Lesson Frequency? Duration?

[malarayat4227]

My 11 year old daughter made her middle school golf team last week. We decided now is a great time to start her on a more structured lesson/practice schedule with a teaching pro at our club. She just had her first lesson of a series (1 hr lessons) and it went very well. Coach suggested next lesson in 2 weeks. I am excited to see where this goes.

 

She began golf at 6 and has attended 1-2x/month junior golf clinics, summer camps and school break camps at our club. She did PGA Jr League the last 2 years and had 2-3 private 30 min lessons with the team coach during the seasons.

 

Other relevant details:

• Her new coach is a recent PGA section awardee and accomplished tournament player. A number of his junior students have earned D1 golf scholarships. He also has students that have gone on to various Tours. His jr lesson rate is significantly less than what others have posted here and is the same as his adult rate (typical country club hourly lesson rate). I like him and take lessons from him as well.
  

• Daughter is multi-sport. She does travel softball concurrently. She made her school soccer team this past fall…the first time she played competitive soccer ever. I hope she does not continue with soccer. Our family went skiing for the first time last week. We all had fun and will continue to ski.
  

• These lessons are useless and a waste of time and money if she does not practice what she is taught. School practice is 3-4x/wk at the muni. Will add 1 practice session and minimum 9 holes/wk at the club.
  

[orangebang]

Juniors age?

How long between lessons?

How long does each lesson last?

 

Any other Releavant commentary on what you've found to be the best combination for your kid and why.

14.

Used to have lessons weekly, every other week. It grew to a month in between, and now it's once every 2-3 months.

 

The lessons are an hour long, always on a grass driving range with video.

 

She has friends that go weekly, but that's because the parents don't play golf or don't have time to accompany their kids to the range.

 

For the better part of 2 years I was at every range session and practice session she had. I was able to keep an eye on her swing during practice, and send video to her instructor so if things went weird, he could give me some tips to work on. That helped a lot, so we didn't have to go to lessons as often.

[BloctonGolf11]

Know I am in the minority here but my son loves it, is improving, and has a great relationship with his coach.

 

9 Years Old

Once a Week

30 minutes a lesson

[Frank_Dux]

Actually I should add this.

 

When I started out having my kids take lessons I had an instructor who said the goal should to score x amount by this date. At first though that was great but truthfully he never addressed anything that resulted in real skills building. That thinking is very dangerous and will suck you into endless lessons.

 

You should instead focus on skills the kid needs to learn. Scores are a direct result because you are missing putts or can't hit greens or something else is happening. Not sure if this makes sense.

 

If a coach said my kid should be shooting x by x date, I would run away really fast. In terms of lesson frequency and duration it depends on a lot of factors: age, skill level etc. I know when my son starts it will be once a month at most util he gets older snd an hr max mixing it up witha concentration of long and short game depending on what needs attention. The coach Ive been talking to charges $250/hr so cost alone prohibits me from seeing him more often :)

 

People I know that have gone to him say it also depends on what car you drive. I kid you not I have heard that from different people telling me. Some that drive down 2 hours from SLO and some that live nearby in Westlake/TO.

 

To go back to the OP, I personally think group lessons while they are really young are the way to go. As they get really serious about it and really show they want to get to the next level, then private lessons. The big factor is $$$ and how much doesn't break the bank.

 

I also think you can go back to the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I would initially go weekly if there are a lot of things to fix/work on. However, once lessons start to become the instruction and your kid is consistent, then maybe you can just do 1-2x/month or even less just to do maintenance work so they don't create bad habits.

 

IMHO it's a balance between building a solid game and then maintaining. Just my 2 cents.

 

BS

[malarayat4227]

 

UPDATE. My daughter has completed 3 sessions with her new coach and it continues to go well as she has improved with each middle school match. Each one hour session consisted of: (1) working on an "issue(s)", (2) full swing, and (3) short game. The coach suggested that a session every 3 weeks with regular practice and competitions in between would be a good mix for now. We are fortunate to have a PGA Jr League team, a nearby US Kids Local Tour and a local junior golf association with monthly tournaments to cover the competitions part.

> @malarayat4227 said:

> My 11 year old daughter made her middle school golf team last week. We decided now is a great time to start her on a more structured lesson/practice schedule with a teaching pro at our club. She just had her first lesson of a series (1 hr lessons) and it went very well. Coach suggested next lesson in 2 weeks. I am excited to see where this goes.

>

>

>

> She began golf at 6 and has attended 1-2x/month junior golf clinics, summer camps and school break camps at our club. She did PGA Jr League the last 2 years and had 2-3 private 30 min lessons with the team coach during the seasons.

>

>

>

> Other relevant details:

> * Her new coach is a recent PGA section awardee and accomplished tournament player. A number of his junior students have earned D1 golf scholarships. He also has students that have gone on to various Tours. His jr lesson rate is significantly less than what others have posted here and is the same as his adult rate (typical country club hourly lesson rate). I like him and take lessons from him as well.

