Anyone (else) feel adverse to getting lessons

[DLiver]

Not getting golf instruction because you got a bad lesson is like never going out to eat because you once had a bad meal.

[Clubhoe]

I had lessons and it just stuffed my head up.

The best advice I've ever received was from a multiple club champion who taught himself. He told me the body will naturally do what the brain sees. He said play naturally, play draws and fades. See the shot and feel it. And believe it. And do it with a smile on your face. 

 

I go back to this when I get too technical at times. I'll always fair better with natural relaxed confident play.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Clubhoe

[SirFuego]

My grandfather was a self-taught tournament-tested amateur with a +2 handicap in his prime.  He taught me to golf at a young age and I was too stubborn to take any lessons - partially because everyone kept telling me to only listen to my grandfather.  Even after he passed, I was too stubborn to take lessons and felt that I could just get better on my own.

 

Fast forward to me turning 35 and getting a case of shanks I could not overcome, I gave in and took a lesson.  It made me realize how terrible of a decision it was to avoid getting lessons all these years.  I'm finally steadily improving every year instead of the plateau I was at for years.

 

That said, I'm on my 3rd instructor, but the first two also served their purpose.  I wasn't thrilled with the first instructor, but he got me to overcome the shanks, although there seemed to be something "missing" in the lessons.  The second one was a bit outside the box and got me going in the right direction, but I think he was a bit too dogmatic about certain things.  The third one I'm happy with and my ball-striking has consistently improved with him.

 

Bottom line, take lessons, avoid YouTube "tips", and don't be turned off by a bad lesson -- just find another instructor.

Edited June 14, 2021 by SirFuego

[Long_Left]

One bad lesson 25 years ago stopped me from considering them again until last year... I'm lucky enough to know my pro personally and finally decided to have him take a look and have benefited greatly from it.

 

An early indicator of a good instructor, in my experience, is setting and managing expectations. He asked me before I ever paid him a dime "How good do you want to be?" and when I answered he followed with "How much time do you plan on spending to get there?"

 

We set a reasonable goal of reducing the frequency of the "big" miss figuring I could take 2 shots off my index, it has required lots of range time and determination to get over the uncomfortable/awkward feel of changing your golf swing but has been 100% worth it for me. I went from being a 78-92 "any given day" golfer to a 74-84 golfer today, and those 84s feel like the world is coming down around me and I cannot do anything right. Two years ago that 84 would have been a "meh" day for me, my potential for "bad" golf has gone down tremendously. 25 years of missing it 80 yards left leaves a fair bit of scar tissue so I'm still working on the fear of going low but that round is close, I set a goal of shooting even this year and am confident I'll get there, wouldn't be remotely possible without honest instruction, wish I'd done it 20 years ago before everything hurt all the time 🙂

[indianagolf2]

Check out u swing your tube, lots little samples from different teaches. 

[MrHateCoffee]

On 6/13/2021 at 12:13 PM, DLiver said:

Not getting golf instruction because you got a bad lesson is like never going out to eat because you once had a bad meal.

 

Not quite.  The time and monetary investment with a golf lesson is significantly higher.

 

 

[SylvesterLundgren]

I didn’t keep a notification for this thread but a lot of great advice. I got help from my golf coach. I was sliding into the ball and not using a proper hip turn. 
yes I didn’t get a lesson but the help I received did take away my misses and tendencies that were accompanying. 
now my biggest take away is following my pre shot routine and feeling what I need to feel in my swing before I hit the ball. 
thanks for everyone’s input! 

[Tpfol]

"I’ll tell you what, you can get a good look at a t-bone by sticking your head up a bull’s @$$, but I’d rather take the butcher’s word for it."

 

[khalespace]

I started out self taught and taught by other high handicap friends. Bad mistake. I overswing on the backswing, have early release and flipping issues. Through out the last 10 years, I have taken 4 series of lessons (from 6 to 18 lessons each series) from different instructors. They tried their best but none was able to fix my swing.

 

I have not taken any lesson in the last 18 months and I am playing much better than before mostly because I have a better understanding of what I need to do through hundreds of videos on YouTube. My handicap has gone from 21 to 14. Here are the problems I think with instructions:

1) It is damn hard to change an ingrained bad swing. 6 or even 18 lessons are not enough.

   a) an example, I have a long back swing that caused my lower body to be unstable/collapse. The instructor told me to do half swing. I thought I did half swing but he said I did full swing. I didn't believe him until I see myself in videos.

2) Most of us want immediate results, and usually give up after 2 to 3 months.

3) Instructors don't explain well of the changes. Or students don't understand instructions and not buy in the teachings.

 

What I am doing now:

1) shortening my backswing - I hang a wire directly over my head (back to front) with a pipe insulation. If I overswing on the backswing, I hit the wire. I set this up in my garage. After hundreds of swings I stopped hitting the pipe insulation.

2) repeated drills of bowed wrist, short swing, and lag club head with hands in front of ball at impact. I am hitting hundreds of balls everyday and refrained from the full swing.

3) videotape and watch my swing every week. This is very important and without it, you are just repeating your bad swing.

