to try to learn pitching,chipping, bump and run, etc etc etc all at the same time, and it was all too much to keep straight. So I dialed it down a bit, and now I just do toe-up and full swings at the range, and play par 3s for fun on alternating days.

When I started, I would hit maybe one good ball for every 20 bad. I would miss completely, skull it, hit it fat, slice, draw, you name it. But after only 2 short months of practicing or playing at least an hour almost every day, I know that I am making progress. The golf swing is REALLY HARD to learn how to execute properly and consistently. But we are better off because there aren't old bad habits that need to be undone. Just put the time in and you'll see results. Hope this helped a little bit and good luck.

[bamagrad03]

I was really happy with how the lesson turned out. I think most people would be bummed out if they went to their first lesson and didn't even swing.

But I'm so new that the details like grip, address, posture, etc have to be learned properly. And that's what we did. I had a really weak grip. Rolling that hand over feels really foreign, but when he showed me how it squared the club face, it made sense.

I just wish I took a lesson a long time ago. Thanks everyone for your input!

[bkovach06]

glad your lesson went well! i was coming off a should surgery and was around a 14 handicap before surgery, so i took a couple lessons to help find my groove as i could not figure it out by myself, best thing i did, got my swing back and the game is fun again, if you can afford/have the time, lessons are a great idea! good luck in your progress!

[bamagrad03]

I tagged along today with my fiance for her lesson and hit about 10 balls. Most of them sucked, but I poked a 7 iron 170 yards and that one shot made me forget the 9 other worm burners.

This stuff is so much fun. And I'm not even playing yet!

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by bamagrad03

This stuff is so much fun. And I'm not even playing yet!

Keep that attitude.

And don't expect anything ...  that way, the good stuff feels really good.

Sort of like sex ... but not.