Taking Lessons to the Course

[ShortGolfer]

Yes, I've recovered enough to walk 9 holes on a windy 40* day in the fall and hit my long irons with enough accuracy to easily find my balls despite the sun getting in my eyes on a leaf covered course.

Missed a birdie putt but considering conditions I was happy to get the two stroke GIR using a 4 iron!

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

I tell my students that if they go home and try to brush their teeth left-handed, it's going to take awhile to do it as well as you did before.

 

And brushing your teeth is about 1,000,000 times easier than playing golf, so… it's going to take a little while sometimes. Doesn't mean you can't see a glimpse of what lie ahead for the better. Just that you're not really going to repeat it all that often until you lay down those neural pathways and pave them and let them cure a bit.

On your second paragraph, I see that but:  a problem I see is, How do you know you're laying down the right pathways?  The answer seems to be, because your instructor is watching you and confirming that you're on the right path. 

 

My question then is, for those of us who can't have a coach watching all of the time to provide feedback, how often does the pupil need to work with the instructor to ensure that confirmation?  Or are there other means to ensure, without direct instructor feedback, that the pupil is training the right movements?  Practice video and comparison with benchmarks?

 

EDIT: Oh, and a reason I'm asking is that I understand that new correct movements feel weird, and we should work through that feeling to train the movement.  But new incorrect movements are going to feel weird too.  I just want to make sure I'm training the right movements.

Edited November 22, 2023 by Jayjay_theweim_guy

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

On your second paragraph, I see that but:  a problem I see is, How do you know you're laying down the right pathways?  The answer seems to be, because your instructor is watching you and confirming that you're on the right path.

 

Yes, pretty much, except…

 

2 minutes ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

My question then is, for those of us who can't have a coach watching all of the time to provide feedback, how often does the pupil need to work with the instructor to ensure that confirmation?

 

… your coach doesn't need to see you all the time to make sure you're doing the right things. You're a sentient being, of course — you can observe yourself, practice at the right speeds, use things that provide feedback, etc. to ensure that you're working on the right things, too.

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

Sorry, @iacas.  My edit gets to the point of my post:  making sure I'm not training the wrong movement.

[iacas]

19 minutes ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

Sorry, @iacas.  My edit gets to the point of my post:  making sure I'm not training the wrong movement.

 

• Understand what you're trying to do.
• Work at the right speeds with occasional feedback.
• Set up things that provide feedback while you're doing it (could just be ball flight, impact locations, missing an obstacle… mirrors, HackMotion angel tones… etc.).

[Lefty_3Jack]

On 11/20/2023 at 9:21 PM, chern92 said:

Thank you for the reply. What is your advice for continuing to play and enjoy the game without feeling guilty of using the “old swing” on course to avoid a miserable experience with the new swing I am working on? I feel like I am wasting lessons if I go play and don’t actively try to do the things I’m working on with every shot…but it’s unplayable. 

Any sort of significant change that you want to make, playing would be cut out for the most part.  Even if playing, you'd basically be out there trying to "change the picture" on the golf course and not keeping score. 

[golferdude54]

Have you even made sure you were doing the changes 36 times in a row unconsciously?
 

A perfect round of golf subtracting 18 putts is 36 shots, too many players complain about not taking their swing changes to the course but fail to realize practice should be like play.

 

If you can’t hit it solid with the trajectory you want along with actually showing the swing changes 36 in a row at the driving range, it’s not going to transfer onto the course unless you succeed in those objectives.

Edited November 22, 2023 by golferdude54

[Pepperturbo]

21 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Here’s the problem.  The whole narrative in golf at large is awful.  When this has been discussed before, certain unnamed “experts” say that its instructor speak to say it takes time and change should happen immediately.  
 

Well, the swing should visually look different fairly quickly (within a few swings when you find the right concept) and tech numbers should be better immediately if the change is correct, but for that new movement to replace the old pattern takes months, even over a year.  Ask Tiger, ask Jason Day and their swings are already functional and they practice 40-60 hours a week.  
 

Quote from Tiger on 6 steps

 

1.  Identify issue

2. Make it look better

3. Then it feels better

4.  Then you hit it better

5. Then you hit it better on the course

6.  Then you hit it better on the course when it means something

 

Golfers and know it alls think steps 2 and 3 are irrelevant and step 5 should follow quickly.

 

Thats why everyone complains “this feels weird” and question why the very first attempt at a new movement is a mishit and why any subsequent misses are happening.

 

Here’s how bad that narrative is.

 

I suggested “this feels weird” and not hitting a great shot on the first attempt are the biggest reasons golfers never get better.

 

I posted this in a Facebook forum entitled “Golf Teaching Professionals” and got destroyed by at least a dozen posters saying, “If it feels weird, you’re telling them the wrong things and if their strike and dispersion doesn’t improve within the first 10 shots, it’s ineffective.”

 

That delusion is why the USGA stays that you don’t improve after playing 3 years came about and is also false.
 

How stupid would I sound if I said….”I’m 240, I had a salad for lunch and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes and I’m still 240.”  Then a few weeks later said, “I’ve been eating better and doing 30 minutes on the treadmill a few times a week and I still can’t get from my 38 pants into 32’s.”

 

No one says that but that’s how WE golfers sound.  I’ve been guilty too.  
 

Then our pattern is, “This doesn’t work, back to YouTube.”

This is not just my opinion, Butch Harmon talks about it all the time.

 

”A 25 handicap hits a small bucket and comes to me and says, “Butch, this doesn’t work.””

 

You explained that truth very well. 👍

 

 

 

[Esage]

On 11/20/2023 at 10:21 PM, chern92 said:

Thank you for the reply. What is your advice for continuing to play and enjoy the game without feeling guilty of using the “old swing” on course to avoid a miserable experience with the new swing I am working on? I feel like I am wasting lessons if I go play and don’t actively try to do the things I’m working on with every shot…but it’s unplayable. 

If you go back to using the old swing while playing you are never going to groove the new swing