 

I am challenging myself to be a single digit handicap in a year. With the newly built golf simulator, I am practicing much more too.

Edited September 21, 2021 by khalespace

[hoselpalooza]

On 6/16/2021 at 7:43 PM, MrHateCoffee said:

 

Not quite.  The time and monetary investment with a golf lesson is significantly higher.

 

 

we ain’t talkin’ ‘bout a happy meal at mickey d’s here 😜

 

plenty of places you could go to dinner where a good bottle of wine will set you back more than a lesson with all but the most sought after golf instructors.

Edited September 22, 2021 by hoselpalooza

[llewol007]

Really depends what you want your game to be eventually. The game doesnt come overnite. Look at all the greats. They come from lots of hard work and lessons. There can be some natural talent but that can get you so far. Lessons are good if they are geared towards something specific. So I for one am not against nor am for. You ultimately have to decide if they are worth the money, time and change it will take to get your swing to the next level. I am another self taught  player who worked at a golf shop during my high school years. Picked up a lot of the game watching other give instruction in our hitting bays along with jumping in there myself. Never formally took lessons but did manage a couple of short game lesson early on. Really different approaches to the game but I put in the work to get to where my game is now. Sounds to me like you would not succeed in lessons. You dont feel the need to listen to anyone if they told you different so Im guessing you probably wont take any lessons. 

[SylvesterLundgren]

On 9/22/2021 at 12:07 AM, llewol007 said:

Really depends what you want your game to be eventually. The game doesnt come overnite. Look at all the greats. They come from lots of hard work and lessons. There can be some natural talent but that can get you so far. Lessons are good if they are geared towards something specific. So I for one am not against nor am for. You ultimately have to decide if they are worth the money, time and change it will take to get your swing to the next level. I am another self taught  player who worked at a golf shop during my high school years. Picked up a lot of the game watching other give instruction in our hitting bays along with jumping in there myself. Never formally took lessons but did manage a couple of short game lesson early on. Really different approaches to the game but I put in the work to get to where my game is now. Sounds to me like you would not succeed in lessons. You dont feel the need to listen to anyone if they told you different so Im guessing you probably wont take any lessons. 

You must have missed the parts when I came back and shared that I got some help from my coach. I stopped sliding with my hip turn and was starting to post up like you should. Once I became aware of keeping the weight on my right leg maintained while (hip) turning everything fell into the slot, and I went back to hitting the shots that I’m use to (if not better.) if anything it helped me remember the times I was unconsciously doing these steps and helped instill the importance of what was worked on. It feels effortless and I made my notes for later to remind myself. 
lol my game still looks like I’ve been taught and I’m not overpricing that statement at all.  I am a identical twin and we both helped eachother on our come ups through HS(2011-14) all the way to now. 
We’re both competent and athletic enough to take guidance and perform the change without any interruptions.

Can you say the same about yourself?? maybe you would’ve changed your statement had you read through and saw the update I shared. 

[llewol007]

35 minutes ago, SylvesterLundgren said:

You must have missed the parts when I came back and shared that I got some help from my coach. I stopped sliding with my hip turn and was starting to post up like you should. Once I became aware of keeping the weight on my right leg maintained while (hip) turning everything fell into the slot, and I went back to hitting the shots that I’m use to (if not better.) if anything it helped me remember the times I was unconsciously doing these steps and helped instill the importance of what was worked on. It feels effortless and I made my notes for later to remind myself. 
lol my game still looks like I’ve been taught and I’m not overpricing that statement at all.  I am a identical twin and we both helped eachother on our come ups through HS(2011-14) all the way to now. 
We’re both competent and athletic enough to take guidance and perform the change without any interruptions.

Can you say the same about yourself?? maybe you would’ve changed your statement had you read through and saw the update I shared. 

Sorry OP I only read the initial post and comment on that.

[Zitlow]

Why is a hip slide so bad?

[Lobby]

There's another thread floating around here where a guy asks how to become a golf instructor. 

Lots of advice, but the bottom line (for me) is that there's no formal education for golf instructors.   They learn their craft from the internet, from other instructors, or from their own experience.

The O.P. is right to worry about which instructor to choose.   Their knowledge and experience level is very variable.

[SylvesterLundgren]

2 hours ago, Zitlow said:

Why is a hip slide so bad?

I can’t give you a “specific” answer but what I feel is the difference between a strong hip turn and sliding: 

is that sliding feels like I’m hitting it solid but the “impact” feels forced or I feel like I have to have more hand speed to give (me) the impression that the shot has power. Which can lead to overcompensating and more unforced errors. 
With a standard/strong hip turn (for me) the speed feels fluid and my swing hits the slot. the impact feels like I’m moving in balance and (feels) seems like I moved faster, quicker than what I was originally doing. 
I’m sure there are others that can give a more specific explanation/plus there might be videos about it too. 
hope I made some sense

[SylvesterLundgren]

2 hours ago, llewol007 said:

Sorry OP I only read the initial post and comment on that.

It’s all good I was just like huh??? I admitted my arrogance already 😂😂 lol