ReviewMyGolfPro

You're welcome Chuck... And thanks again to all that participated!

I hope our service helps create many this year, but I will personally create one myself for sure! Count me in.

TSTers, I am pleased to announce that the winner has been chosen and replied to our inquiry to claim his prize late last night. Your winner is TeamRoper60 who hails from Troy, MO. Congratulations! Thank you all again for entering. This contest has yielded some great and insignful reviews that other golfers can use to make better informed decisions about who to see to help them with their games. Thanks again, and please help us spread the word about our service to others who you know can contribute to it, and benefit from it.

Dirtfrmr, While you missed the window on the Bertha contest, please head over to our site and post a review of Dave there. Our next reviewer drawing features an Orange whip and a Dead Aim putter as key prizes.

Thanks so much for the great response so far. Only a week away from the drawing. I just wanted to let you guys know that I have several folks who set up their reviewer account but did not post a review of a pro. Per the rules you must review your instructor to be entered. If you are affected you will receive an e-mail from us today informing you that your entry is not complete. I am posting this in case some ST members don't check those e-mail accounts regularly. Good luck to everyone in the contest and thanks for your support!

Thanks for stopping by the booth. We met lots of great people this weekend and hopefully this will help lead to some of that needed critical mass in NJ. We appreciate the support and feedback.

Thanks CJ, we appreciate your support.

Ringworld, just click the link above create a reviewer account and post a review of one of your past instructors and you will be entered. if you don't see your pro in the search results click "add a pro" and you can add them and review them at the same time. It's no typo. Big Bertha Alpha has the extra level of adjustability (The Gravity Core) and as a result is the higher priced model at $499. Sorry Matt, not enough coffee this morning!

Thanks Matt not just for the reviews but for the great context you put into the comments as that is so important for the golfers that search for Pros. Good luck in the drawing! Very sorry that we can't offer this outside the US. I know that happens a lot. Our business isn't global at this point but Canada is our logical next move. Hopefully later this summer. Thanks for your interest though, Tmac20 (and now EJ)

Nowhere near as technically savvy as you guys, but I recently had the chance to hit both BB and BB Alpha at a demo day held at my local golf academy here in NJ. I could not believe how much better my not so stellar strikes felt and then travelled. Was very impressed with both, but I really liked the Alpha...

This is great advice. The more active role you take in your lessons by trying to understand what works and doesn't for you from a learning perspective the better off you will be. You should have high expectations of a coach/instructor and expect them to work with you on a learning and practice plan to reach your goals. With many instructors you may need to ask for help in creating a plan. If you don't have any goals for your game you need to start right there... As our database of reviews grows we will be able to help you move from just asking your friends (better golfer or not) about a pro to seeing what many more people think of the different instructor options in your area...

No question, but the folks who aren't on the top 100 lists (even if they are awesome) are not exactly rolling in the dough, and may not have experience with such things or know who to go to. Its why there are about 5 companies out there trying to become the "website builder" for all golf pro's presence.

All, I'm researching a blog post I am working on for the RMGP site. The first time I saw a pro I didn't ask him anything before agreeing to take lessons. The second time I asked one or 2 questions. Now I think I'd ask even more. Did you interview your pro? What did you want to know first? And did your Pro resist answering any questions you may have had?

I don't know BJ? I have a really hard time believing lessons aren't the way to go TO start hitting the ball consistently. If I was learning this game from scratch my first step would be a few lessons to learn the basic movements that I need to make, and have interactive help from a real pro to help me FEEL them so I could have a chance of making consistent contact. Then I would go off and practice like crazy till I got good at it. I can't see starting from scratch on my own and am only modestly more confident that the myriad of on-line help would be a great place to start either. But that's just me...

Thanks Chris. I'm sorry you have not had good individual instruction experiences but maybe you just didn't find the right teacher. It raises a good point about ReviewMyGolfPro.com though. Many people think all we want to see are good reviews. What we want is the truth about any individual's experience with a given golf pro, the good and the not so good, so this may be the one time where if you don't have something nice to say, well, say it anyway. If you want to remain anonymous all you have to do is pick a user ID that won't identify you. So if you are so inclined we'd love to have you review a pro. Cheers.

Tremendous perspective, I agree wholeheartedly with your closing point. Thanks for answering.

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...

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?

GG if that's your plan my reco would be to find a few candidates and talk to them about their teaching philosophy and what your goals are in taking a lesson. Too many of us go to a Pro and are like help me but don't really have an idea what they really want to work on. Good luck! Mr D. we are trying to help answer the first issue, but we need a bigger library of reviews to do that. Too soon yet to say we can solve that, and why I'm hoping many in this thread will make some contributions to our new site. If these posts are any indication many of you would do great reviews. Having said that I don't think golfers are any cheaper than the general pop. This sport is just an expensive one to play regularly. Agree with point 3 though with many folks (to be fair though, marketing works!). Agree whole heartedly. When my son started, he wanted me to teach him, I took him to see a great teacher in my area who had experience teaching middle school kids to play. He learned so much faster than he ever would have with me on the range. Thanks all for your thoughtful posts!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by joekelly It's all about the MONEY. Lots of great responses. A couple of thoughts on some of the major themes so far: On the quote above, I wonder if its about the money or the fear that the money wont be well spent. I think for many, if they KNEW it was going to mean markedly better golf the money would be easily parted with. Quote: Originally Posted by Lowkie With golf I realize that the practice is just as important as the lessons. This being said I can only go to the course once a weekend and can either afford a round of golf or lesson. To me spending the money on a lesson that I know I can't practice between then and the next session just seems a waste. Would it make a difference if you were given drills you could do at home. I found mirror work just a few minutes a day made a huge difference for me. Work I would never have done without the help of my instructor. If I knew going in that practice of that type and time would be part of the equation I would have started sooner. Also trying to fix it myself with the help of online and offline contest made me a real mess... Quote: I would have to add that there are a lot of bad instructors out there, which scares people off too. Well we are clearly out to help people differentiate between those that are good, really good, and maybe not so good so those who are interested have more information then the recommendation of one golf buddy. We are a ways yet from achieving that goal so I hope that some of you who have taken lessons will also share a review of some of your past pros on reviewmygolfpro.com

I'm still floored by the fact that most golfers have never or rarely ever taken lessons. I went through 2 frustrating seasons before I decided to take lessons because I thought I could just practice my way out of it, but ultimately finally decided I couldn't fix it myself. I'm interested to hear why other golfers are not taking lessons or why you may have put off taking them in the past. Thanks Chris

Abu3baid, I am very sorry about this issue you are having. It sounds like our system did not set up your user account properly. We are looking into it. I am going to send you PM with a couple of questions to help us resolve this issue on our end. I tested my other accounts this morning and I am not having any trouble reviewing. Very sorry for the inconvenience. Chris

You're welcome. I hope you will use our site as a resource. Perhaps some pro's in your area work out of fitness facilitates this time of year. I see some of that in our area. Good Luck.

Absolutely lessons! And don't wait to take them until the spring. In my particular case a poor set up and backswing were holding me back. After a few lessons in the fall last year I had some great mirror drills and other indoor activities to do to reinforce my new learning. Then in the spring more lessons and that club fitting. In my opinion you'll be fit better when you are also on the improvement path. Good luck and welcome back to the game!