When to disregard or alter instruction

[Elmer]

My swing has been wildly inconsistent and all over the place. So I decided to take a lesson from my local golf shop. In the 10 years I have been playing golf I have taken a few lessons, of course it has been with 3 different people. The problem with golf instructors is that they don't seem to stick around for long.
Teacher 1 taught me about rolling my wrists through to generate head speed.
Teacher 2 taught me about keeping my left foot a bit out and weight forward, he also tried to change my baseball grip to interlocking grip.
Teacher 3 instructed me to keep my weight 60 right-40 left.
the other changes #3 made were to keep my head behind the ball and to swing effortlessly using the open door-close door method. He loosened up my right arm and winged out my left (beach ball between arms).
Teacher 3 was right about my swing, I am wasting a lot of energy and working too hard. Having years of baseball behind my I swing for the fences, with my swing straight back and coming all the way to the top and than over my head, like John Daly only with super stiff arms. I break my wrists at the top and as someone noted during my last round "you grunt like a women tennis player"!

I have to say the open door close door swing worked well, I was no longer shanking the ball and was actually intentionally drawing it. My swing is much smoother and I hitting balls with ease and there is little thought in my backswing as to  all the movements that can potentially falter!
However, I lost nearly 20 yards on my carry for all clubs and my back is sore from my new posture.

I am sure once I start working on my swing and get used to it, I can regain some yards.
But it feels soon awkward.

I know the voice in my head tells me you paid for the instructions, you sought help, listen to it!
But at what point do you take something new and adapt it to make it comfortable to where you could use it? Or do you stay the new course?

Edited July 22, 2016 by Elmer
add content!

[Rainmaker]

Kind of "none of the above".  I consider myself my own instructor.  My instructor is more like my consultant in this endeavor.  He takes a look at my swing, tells me what I need to work on, gives me some ideas for how to go about it.  Then I go about it - using his ideas plus whatever else I can find to help me fix what he told me needs fixing.  If I fix it, I go back for the next thing.  If I can't fix it, I go back for more ideas how to fix it.

If I were to disagree with his assessment or consistently not get results, I'd have to get another consultant.  Over time, a trust relationship builds up and I'm more likely to follow him blindly today than I would've been before - but I'm still my own teacher and the one in charge of whether or not I improve. 

I would definitely NOT ignore parts of the instruction but keep going to lessons.  Like . .if he told me to do something I thought was just crazy even after he explained the reason to me . .I wouldn't just ignore that one thing and keep coming for lessons.  I'd find a new teacher.

On the other hand, he did tell me to stop moving my legs.  I agreed with this but I couldn't do it and felt like I couldn't do it because I had other serious issues preventing me from doing it.  So he acquiesced and we started going over some of the things I thought were preventing me from steadying my legs.  Now that we went through that and I finally did stop moving my legs all over the place . . he may have actually been right . . IF . .he could've made me understand it.   

[Groucho Valentine]

I was given instruction when i first started, but this guy mostly worked on fundamental stuff with me. Grip, alignment, posture, pre-shot routine, etc. I pretty much developed my swing on my own, using those initial teachings as a base. You can never go wrong perfecting those fundamental things, then seeing what you have from there. 

I would go about using instructors as a trained eye, not the definite words on what you should or shoundnt be doing. You need to leave some room for yourself in there to find your swing.

[Rainmaker]

3 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

I was given instruction when i first started, but this guy mostly worked on fundamental stuff with me. Grip, alignment, posture, pre-shot routine, etc. I pretty much developed my swing on my own, using those initial teachings as a base. You can never go wrong perfecting those fundamental things, then seeing what you have from there. 

I would go about using instructors as a trained eye, not the definite words on what you should or shoundnt be doing. You need to leave some room for yourself in there to find your swing.

I totally agree with this for *some* people . .perhaps many people?  But I started the same way back when I was 15 or 16 . . I was shown grip, alignment, posture . .maybe not pre-shot routine . .and then started to build my own swing from there. 

