My Golf Experience

[iacas]

Iacas,

I really enjoy your feedback. The is the part im struggling with. Actually coming up with a plan to get better. Putting the work in is not an issue. I go to the range almost every other day in the spring/summer/fall even. To be honest, money for lessons is not an issue. I am very passionate about getting better, Im just not sure how to do it....

Okay. Cool.

Change the picture.

Work on one thing at a time (your priority piece).

And… .

Buy the book in my avatar too. :)

And start a My Swing thread.

[Lihu]

Iacas,

I really enjoy your feedback. The is the part im struggling with. Actually coming up with a plan to get better. Putting the work in is not an issue. I go to the range almost every other day in the spring/summer/fall even. To be honest, money for lessons is not an issue. I am very passionate about getting better, Im just not sure how to do it....

Go see @iacas , and you will be on your way to improvement. It's worth the plane fare to Philly to Erie. They have a world class facility there. You live so close to Erie, I'm kind of jealous. You should really take advantage of your close proximity by going to Erie at least once.

Have not broken 80 yet from 6000 yard tees, yet, but I did shoot 39 on the back 9. This took only about a year of working with Mike and Dana out here in So. Cal.

[iacas]

Go see @iacas, and you will be on your way to improvement. It's worth the plane fare to Philly to Erie. They have a world class facility there. You live so close to Erie, I'm kind of jealous. You should really take advantage of your close proximity by going to Erie at least once.

To be clear, I'm not angling for that at all, and Philadelphia is not close to Erie, @Lihu .

John Dunigan is in the Philadelphia area, and @lhagsjr is happy with his instructor.

[Lihu]

To be clear, I'm not angling for that at all, and Philadelphia is not close to Erie, @Lihu.

John Dunigan is in the Philadelphia area, and @lhagsjr is happy with his instructor.

I'm still kind of jealous of his close proximity. I took the twin engine plane into Erie from Philly and back, and it only took about an hour each way.

Okay, I'll state that If I were him, I would go to Erie. (I just know that Mike is going to lobby for me to go to San Diego. , But I did offer, and he said Long Beach is fine. ).

In any case, you have a superb facility in Erie.

[DrvFrShow]

Hags,

I want to add to @iacas

There's a lot of instructors in this area. I'm taking from the $60/45 minute guy. The guy I'm taking from now played on the tour for a while, but unfortunately wasn't good enough to make it big, and decided that other things mattered to him - like having a family and raising his kids. He's a golf coach. Real nice guy. Still he plays in regional tournaments and shot a 61 this summer to win one.

He didn't tear everything down and start over. Well, probably because there was a lot I was doing right. The golf swing is a complex thing. My own video showed me that at least I'm swinging on plane and I have a good follow through. I'm not going by the front video because I knew exactly what I did at the time we shot that - yes the ball went out there, but I hit fat and didn't get the weight shift. I wasn't done with lessons by a long shot. So now we're going to work on fixing these little things.

See, I have some balance issues related to a medical condition, so I may never get perfect with that. I have Meniere's disease. I have arthritis in my feet. My right knee is shot from playing basketball and running. When I started playing you should have seen my right leg on my back swing. It wobbled when my weight shifted. I'm working on balance exercises and strength training. I may never swing like Lexi Thompson. I'm too old to have that kind of flexibility, but I'm an athlete and I'm going to keep trying until I can't anymore.

We have a woman in the ladies club who is 89 years old. She's out there playing every week, twice a week, and she kicks my ass. She shoots around 92-94. My guess is that in her prime she was shooting in the mid-high 70s. She's an inspiration.

So I'm sure you'll do fine. Just remember to do what your coach tells you and not think too much about stuff. Try to get to the range a couple times a week, weather permitting. Or do they have indoor practice facilities where you are?

[lhagsjr]

I looked up John Dunigan as I was curious. He is 45 minutes from my house which is not a big deal at all. I looked at his site and his program is basically 2500. Is that expensive? Yes. Would I spend it in a second if it guaranteed good results? Yes.

