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Why Don't You Take Lessons?


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If a kid was starting from scratch, I think once a week for about 4-6 weeks would be fine, then maybe once a month after that. For a late teen or adult who has been playing awhile, once a week is probably too much, unless they are doing a complete makeover. When I was 21, I took a few lessons, and my swing has not changed a lot in the er hm, few years since. ( I am mid fifties). I haven't had a real lesson since, but am considering one over the winter or early spring. I think every adult golfer regardless of ability, would benefit from at least 1 or 2 lessons every year. The OP question was why you don't, and for me I prefer to spend the money and time on playing golf, but really skipping a round and taking a lesson once a year would improve the quality of the rest of my play.

Don

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Driver: PING 410 Plus 9 degrees, Alta CB55 S  Fairway: Callaway Rogue 3W PX Even Flow Blue 6.0; Hybrid: Titleist 818H1 21* PX Even Flow Blue 6.0;  Irons: Titleist 718 AP1 5-W2(53*) Shafts- TT AMT Red S300 ; Wedges Vokey SM8 56-10D Putter: Scotty Cameron 2016 Newport 2.5  Ball: Titleist AVX or 2021 ProV1

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Hello every one I am a member of Canadian PGA, and teaching is a big part of my life. First thing I would recommend to all the forum subscribers is a book by Daniel Coyle The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How . Here we can learn why golf or music or anything we want to learn is so difficult. Determination is not the only thing, working on golf on your own is fine, but most do not realize how to do it. Physiological pathway have to be established and reinforced. In a proper lesson to establish a pathway the movement has to be repeated 100 times, then to make it stick 3000 to 5000 reps are needed. The pathway between the brain and your muscles will get Myelinated and you react, not think when you play. So to all you self doers 100 per day for 30 to 50 day will do it. Good luck and read the book it is eye opening.

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I have only had two lessons from a PGA apprentice at my local course and I sort of view him as a doctor for my swing.  I really only see him when my swing is sick..basically when I am struggling with something specific in my ball striking.  First lesson for me was because I had a tendency to hook my irons.  Second was to cure a slice with the driver.  The thought of having a weekly lesson seems beneficial but impractical to me.

Entropy thanks for adding your thoughts. I'm curious (given the purpose of your lesson and your skill level) how did you go about deciding that the apprentice at your local course was the right doctor for the job?

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. Shame I never carried on as a child and took it up late.

LATE ?!?!    I took it up at 46.    No telling how good I could have been if I started early when I had a good back & knees.    Could be worse, I was talking to the starter a few rounds ago & he started when he retired at 65 ...

John

Fav LT Quote ... "you can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"

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LATE ?!?!    I took it up at 46.    No telling how good I could have been if I started early when I had a good back & knees.    Could be worse, I was talking to the starter a few rounds ago & he started when he retired at 65 ...

I know the feeling. I was 51. Of course I'm still in just as good of shape :whistle:

Don't know if I would taken lessons as a kid, probably not. I like to think I'm a bit wiser now.

Jon

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Have you tried the 800s? I was going to get these because they are really cheap on ebay but the golf shop near me doesn't do a custom fit on that club. They only do 825 and EZ. Are the 825's forged or cast? I would prefer Forged because its what I am using now but i'm gonna give both a wack when I have the money. Nothing worse than falling in love with a club and not being able to buy it.

You'll find shops wont do custom fitting on anything that is not current year models.    Even if they have left over inventory, they won't do custom fitting on sale/discount clubs - I think it is actually manufacturer driven, the pro shops have to play by their rules.     The 825's are cast, not forged.   I hit the 800's - only in a simulator though - felt pretty good - probably couldn't tell the difference between them and the 800's in a blind taste test.

John

Fav LT Quote ... "you can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"

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I'm 28, just started golfing about 3 or 4 months ago. I haven't taken a lesson (in person) yet and don't plan to. I only have one day a week that I can actually dedicate time (more then 30-60 min) to golf. So I'd rather do online lessons/sites like this/and you tube (which from what I'm told is almost the same thing the instructor will tell me) instead of giving up time and money that I'd rather use actually playing.
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I'm 28, just started golfing about 3 or 4 months ago. I haven't taken a lesson (in person) yet and don't plan to. I only have one day a week that I can actually dedicate time (more then 30-60 min) to golf. So I'd rather do online lessons/sites like this/and you tube (which from what I'm told is almost the same thing the instructor will tell me) instead of giving up time and money that I'd rather use actually playing.

That's true to a certain extent, the difference is that a good instructor will know what to tell you and when to tell you. I'd recommend you mix the youtube foraging with some kind of online guidance so that you are addressing your issues/faults in the right order. Sometimes fixing X will automatically correct Y but if you start with Y you may never fix X or even make X worse.

Yours in earnest, Jason.
Call me Ernest, or EJ or Ernie.

PSA - "If you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING!"

