What have your golf lessons been like?

Few different lessons...

Local club pro. At the time I took these lessons, I was a complete newb and didn't understand anything about path/swing/face. Lessons weren't a waste of time, but I now know that pro wasn't the right lesson for me (at the time).

GolfTec. These were better (for me) because it had video and went over numbers. Because it was my first time with video, it was a lot of new information that was a little difficult to grasp. What they didn't work on enough (or I let things slide too much) was my hip swaying.

Local "golf pro" shop. This shop had better video than GolfTec, addressed fitness, and mobility. Lessons here helped me gain ~20-30 yards of carry between functional changes and fitness (mobility, mostly).

Between the three, the last was the "best" for me: video helped me understand the largest limitations I was compensating for (lack of mobility) and how that affected my swing. Not everyone wants video, but it definitely helped me. When I go with another set of lessons, I'll make sure to look for video.

I am a newbie, so take this with a grain of salt.

This past season was my first 6 months playing again (dabbled with golf as a kid), and I had 2 lessons. we were heading in the right direction and we got half of my swing in good shape. He coaches a college team, and once his season started, he went off the radar. I am looking forward to starting with a new coach this coming spring.

Lesson 1 worked on my grip, stance and getting my wrist in proper position in order to keep the clubface where it needs to be. Lesson 2 worked on my backswing, my body alignment during the backswing, and keeping my head still. These two lessons alone got me keeping the ball in play, and helped me break 100 4 times in a row.

This game has humbled me. I've realized early on that lessons and coaching early on will be more beneficial to my progress than trying to do this myself. Good luck with your game!

35 years ago, i had a lesson from a pro when i was off 8, and he said "you're not getting your hips through". Later, i overheard him chatting with someone, saying "That's the trouble with these amateurs - they don't get their hips through". I tried doing what he showed me, but it put my swing out so much i gave up on it.

recently, with time on my hands to think a bit, Ben Hogan's impact position impressed me so much i had another look of a video i'd made of my own swing, pausing it at the moment of impact to compare my body position with Ben's.

The difference was stunning - that old pro all those years ago had been right on the money.

One thing led to another, and i discovered that the downswing is like a compound pendulum, made of not just 2, but 5 moving parts. I already knew that lag was important, but now i could see that it applied to all 5 moving parts - and that the physics of a compound pendulum makes it essential that each of the 5 parts lags behind the one above it in the imaginary machine.

i tried it out on the practice range and saw a huge improvement. i got my draw back, and the vertical flight of the ball had a new shape, an accelerating climb indicating more backspin.

being retired now, i had time to make a video about it, and ended up making 3 of them.

It's all about tempo.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4y5Wtsvtduo8OY5_l1BdS22ZWFUw2Vr2

Any certified pro or scratch golfer should be able to get you under 100. So I'd call a few and see whose teaching style matches yours: silly vs. serious, techinical vs. fell-oriented, etc. I'm technical and serious so I've always picked pros that reflected that and been happy with 2/3 of my long-term instructors

For me, one lesson should leave you with a checklist of no more than 5 things to work on. Any more and the student gets lost in it all and ends up frustrated.

I think getting someone who can explain the why's to you so that you understand them is the most important. Also, someone that takes what you do naturally and improves on it. Don't try to re-invent the wheel.

I spend an hour at the range trying to go over what I learned after EVERY lesson, starting from my first to my last one. Range time is critical. Take what you learned and burn it into your mind. Going to the range after every lesson really helps you nail it down. Lessons are great! It gives a good foundation, and gives you confidence knowing that you're doing it correctly. Ask your instructor for some good drills you can do at home and on the range. Try to get as much knowledge from them as you can. Hope this helps! Good luck!

The only professional lessons I had were 2013/2014 from the pro at the club I was a member of. Weekly lessons for about a year.

The biggest thing for me was realizing the basics that I was getting wrong: alignment, weight distribution, proper swing sequence, follow-through. It was a few months before we even tried to tackle a technical change to my swing. And, even then, it wasn’t some major rebuild.

The biggest thing I got from the lessons is that my swing is “technically” good. There isn’t some major flaw with my natural swing. It really gave me confidence to play some good golf.

When I’m lost or feel like nothing is going right, I can take a step back and focus on alignment/ball position/swing sequence/weight shift and instantly see what I’m doing wrong. Fix that and I instantly start feeling comfortable again.

I signed up with Golftec and have been through the initial "swing evaluation" and four lessons, so far.

I got paired with an instructor and filled out a little quiz: what my goals were, what I felt I did well, poorly, etc.

Golftec is video- and data-driven which suits me just fine. Having the bulk of each half-hour lesson recorded, so I can play it back sitting on the couch at home, has been great. Each week I've been given a few drills to practice (each with video instruction). Also, seeing my setup / backswing / downswing compared to a tour pro makes it very clear where I can improve.