What is the connection with John?

[Lihu]

I looked up John Dunigan as I was curious. He is 45 minutes from my house which is not a big deal at all. I looked at his site and his program is basically 2500. Is that expensive? Yes. Would I spend it in a second if it guaranteed good results? Yes.

What is the connection with John?

I just looked it up as well.

I would start with:

The Golf Enthusiast

This program will help you make a considerable improvement to your game this season!

• 4 Total Coaching Sessions
• Available Services:
  • Ball Control Skill Development (range practice)
  • 9 Hole Playing Lesson (counts as a double session)
  • Trackman Club Delivery and Ball Flight Analysis
  • Golf BioDynamics 3D Swing Analysis!
  • Video Swing Analysis
  • The Wedge System Training
  • Bunker Play
  • SAM Puttlab State of the Art Putting Training
  • High Performance Putting Session
  • BodiTrak Shift Weight/Pressure Analyis
  • Equipment testing and evaluation session

Tuition: $650 White Manor Members: $595

[iacas]

I looked up John Dunigan as I was curious. He is 45 minutes from my house which is not a big deal at all. I looked at his site and his program is basically 2500. Is that expensive? Yes. Would I spend it in a second if it guaranteed good results? Yes.

What is the connection with John?

He's one of the 5SK instructors. I've spent time with him and can personally vouch that he's a good instructor. That's all.

The $2500 price is likely just one of many programs he offers. PM me your information if you'd like me to pass it on to him and he can contact you.

[FireDragon76]

I can see how investing in lessons could create a lot of expectations.   Expectations that are probably unrealistic.

Maybe focus less on taking lessons and practicing at the driving range and focus more on playing golf?

[Abu3baid]

I can see how investing in lessons could create a lot of expectations.   Expectations that are probably unrealistic.  Maybe focus less on taking lessons and practicing at the driving range and focus more on playing golf?

Well if golf is something you want to do long term then you could invest a little in instruction to make it more fun! 40 a month for evolvr is how I did it, and it is go at your own pace so you can do 3 months out of the year and still get a lot out of it... for example I'm taking two months off because I know what I have to work on, and until I change the coach will be telling the same thing.. it is worth it!

[turtleback]

Im going to make a serious commitment on Saturday. I believe in my instructor(the 2nd one). I forever whatever reason cannot take my success when with him to the range or the course but I only had 3 lessons with him and they were far apart.

It is pretty much the end of the golfing season here(Philly). Im going to buy a 10 pack of lessons(for the price of 8) and go religiously to him every 2 weeks.

My goal is to be respectable(contact wise) by spring. If I cant reach that goal in 10 lessons, its just not happening....

It sounds like you have gotten great advice on the lesson/pro side of it.

I will just throw in that it looks like one of your problems is that you tinker with what you have been told and then ingrain that "tinker" by practicing it.  I suspect the problem with lack of improvement is more one of bad practice than bad instruction.

Some of the game improvement packages I've seen in my area include "supervised practice" sessions, which is something Erik also mention upthread.  I think something that includes these might be helpful to you because it would make sure you are practicing in a way that is productive of long term improvement, not just improvement for this session.

For example. if you scroll down this link from a guy in my area (do not know him or his instruction - example only) you will see that his winter programs are much more heavily weighted towards supervised practice than lessons.  Maybe if you can find something like this in your area you could use the supervised practice as a) a learning experience of how to practice, and b) a periodic check up on your unsupervised practice to make sure you are staying on track with what you need to be practicing.  It is kind of the same idea as Erik's suggestion of getting check-ups in between lessons.

http://www.collindalegolfacademy.com/2013-2014%20Winter%20Program%20info%20sheet.pdf

[lhagsjr]

its 100% bad practice. I made a major commitment. I joined a CC. The one my instructor works at. Im all in for at least the next 14 months.