>

>

>

> * Daughter is multi-sport. She does travel softball concurrently. She made her school soccer team this past fall…the first time she played competitive soccer ever. I hope she does not continue with soccer. Our family went skiing for the first time last week. We all had fun and will continue to ski.

>

>

>

> * These lessons are useless and a waste of time and money if she does not practice what she is taught. School practice is 3-4x/wk at the muni. Will add 1 practice session and minimum 9 holes/wk at the club.

 

 

[wlm]

I'm not sure if this will be too helpful, but I will try and remember my son's progression.

Current age: 17

From age 6-10, he would have an occasional real lesson (maybe once a quarter), and would go anywhere from once to a couple of times per month to a group lesson. I actually think the group lesson (i.e. instructor) was pretty good for him at that age. He played multiple (just about all) sports, including tournament baseball, so it just happened when it happened.

From age 11-13, he moved into "real" instruction and went anywhere from twice a month, to once every other month. So it was sporadic and maybe averaged out to about 10 times per year. Same situation with multiple sports.

At age 14, he started with a new instructor. Initially went weekly, then every other week. After about 6 months, it moved to monthly, and now he'll take 1 or 2 lessons every 3 months or so. The nice thing about having had a concentrated stretch in the early high school years, is that his instructor really got to know him and his swing and is now able to diagnose him quickly.

[Kcct82]

Age 6

Once a week, sometimes up to two or three times a week.

30min on full swing with video or short game

I don’t know how to play so I rely heavily on his coach to keep him from developing bad habits.

 

 

 

[darter79]

> @Kcct82 said:

> Age 6

> Once a week, sometimes up to two or three times a week.

> 30min on full swing with video or short game

> I don’t know how to play so I rely heavily on his coach to keep him from developing bad habits.

>

>

>

Am I reading this correctly that you 6 year old gets LESSONS 2-3 times a week? Lessons from a Pro 2-3 times a week. If this is the case I have to ask WHYYYYYY. It takes time for kids to learn and practice what they get from the coach just curious to the though process for that many lessons a week for a kid thats only 6.

[tiger1873]

> @darter79 said:

> > @Kcct82 said:

> > Age 6

> > Once a week, sometimes up to two or three times a week.

> > 30min on full swing with video or short game

> > I don’t know how to play so I rely heavily on his coach to keep him from developing bad habits.

> >

> >

> >

> Am I reading this correctly that you 6 year old gets LESSONS 2-3 times a week? Lessons from a Pro 2-3 times a week. If this is the case I have to ask WHYYYYYY. It takes time for kids to learn and practice what they get from the coach just curious to the though process for that many lessons a week for a kid thats only 6.

 

Every kid and instructor and the way lessons is approached is different I don't see why that is a problem. Some instructors run developmental programs and if you don't have a membership there pretty good deals. Also it wasn't stated is this private lessons or group lessons there very different. In some cases it might be a combination.

 

If he's just paying for a private instructor to watch a 6 year hit balls then yes it is a waste but I think everyones knows that after a few months.

 

 

 

 

[Kcct82]

> @tiger1873 said:

> > @darter79 said:

> > > @Kcct82 said:

> > > Age 6

> > > Once a week, sometimes up to two or three times a week.

> > > 30min on full swing with video or short game

> > > I don’t know how to play so I rely heavily on his coach to keep him from developing bad habits.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > Am I reading this correctly that you 6 year old gets LESSONS 2-3 times a week? Lessons from a Pro 2-3 times a week. If this is the case I have to ask WHYYYYYY. It takes time for kids to learn and practice what they get from the coach just curious to the though process for that many lessons a week for a kid thats only 6.

>

> Every kid and instructor and the way lessons is approached is different I don't see why that is a problem. Some instructors run developmental programs and if you don't have a membership there pretty good deals. Also it wasn't stated is this private lessons or group lessons there very different. In some cases it might be a combination.

>

> If he's just paying for a private instructor to watch a 6 year hit balls then yes it is a waste but I think everyones knows that after a few months.

>

>

>

>

 

Hi Darter and Tiger, haha yeah it sounds crazy but let me explain a little. First of all my 6 YO is fairly new to golf (11 months) so he needs more lessons to start him on the right track. In recent months he’s been playing 9 holes or practicing everyday so I think it’s fair to say that he learns and/or develops bad habits at a faster rate than some of the others. I don’t know how to play so I can’t teach him myself, hence I rely on his coach to keep things in check. Also, 30min is really short if you think about it. My kid would first hit a few while his coach watches and videos it, then he’d explain what the kid is doing correctly and wrong, then we go back and forth a couple more times and before you know it 30 min is up. That leaves us no time for short game so periodically we would add a 2nd lesson later in the week. Price wise we get about 10 private 30min lessons for the price of what adults pay for one “high class” lesson so it’s not that bad. Most importantly the kid enjoys seeing his coach and is showing promise. He went from scoring 50+ strokes in January to a 38 and a 37 at the 2 most recent March events. I’m excited to see if he’ll break par before spring season is over!