Your experience with golf lessons

[Trooopers]

I'm on the fence on taking lessons.  I realize that I'll only get better with golf instruction and committed practice but not sure if I can commit to it.  I'll likely get worse before I get better.  My handicap is ~12; nothing pretty about the swing (it's quite awful actually) but I don't usually blow up on any holes...last few rounds at some tough courses in the low 90s.  I average a round a month, but usually in spurts...play 3 or 4 rounds on a golf trip then I won't touch the sticks for weeks.  I play the local muni's, high daily fee courses (such as Half Moon Bay) as well as some exclusive clubs.

Have you taken lessons and how was the experience?  How long will did it take to see an appreciable difference in your game?  How many sessions did you take?  Where did you see the biggest improvement in your game?

Thanks.

[Shindig]

17 hours ago, Trooopers said:

Have you taken lessons and how was the experience?  How long will did it take to see an appreciable difference in your game?  How many sessions did you take?  Where did you see the biggest improvement in your game?

Thanks.

I've had two batches of lessons in my time.

* Starting:  I took a bunch of lessons the first year or two.  In person, same guy.  Went from "what I think the swing looks like in video games" to "able to hit the darn ball and break 90".  Handicap stagnated in high teens, especially after I stopped taking lessons and focused on short game (big mistake in retrospect)

* A few years ago, online lessons.  Click on the "my swing" link in my signature, look at the first and last posts in it to see the evolution of my full swing.  I went from "breaking 90 means I played very well" to a 13.0 handicap at the lowest (today's update is 13.4, I should update my profile on TST).  These are via online lessons through evolvr, practice mostly in summers (I'm trying to avoid that trap this non-summer!)

[iacas]

17 hours ago, Trooopers said:

I'll likely get worse before I get better.

Why?

One of the biggest misconceptions that I can think of.

[Trooopers]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Why?

One of the biggest misconceptions that I can think of.

 

Because any slight adjustment feels awkward.

[Trooopers]

1 hour ago, Shindig said:

I've had two batches of lessons in my time.

* Starting:  I took a bunch of lessons the first year or two.  In person, same guy.  Went from "what I think the swing looks like in video games" to "able to hit the darn ball and break 90".  Handicap stagnated in high teens, especially after I stopped taking lessons and focused on short game (big mistake in retrospect)

* A few years ago, online lessons.  Click on the "my swing" link in my signature, look at the first and last posts in it to see the evolution of my full swing.  I went from "breaking 90 means I played very well" to a 13.0 handicap at the lowest (today's update is 13.4, I should update my profile on TST).  These are via online lessons through evolvr, practice mostly in summers (I'm trying to avoid that trap this non-summer!)

Thanks @Shindig!

Did you interview the instructor first, or others instructors?  I'm asking because my local course has 4 or 5 instructors.  Other than price, not sure how to select one or the other.

[Foot Wedge]

23 minutes ago, Trooopers said:

Because any slight adjustment feels awkward.

Until you see what doing the right thing does to the ball flight.  But yes, it feels strange.  Do the instructors you're considering have websites?  if so, when reading about them is there anything that jumps out at you?  I decided on one when while reading his site's page about his teaching philosophy, he stated that he happened to fall in love with teaching.  To me there's a big difference between teaching something because you can and having a passion for teaching it, so I knew we'd be able to work well together.  Read their sites, give them a call, if something jumps out at you, your gut is probably right.

[chilepepper]

 

I never experienced getting worse before I got better. It felt weird before it felt natural but that's it

[Shindig]

6 hours ago, Trooopers said:

Because any slight adjustment feels awkward.

That's a week or so of devoted practice -- as long as you don't do something silly, like play a round, decide it isn't working "right now" and not come back to it, you'll be fine.  The bad thing to do is insist on better ball flight from swing one -- I've hit plenty of bad shots on the range working on a priority piece, as have far better golfers than I am.  

Quite frankly, if your swing doesn't feel awkward after a lesson, something is wrong.

5 hours ago, Trooopers said:

Thanks @Shindig!

Did you interview the instructor first, or others instructors?  I'm asking because my local course has 4 or 5 instructors.  Other than price, not sure how to select one or the other.

In-person one:  sort of.  I was hitting balls at the range (this is a generous description of my activity that day) and he was giving a lesson in the next stall.  The player he was teaching, I later learned, was a 4-handicap preparing for high school tournaments.  Then his next lesson arrived, a five year old (give or take) girl learning to swing a club for the first time.  I was so impressed by the disparity and amount he seemingly helped both that I asked for his card after that, called, and scheduled a lesson.

Online (current lesson taking strategy):  I was sold on the idea of online lessons from the free help in the "My swing" thread here and signed up for evolvr from ther.e 

[arturo28mx]

My best lessons have been with people who have played PGA or LPGA. They just seemed to be able to identify my mistakes more  quickly and give good advice on how to fix them. More expensive though. My experience.

[nevets88]

10 hours ago, Trooopers said:

Thanks @Shindig!

Did you interview the instructor first, or others instructors?  I'm asking because my local course has 4 or 5 instructors.  Other than price, not sure how to select one or the other.

https://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/the_instructor_quiz_nine_questions_youve_gotta_ask

Post some swing videos here and some of the instructors may give you some pro bono advice, get yourself a "test run".

https://thesandtrap.com/forums/forum/13-member-swings/

 

[Trooopers]

On 9/15/2017 at 8:17 PM, nevets88 said:

https://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/the_instructor_quiz_nine_questions_youve_gotta_ask

Post some swing videos here and some of the instructors may give you some pro bono advice, get yourself a "test run".

https://thesandtrap.com/forums/forum/13-member-swings/

 

Thanks for the suggestion...