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lester2

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This may be long so bear with me!

I’m 62 and have been playing since I was around 10 or so. I’ve never had a lesson. Closest to a lesson was when I played high school golf, we had a good coach who ran us thru drills, but I wasn’t very serious about the game back then.

Throughout my working life I played sporadically and always lived up north where the summers were short. 10 years ago I retired and about 6 years ago really started to play a lot. 3 years ago we bought a Florida winter home and I really got serious about the game. Bought new clubs, joined clubs both up north and down south, started posting scores, tracking statistics and doing all I could, on my own, to improve my game.

My HI started at 26, I’ve been down as low as 16, currently hovering around 18-19.

I’ve monkeyed around with grip, stance, tempo, address, weight transfer, all the things I’ve read about and seen on videos. Tried new clubs, hybrids, putters, balls. Some of these things yielded positive results, some not.

I know this about myself. I’m not as flexible as I used to be, nor as strong. My swing is rather flat footed, when I force myself to rotate and transfer my weight my ball striking consistency suffers and my gentle fade becomes more of a slice.

I’m at a point where lessons, from the right instructor could help. My winter club does not have a teaching pro. Several others in the area do but I’m at a loss as to how best go about selecting the right one.

I’d like to hear from some of you about how you selected an instructor and your experience once you did, good or bad.

Thanks.
 
Never had to go through getting an instructor since I'm like you and have never taken lessons. But I'm sure some people will be able to talk you through how they selected.
Some people have taken one lesson to see if they like the style they teach in or if they get along with them. That could be a suggestion. Take a single ones and see if they mesh with what you're trying to do
 
I’m 61 and have been playing for more than 50 years. I have had 4 lessons in my lifetime including as recently as October. I’m currently a 13.7 index, up from 11.0 a few years ago.

I would suggest that you ask around to see who might be available. You also might want to decide what it is you want to work on. You probably want to find someone you are comfortable with.
 
My last lesson was in 1997, I had spent the previous 8+ years with the same instructor.

My first point is when finding the right instructor, if affordable, stick with that instructor for more than a few visits. One or two visits are not much help. They are temporary band aids at best.

Now, it's my opinion that finding a quality instructor is a pretty tough thing to do. It's a crap shoot at best. The instructor, and the student have to be on the same page from the beginning. They both need to be working towards the same goals of improvement . What the instructor teaches, the student must learn, and continually practice. Again, continually practice.

My suggestion would be if a possible instructor is found, that a conversation should take place before any instruction takes place. Lots of questions need to be asked, and answered by both participants. A quality instructor, with integrity would probably not charge for this initial meeting. Especially if it led to more than a few future sessions.

I found my long time instructor through a group instruction. I was one of 5 students who were scheduled for $20 each. I was the only one who showed up for the 1 hour lesson.

After the session was over, and I had learned something, I offered the instructor $60 instead of the $20 since I was the only student there. He refused, saying the $20 was the agreed price. With that I knew I had found a quality instructor.
 
I got lucky and got a lesson package from GolfTec through this very forum.

My game has been transformed by it and I would encourage anyone to get an evaluation at their nearest GolfTec to see if the coach is someone you're compatible with.
 
If you can get recommendations from some people you play with, that's obviously best. However, chances are you are in pretty good shape just jumping in with anyone working at a respectable facility. While bad pros do happen, respectable facilities take time to check references, look for reviews, and have the applicant demonstrate their knowledge. You're not locked in either way. If after a couple lessons you don't think it's going the right way, just switch. You don't have to explain yourself or have an uncomfortable conversation. Pros are like doctors. While they may truly like you and want you to remain as their student, they're too busy to go chasing students around.

Definitely understand that for lessons to have benefit, they're going to take some hard work. And by hard work I don't mean a bucket of balls or two in-between the lessons before declaring "it didn't work." You're going to have to be dedicated to the changes and the work involved, and they can take a LONG time to click.

The one piece of advice I'd give you is when you're talking to instructors or taking a first lesson, it would be a huge red flag to me if they're not focusing on something in the first one-quarter of the swing first. It might be grip, posture, or takeaway. If a pro is talking about teaching you how to shallow or how to fix your chicken-wing without saying he has to make fixes there first, that would be a huge red flag for me as the chances an amateur is doing all the right things in those areas are terribly small.

But here's the thing: you're going to be 63 next year. You can be 63, or you can be 63 and have improved some aspect of your game.

Jump in - the water's fine.
 
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I haven’t had an in person set of golf lessons since the mid 1990’s.I searched for the best I could find not worried that much about the price.He is a top 100 teacher which was a little intimidating.At the beginning he was rattling off numbers and terms I couldn’t comprehend.So I was honest and told him I’m more of a casual golfer and keep it simple.He immediately changed his focus and acknowledged my request.So far so good.He told me for as little as I play my swing is developing nicely.The big thing is block out all YouTube and social media golf tips.
 
I took a ton of lessons...in the neighborhood of 70-80. I would say a few things

1) space them out more than the instructor likely wants. They often want to see you weekly or even more frequently. But when you are changing something, it takes longer than a day or two. Some of us learn faster and some learn slower...space the lessons so that you have time to fully ingrain what you are learning.