My Whackin' Sticks: :cleveland: 330cc 2003 Launcher 10.5*  :tmade: RBZ HL 3w  :nickent: 3DX DC 3H, 3DX RC 4H  :callaway: X-22 5-AW  :nike:SV tour 56* SW :mizuno: MP-T11 60* LW :bridgestone: customized TD-03 putter :tmade:Penta TP3   :aimpoint:

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I'm 28, just started golfing about 3 or 4 months ago. I haven't taken a lesson (in person) yet and don't plan to. I only have one day a week that I can actually dedicate time (more then 30-60 min) to golf. So I'd rather do online lessons/sites like this/and you tube (which from what I'm told is almost the same thing the instructor will tell me) instead of giving up time and money that I'd rather use actually playing.

Lowkie how can you tell that you are actually doing what the video's tell you to do when you practice though?  That was my issue when I was trying to improve, sometimes I thought I was doing something I saw and was trying to emulate correctly but in reality I was not.  At least as it relates to the full swing, I found it hard to get the feel for doing something right without some immediate and intense feedback on a particular correction.  Glad its working for you though...

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I'm 28, just started golfing about 3 or 4 months ago. I haven't taken a lesson (in person) yet and don't plan to. I only have one day a week that I can actually dedicate time (more then 30-60 min) to golf. So I'd rather do online lessons/sites like this/and you tube (which from what I'm told is almost the same thing the instructor will tell me) instead of giving up time and money that I'd rather use actually playing.

If you only have 30-60 minutes how you gonna play a full round of golf that takes around 4-5 hours lol.

Its gonna take you quite a while to get decent if you don't put the time and effort in early on. I started 5 months ago and for the first 2 months I went driving range every mon-fri even if it was only 50 balls. Weekend I would practice on the field just on short game. Even in the house when you have a few minutes just practice chipping, putting and just drills to help out. My first score for a full 18 was 112. Its now 85 thats because I put the time and dedication in.

I do think you can get good by youtube though. I had 3 lessons and after that I just watched videos and there is so many out there to cure the things you are doing wrong. Good luck anyway.

Apologies for going off topic lol Its easy to get side tracked when I talk about golf.

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As I said in my post I only have one day I can spare more then 30-60 min and that would be the day I spend on the course. The other days whenever I get time I'm practicing doing drills or chipping in my back yard. My first 18 I shot a 150 (I know, horrible) now I'm just above 100 and still dropping a couple shots every round. @ReviewMyGolfPro in the drills I do there are "checks" where u check ur position relative to a point like an alignment stick so u can be sure ur doing it correctly
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I could never justify spending $100/hr on private lessons with so much cheap/free instruction out there. Between Hogan and Pelz's Books and online stuff I've found I managed to shoot in 70's rather quickly. Lessons are for people with money or poor reading comprehension.

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I could never justify spending $100/hr on private lessons with so much cheap/free instruction out there. Between Hogan and Pelz's Books and online stuff I've found I managed to shoot in 70's rather quickly. Lessons are for people with money or poor reading comprehension.

Wait for it... Wait for it... Here it comes...

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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Wait for it... Wait for it... Here it comes...

The anticipation is killing me...

Yours in earnest, Jason.
Call me Ernest, or EJ or Ernie.

PSA - "If you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING!"

My Whackin' Sticks: :cleveland: 330cc 2003 Launcher 10.5*  :tmade: RBZ HL 3w  :nickent: 3DX DC 3H, 3DX RC 4H  :callaway: X-22 5-AW  :nike:SV tour 56* SW :mizuno: MP-T11 60* LW :bridgestone: customized TD-03 putter :tmade:Penta TP3   :aimpoint:

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Entropy thanks for adding your thoughts. I'm curious (given the purpose of your lesson and your skill level) how did you go about deciding that the apprentice at your local course was the right doctor for the job?

The decision was based on convenience and mainly just a hunch.  The PGA apprentice who gave me the lessons teaches a lotal my local course and I eavesdropped a few times while hitting balls and I liked what I was hearing.  He has a very positive attitude, which I appreciate, and was also rather technical for someone giving lessons to a beginner which appeals to me as a golf geek.  I had come to the point in my game where I was scoring pretty well and my miss with the irons (hook) and shot shape (largeish draw) were pretty consistent but not desirable, so I figured I had just picked up a bad habit.  I tried to fix the problem myself using youtube, forums, golf channel etc, but eventually I realized I can't fix something when I don't know what the problem is .  I needed another pair of eyes to look at my swing and tell me what specifically to work on to tighten my dispersion and get my shot shape less extreme.  Since I didn't need a complete swing overhaul, I couldn't justify spending big bucks on lessons and the PGA apprentice helped me out for a $40 half hour lesson that really was more like 50 minutes.  After a few swings he was able to tell me that I was swinging too far in to out but the thing that was causing the most inconsistency was my tendency to sway laterally on the back swing.  He gave me a few drills and before the end of the day I was hitting nice high draws with the irons and my misses were much more playable.  I think the message here is, when you decide to get lessons you have to know what you want to get out of them.  For me, it was focus and direction, kind of like a tune up.  For others it might be more of an overhaul.

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I could never justify spending $100/hr on private lessons with so much cheap/free instruction out there. Between Hogan and Pelz's Books and online stuff I've found I managed to shoot in 70's rather quickly. Lessons are for people with money or poor reading comprehension.

How about not having the luck of being born with natural golfing talent?

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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Note: This thread is 3139 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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