Lessons - Did they work for you?.

[804golfer]

the key is to practice the changes to break old habits

[AceDunk]

N/A, because I've never had a professional lesson. Other than my dad having introduced me to the game and originally teaching me how to play when I was a kid, I've learned only through experience and reading books. Because of this I feel I have a pretty decent understanding of the mechanics of golf, and can quite easily identify and work to correct problems in my swing and other areas of the game. Don't have anything against lessons, of course, it's just not something I've ever done.

[Doctorfro]

My last instruction session yielded not so good results. I am a staunch proponent of getting instruction instead of doing the same thing and expecting different results. But my last session left me going back to the drawing board. The last couple of months I have been studying some things and have worked on them and I'm seeing results; things that I know are just good sound fundamentals. I am planning on going to the Dana Rader golf school in Charlotte later this spring. Hopefully their instructors will find the leftover flaws that I need to rid myself of to get to the next level.

Find someone who knows their "stuff" and get some lessons. Overall, it's well worth it.

[Klean]

Glad to see so many people had good experiences with lessons. I take my first one today! I'm pretty excited.

[Big Lex]

After about a year after I first tried golf, I took weekly lessons for about 2 months, followed by every few weeks for probably a year after that. It was extremely helpful.

They were all with one teacher. He was a club pro at a military course, and he was about 48 years old at the time. I walked around with him in the state open championship that year and he shot 69 on a good golf course, so he knew what he was doing.

I'm anti-"method" in general, believing that the the only fundamental is to repeat the swing. Yes, you want an efficient, powerful motion, but specific teaching methodologies are so tied up in minutiae and are so full of unsubstantiated, pseudo-scientific crapola about biomechanics, I think it's safe to say that just about any teacher who has learned to play well and works hard at teaching can benefit any golfer.

If you want lessons to work, they should be fairly often, should be with the same teacher, and you have to make an effort to do exactly what they say and not experiment with your own ideas. Otherwise, you're wasting your money.

A consistent relationship with a teacher will help you learn and understand a motion you can repeat, and avoid crawling down those dark alleys that are so seductive to golf tinkerers.

I think for putting lessons are not necessary or are probably less helpful. The use of training aids and feedback devices is very helpful, although again one must choose something and be very consistent in using it.