Without serious intervention I would've been doomed to a life of always being the worst golfer you know.  I did not have any really good "instincts"  . .even today I can't really understand how anybody ever figured out how to swing a golf club in the first place. 

It is,like you say,on me to build my swing . .but some people need much more help along the way than others. 

[krupa]

Where's the option for asking enough questions to feel good about what the instructor is trying to get you to do so you stick with it long enough to completely solidify the change?  It takes time to make a swing change permanent and comfortable (remember "comfortable" is what you've been doing and you apparently want to change that, otherwise you wouldn't be getting a lesson.)  You need to be confident that you're going down the right road and that may require some additional questions of the instructor.

[Groucho Valentine]

2 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

I totally agree with this for *some* people . .perhaps many people?  But I started the same way back when I was 15 or 16 . . I was shown grip, alignment, posture . .maybe not pre-shot routine . .and then started to build my own swing from there. 

Without serious intervention I would've been doomed to a life of always being the worst golfer you know.  I did not have any really good "instincts"  . .even today I can't really understand how anybody ever figured out how to swing a golf club in the first place. 

It is,like you say,on me to build my swing . .but some people need much more help along the way than others. 

Thats also true, everyone is different. But to get better i believe golfers really need own their swings to a degree. It takes a long time and a lot of hard work to get to that point. I feel the good instructors guide students to do that. 

[Elmer]

5 minutes ago, krupa said:

Where's the option for asking enough questions to feel good about what the instructor is trying to get you to do so you stick with it long enough to completely solidify the change?  It takes time to make a swing change permanent and comfortable (remember "comfortable" is what you've been doing and you apparently want to change that, otherwise you wouldn't be getting a lesson.)  You need to be confident that you're going down the right road and that may require some additional questions of the instructor.

I don't know that I am comfortable with what I have been doing, my results vary. 
When I swing I have no idea what the results will be. Sometime I leak to the right, some times pull left. It has gotten to the point I am among left of the target with intention of the ball going left to right only to actually go straight  or left.

I am used to my swing by despise my results, may be a better way of putting it!
I am in search of consistency. I am also tired of being exhausted from playing 9 holes. As I said I put a lot of effort into my swing and I might be working too hard.

But he did work on correcting my alignment!

[krupa]

4 minutes ago, Elmer said:

I don't know that I am comfortable with what I have been doing, my results vary. 
When I swing I have no idea what the results will be. Sometime I leak to the right, some times pull left. It has gotten to the point I am among left of the target with intention of the ball going left to right only to actually go straight  or left.

I am used to my swing by despise my results, may be a better way of putting it!
I am in search of consistency. I am also tired of being exhausted from playing 9 holes. As I said I put a lot of effort into my swing and I might be working too hard.

But he did work on correcting my alignment!

In your OP, you said the change feels awkward, when I said "comfortable" I meant that whatever you were doing before the change that made you feel awkward was comfortable.  But maybe it was never comfortable... if you're tired after 9 holes, you're definitely putting a lot into your swing!

[KarenS]

It may be an issue of muscle memory. If your own techniques have become ingrained over the last 10 years, it will be difficult to try to retrain your body to perform differently. I think I once had a martial arts instructor that claimed you had to repeat a technique at least 1000 times before it became habit and was easy to perform without a lot of forethought. As for whether you were getting good golf instruction, you'll have to decide that!

[Piz]

I wouldn't disregard or alter instruction.  File it under Instructor A, Instructor B, etc...You never know when some distant thought will come drifting back...in a different context...and strike you in a new and enlightening way.  There is not now, and may never be, a Unified Theory of the Golf Swing.  It would be boring if there were.  It is better to have a collection of distinct opinions than a hodge-podge of discordant ideas.

[boogielicious]

I answered without question, but I usually ask my instructor for more detail if something is unclear. I understand what he wants me to do. We usually only work on one thing at a time, which makes it easier.