The first lesson was basically setup. Next was the takeaway. Then the upper backswing. The last lesson I had was the start of weight balance and hip/shoulder sway. It's been very much piece by piece, breaking old muscle memory and trying to build correct techniques.

Where I started: Massive push slice off the tee, lots of fat shots and skulled shots, average round between 110 and 115, best round 106 (having picked the game back up in May of 2017)

Where I am now: About 85% of shots are within 10º of my target line and out of the last 100 balls I hit at the range I had less than five big bad slices... and I felt what went wrong during those swings. My PW distance has gone from 70yd carry to 95yd with room for continued improvement as I dial in the techniques.

Is it costly? You bet - I signed up for a long series of lessons that'll take me through the end of this playing season. But I have seen massive results and am looking forward to more. I believe I could shoot sub-100 right now and am hoping to shoot my first round in the 80's by the end of the summer.

I've had experience with a range of lessons from Golftec, to a cheap local muni pro, to a $140/hr pro level coach.

1. You get what you pay for. The local muni pro was a waste of money
2. Golftec. Great for about 3 lessons, especially during the winter if you live in a cold place. They do a good job showing you what a good golf swing should look like, why someone slices, why they hook, and give you a base swing to work with. Con is that they try to fit everyone into the same cookie cutter swing instead of tailoring the best swing for each individual.
3. The expensive lessons have been the best, of course. They take what Golftec teaches you and fits it to your personal athletic ability. My coach never gives me too much to work on at one time, and they know what they're doing. Con is that you'll have to (and want to) see them again and again, which will get expensive.

The biggest lesson I learned is that your game will get worse before it gets better, and you will play your worst immediately following your lessons. Don't grab a lesson right before a big trip or tournament because it will ruin the whole thing. You need to work on what your coach tells you and stick with it. For example, I've been working on my driver with my coach recently. After my last lesson I decided to go to the range as often as possible, and only bring my driver. It took about 3-4 range sessions, hitting 70 balls every time with only my driver, but now I feel comfortable with my new swing and am seeing huge improvement off the tee.

Had my first lessons this year, did a round of 3 at Golf Galaxy. They were very helpful for me. The pro was quick to identify my flaws and gave easy fixes, not overly complicated thoughts or drills. Helped me become a lot more consistent and a lot more confident. I went from mid-high 90s to mid 80s and even shot a 77 on my final round of the year.

Obviously too late now, but I would advise against going right to the course after a lesson because typically you'll have a few things to work on and better to hit a bucket with a mid iron or whatever and work on those things.

My first lesson:

"This is how you grip the club. Now swing." Good.

I hit a dozen or so balls and asked what's next.

"That's another lesson. Just keep working on that grip."

Needless to say I never went back to that guy.

New coach. Takes video. Corrected my posture, (from playing with too short clubs for my first 4 years.) Started trying to get my left arm straight on the takeaway.

Middle of the first lesson I'm hitting the ball 10-20 yards more with the same club.

Immediately bought a 10 pack of lessons.

With a goal of breaking 100, your handicap is probably around 25-30ish. If you were to take lessons and apply them to your game, through dedicated play and practice you could probably get down to about where I am, a 15 handicap this year.

You're where I was a little over a year ago. I bought a pack of 6 lessons last year, and it helped immensely! But, I also played a lot, don't expect results if you don't put in the time. I swear I watched every youtube video out there on curing a slice and unless you have video of your swing and know what's causing your slice, it's all pointless. Go get lessons!

Once you can keep the ball in play off the tee, and you get down to losing a ball once every 3-4 rounds instead of losing 3-4 balls every round, the game becomes a lot of fun and even more challenging.

I spend an hour at the range trying to go over what I learned after EVERY lesson, starting from my first to my last one. Range time is critical. Take what you learned and burn it into your mind. Going to the range after every lesson really helps you nail it down. Lessons are great! It gives a good foundation, and gives you confidence knowing that you're doing it correctly. Ask your instructor for some good drills you can do at home and on the range. Try to get as much knowledge from them as you can. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I've had bad success with instructors - had 3 for maybe 25 lessons or so when I was shooting 100s / 90s. They really didn't do much for me - they were local pros who weren't necessarily overly wrong about anything they said but I know now that "pulling the handle to the ball" is absolute death to me and that's what they would teach, for instance.

I basically followed golfwrx for years and from that content was shooting in the high 70s/low 80s without a ton of practice or play time. Saw Monte Scheinblum and that got me into the 70s from mid 80s with days when I couldn't even stay in bounds off the tee and shoot 95.

Having a instructor that you progress with is definitely the ideal. Getting lessons from someone who is capable of teaching you particularly is the way to learn.

I think if you're reasonably athletic, you can make progress quickly with an instructor. I'd suggest not committing to anything beyond a couple lessons and feel free to find someone else - people teach golf in different ways. Also, get yourself like a $20 foldable tripod for your cell phone for the bedroom.