2) make sure you understand what and why is being taught. "Imagine you are swinging under thus and such"...okay, why? Why am I using that target line? etc. If you don't understand the term or the intent then the lesson has negative effects. For example, for the longest time when I heard "release the club" I had no idea what was meant. Any instruction relating to that was pointless to me. Ask questions, even about terms you think you know as he may have different meaning.

3) Your mileage may vary, but if I were to go back now and take the lessons they would be exponentially more effective. When I was taking them I did not really comprehend things like the new ball flight laws, etc. On a completely unrelated note, it was really hard for me to trust an inside out swing path...and I did not get nearly as much out of the lessons as I would/could/should have. The more you know about the swing before you go into, you may find it is much easier to put the lessons into action.

My experience was this: when I started I very, very rarely broke 100 even with a mulligan or two thrown in. By the end of the lessons I was routinely anywhere from 85-95 and had a couple low 80s. My lesson package ran out.

I played okay but then changed...something he had shown me. And that broke something else. And that broke something else.

I started learning about the swing myself. Then I started understanding some of the things he had been trying to show me. He is a skilled instructor who these days is sold out and highly rated...I don't me to insinuate the problem was with him. I was not knowledgeable enough to know what he was trying to teach. Looking back, taking what i was understanding about the swing and melding it with what he was trying to show me, it led to some really nice improvements. But now I understand my swing and when it starts breaking down I can figure it out and adjust.

A year or two ago I had multiple rounds in the upper 70s. Had I known enough about the swings and terms when taking the lessons, that would have happened years ago.

Lessons are great but on some level you take out of them what you go into them with. If I had it to do over again I would
a) study the swing to know what impacts it...grip, contact point, swing path, clubface, weight shift, etc...
b) schedule them according to MY needs not the instructors suggestion (they were grouped much too closely together for me)
c) take extensive notes so I can go back and review them when something starts getting corrupted.

The issue I had with lessons is this: they can...not must but can...become something that on some level requires continuous lessons not just to improve but to keep from regressing. So make sure you are not learning "do this motion"...learn what you are doing and why and then they will have value for years.
 
darthweasel said:
I took a ton of lessons...in the neighborhood of 70-80. I would say a few things

1) space them out more than the instructor likely wants. They often want to see you weekly or even more frequently. But when you are changing something, it takes longer than a day or two. Some of us learn faster and some learn slower...space the lessons so that you have time to fully ingrain what you are learning.

2) make sure you understand what and why is being taught. "Imagine you are swinging under thus and such"...okay, why? Why am I using that target line? etc. If you don't understand the term or the intent then the lesson has negative effects. For example, for the longest time when I heard "release the club" I had no idea what was meant. Any instruction relating to that was pointless to me. Ask questions, even about terms you think you know as he may have different meaning.

3) Your mileage may vary, but if I were to go back now and take the lessons they would be exponentially more effective. When I was taking them I did not really comprehend things like the new ball flight laws, etc. On a completely unrelated note, it was really hard for me to trust an inside out swing path...and I did not get nearly as much out of the lessons as I would/could/should have. The more you know about the swing before you go into, you may find it is much easier to put the lessons into action.

My experience was this: when I started I very, very rarely broke 100 even with a mulligan or two thrown in. By the end of the lessons I was routinely anywhere from 85-95 and had a couple low 80s. My lesson package ran out.

I played okay but then changed...something he had shown me. And that broke something else. And that broke something else.

I started learning about the swing myself. Then I started understanding some of the things he had been trying to show me. He is a skilled instructor who these days is sold out and highly rated...I don't me to insinuate the problem was with him. I was not knowledgeable enough to know what he was trying to teach. Looking back, taking what i was understanding about the swing and melding it with what he was trying to show me, it led to some really nice improvements. But now I understand my swing and when it starts breaking down I can figure it out and adjust.

A year or two ago I had multiple rounds in the upper 70s. Had I known enough about the swings and terms when taking the lessons, that would have happened years ago.

Lessons are great but on some level you take out of them what you go into them with. If I had it to do over again I would
a) study the swing to know what impacts it...grip, contact point, swing path, clubface, weight shift, etc...
b) schedule them according to MY needs not the instructors suggestion (they were grouped much too closely together for me)
c) take extensive notes so I can go back and review them when something starts getting corrupted.

The issue I had with lessons is this: they can...not must but can...become something that on some level requires continuous lessons not just to improve but to keep from regressing. So make sure you are not learning "do this motion"...learn what you are doing and why and then they will have value for years.
Click to expand...
Great post.In the 1990’s I was almost 10
Years into playing golf avidly.Never saw my golf swing on video..never knew what over the top was or stuck under.My best golf was after my lessons in the 1990’s.As the common theme in the magazines and in person was swinging inside out and not slicing.But than over 20 years later I turned into a massive hooker of the ball.

But I never sliced after those lessons. Haha
 
Thank you all for your responses. Lots of great info for me to use as I go down this path.

I will update this thread once I find the right instructor and start lessons.
 
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