Golf lessons - Do you take them?

[cipher]

I hit a wall around a 5 and knew that I needed some help.  I started taking lessons last fall(have not been able to play under the new swing really yet).  I personally think it is very difficult at least from my perspective to get to scratch without any lessons for a lot of us.  I make probably a hundred allow motion practice swings a day to get a feeling for what I am trying to learn and then take it to the range and film for my evolvr lessons.

[rehmwa]

Self taught and pretty good, not great at all though. never took a lesson.

Until this winter - 2 lessons.  Swing lessons.  Got some basics and new info.

amazing results.  I'm sold.

You don't know what you don't know.

[ApocG10]

Yup, 3x/week in the summer (2 range sessions and a round together), 2x week in the winter, since a couple of months after I started playing I started playing. Summer and winter. Took me a while to find a coach with the work ethic and fundamentals I was looking for, but I did, and i've been very happy with him for almost 3.5 years now. The problem is, i'm now at a point where my game is as good as his, and its more maintenance and fine tuning than actually learning to swing. I have a lot of goals for this summer after having to skip the mid-am provincials last year due to my dads cancer, so its good to have someone as dedicated to my training as I am.

[hacker101]

I take them when I am not able to fix an problem, most of the time it is as simple as a set up or I picked up some bad habit . Good example was a slice I could not get rid of, for the life of me I could not find what I was doing wrong. It took one lesson for the instructor to see what it was, set up of the ball, posture and reaching. Now it is up to me to practice but i can now identify what I was doing wrong.

FYI I still have it once in a while, but instead of slicing my driver 8 out of 10 times, it is more like 3 out of 10.

[Mattplusness]

Too expensive for me right now. I'd like to, but I'm progressing very well for the amount of experience I have.

[RRLavigne]

Originally Posted by Rick Martin

how much practice/work do you do in between lessons?  I think for every hour of lessons you should work on your swing x1-2 times that in addition to playing.....I know people who expect dramatic changes without doing the homework/practice.

Good question, I'm a believer in practice and working on what I've been shown as much as possible. I still haven't been able to get outside. In New Hampshire some courses have opened and so have some driving ranges but it's still chilly (I don't like swinging while wearing a coat) and it's been raining quite a bit. I AM able to practice in doors with foam balls using my Optishot simulator. It's not REAL golf and foam balls sure don't feel like real balls when hit but i'm able to practice what the instructor shows me and get some good "calculated" feedback from the Optishot. The big thing i'm seeing with the adjustments he made in my swing during the 2nd class is it's much more consistant and repeatable. Also it's not causing blisters so the friction in my right hand is gone. My distance / club head speed according the the Optishot seems to have dropped a little but it's because i'm literally swinging more slowly making sure I do it as instructed while trying to keep control over the swing. (I was TOLD I need to SLOW DOWN.) Speed i'm sure will come in time, right now i'm much more interested in having a repeatable swing. Sooooooooo to answer your questions, even though right now it's simulated golf not real golf I'm probably practicing 4 to 6 hours a week between lessons.

On a side note, I'd recommend an Optishot to any golfer who lives where there are cold snowy winters if you have high enough ceilings to at least make full swings with your irons. So much better than putting the clubs away for 4 to 5 months ane better than using a new with no real ball flight feedback! (BTW i have nothing to do with Dancindogg, i just like the sim for the money)

[RRLavigne]

That should have said "using a NET" with no real feedback.

[AmazingWhacker]

Yep. I take lessons. I have had 2 teachers ... The first didn't help me much and I left discouraged. Didn't try again for about 2 years. The guy I go to now is great. I'm doing things I never thought I could. I only go once every few months. He gives me a concept to work on and I work independently until I either feel I've got it or give up and need more help. This approach really works for me. This will be my summer to break 90!

[RichWW2]

Took lessons about 15 years ago when I was first learning the game for a year or two.  Then had pretty decent coaching when I played on my high school team.  I would love to get some lessons now if I could find the right teacher (someone who will help me fine tune whatever mess of a swing I have, not try to change it completely) but I just don't have the time or the money to invest in lessons/range/playing every week for it to actually be worth it.  I still manage to shoot in the 80's most of the time so I'm okay with it.

[Rick Martin]

Decided to use Shawn Humphries (top 100 Golf Magazine teacher) in addition to Zach Allen (Golf Tips Magazine)

He's helped me on my short game tremenously.

http://www.shawnhumphries.com/

[GatorCallaway]

If you count Ben Hogan's Five Lessons, then yes. Other than that, nope. I take a lot of pride in figuring things out on my own and correcting mistakes.

[Rick Martin]

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

If you count Ben Hogan's Five Lessons, then yes. Other than that, nope. I take a lot of pride in figuring things out on my own and correcting mistakes.

Even the greatest golfers in history (Jack and Tiger) use a golf instructor.....

[Abbasc14]

When I was in junior high I was able to take 6 lessons over the summer at the country club we belonged to at the time, 3 range sessions and 3 9 hole lessons.  I think it helped me develop some good habits.  Before last summer it had been 12 years since I touched a club so I took 4 lessons because I had a guy who did them cheap b/c I knew his family and he knows I'm a poor nursing student. I think it's really nice, assuming you have a good teacher, to have someone there to help you.  Sometimes we develops kinks or bad habits in our swings, some of us bigger than others.  With them there with me, I know that I'm going to get 80-100 good swings because there are times when I start hitting them well and think I've fixed it, when in reality,the shots just looked good.  If you find a pro who is also a good teacher, I'm pretty sure most people could find some benefit in a few lessons.

[Rick Martin]

good luck w/ your nursing profession - just finished 23 yrs of working in the nursing profession - and golf got me through college - back then (80s) it was a cheap hobby (student green fees), kept me out of trouble when not studying....and now it's a pretty decent hobby to have as an older person