[saevel25]

I picked, "Adapt and alter to my needs".  Instructors and student give and take ideas to find out what works best. In the time between instructions a student might develop a feel that works better. It would be wise to run it past the instructor. For the most part a good instructor should help find out the feels and movements in the swing that work for that student. A student is always adapting information given. 

[Patch]

I voted the "adapt" one, since I am pretty much my own instructor now. Once on the course I will adapt my game that day, based on how I am hitting the ball, and what I know I can/can't do with my swing.  

I haven't had a formal lesson in 25-30 years that I can remember. There have been some useful tid bits I picked up along the way from others. That "swing the club head to right field" was a major break through for me. There has also been some other trial and error stuff. Some helped, some didn't. I know enough about my own swing to know what to disregard, or alter to fit what I am trying to accomplish. . 

[DaveP043]

3 hours ago, Elmer said:

I have to say the open door close door swing worked well, I was no longer shanking the ball and was actually intentionally drawing it. My swing is much smoother and I hitting balls with ease and there is little thought in my backswing as to  all the movements that can potentially falter!
However, I lost nearly 20 yards on my carry for all clubs and my back is sore from my new posture.

I am sure once I start working on my swing and get used to it, I can regain some yards.
But it feels soon awkward.
 

It seems to me like the changes have been an improvement, but you're torn.  Your swinging smoother and easier, with very little thought of things that can go wrong, that's a big deal!  Most changes DO feel awkward for a good long while, even when they're positive changes.  On the other hand, if your back is sore, that's generally not a good thing.  It seems to me that its time to go back for another lesson, to refine the changes you've accomplished so far.  Tell your instructor that your back is sore, you may be doing something wrong that causes it.  Tell him you've lost distance, he can probably help you get some of it back  Golf instruction shouldn't be a one-time thing, it can be a many-step process.  

So my answer to the poll, Adapt and alter.  But do that by working with your instructor.  He needs feedback from you to help him get you doing the right things.

[GolfLug]

If you have a good instructor who fully understands YOUR tendencies and your priorities it should ALREADY be adjusted to your needs. So unless you are getting a 'group lesson' I don't think one would need alter/adjust it to their needs.

  

   

[No Mulligans]

Knowing the "why" really helps me buy into and remember the "what".  I asked questions.

I really like video comparisons, if I can see that what the instructor is asking me to do puts more inline with the tour pro that I'm being compared too, that is when I can really buy into and dedicate myself to the instruction.  

Also, 5SK has been a huge help in me understanding the fundamentals and instruction.  5SK makes it easy to see for myself where some of my flaws are, it's really easy to see keys 1, 2, + 3 in a video.  What to do to correct the problems is the harder part.

One big benefit to having an instructor is it makes one accountable.  If the instructor gives me a drill.swing change, one reason I'll focus on it is to show the instructor in the following lesson that I've made improvement at the task at hand.  I like leaving lessons with an assignment.

 

[Elmer]

I have had a few days to practice the swing and new set up. I have not had the chance to go to the range but have been swinging in the back yard and hitting balls into the net.

If anything the idea of having a beach ball between both arms & starting my takeaway with my shoulders rather than the club, has slowed my down and kept me loose.
My short chips were looking good and headed where I was hitting them.

It is still going to take time to get used to setting up with 65% weight on the right leg, Also setting up with my head behind the ball. But that is something I can work on.

The take away and keeping my club on plane helps keep me from over swinging and getting out of syn with my hands.

The rest I have to work on.

 

[Elmer]

Went to the range Tuesday.
Worked on swinging with torso rotation, instead of swinging with the arms.
My old swing the arms started the take away, 
My new swing the take away is started by the torso and shoulders.

once I got it down my irons were working very well, with a nice consistent ball flight.

However, My driver still had a super slice, but I think I was getting tired and pushing it!

My back today hurts from the set up. Left shoulder a little higher and weight on right foot. Loose arms and smooth swing.

I have to play today and if it does not go well on the course it will be difficult not to revert back to my old swing just to get through the round!