Golf Lessons:A fool and his money are soon departed"

[gold nugget]

With Regard to Golf Lessons: "A fool and his money are soon parted."
There is a conflict of interest present here. Teaching pros make their best money by making you more dependent on them and as a result, less dependent on yourself. I believe it is called "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" My only hope is that you don't run out of money before you are six feet under...

Suggestion: If you are really "hooked" on having to take lessons, wean yourself by taking a video of your swing(from all angles) when you are at your best. (For those real dependent souls, probably after your latest divinely inspired lesson."
Then refer to this video when you are in a slump and compare the two videos. Don't let the pros see you doing this or you will be banished.

Now go out and buy a fishing pole for some deserving soul with all the money you saved.

Gold Nugget

[Rockford35]

I can't disagree more. Lessons are far better than evaluating a swing that you haven't figured out worth a damn to this point by yourself.

Having a trained professional offer you sound advice that you obviously haven't stumbled apon is worth it's weight in gold if it gets you onto the right track of training your swing to something more repeatable and sound.

Thinking a handicam and this years 12 issues of Golf Digest are gonna bring your handicap down is a pipe dream, sorry.

R35

[gold nugget]

Now let's not get our underwear in a knot.
We have to start with the premise that this is not our first clam bake.
The biggest mistake one can make in this game is to deny reality. If you can't break 80, I suggest you take a serious look in the mirror and try to rationalize how much time, effort ands money you have expended at this point to play average golf. No offense, some just like to have fun no matter what level of accomplishment they have achieved. There's only one Bill Gatess in business, and one Tiger in this circus.

Gold Nugget

[mont86]

Originally Posted by gold nugget

Now let's not get our underwear in a knot.
We have to start with the premise that this is not our first clam bake.
The biggest mistake one can make in this game is to deny reality. If you can't break 80, I suggest you take a serious look in the mirror and try to rationalize how much time, effort ands money you have expended at this point to play average golf. No offense, some just like to have fun no matter what level of accomplishment they have achieved. There's only one Bill Gatess in business, and one Tiger in this circus.

Gold Nugget

LOL...Spankdog is that you? This is a funny joke.

[Rockford35]

I'm willing to bet that 90% of golfers out there would pay $75 if it meant dropping 5 strokes off their game. 5hdcp or 30hdcp. That's a pretty easy bet.

But if you think that forking over $75 is gonna make you Tiger, you're dreaming.

Golf is a game in which, as you pointed out, you can only blame the guy in the mirror. So if you strive to become better, what's wrong with taking a lesson if it means that you can?

I can break 80 with ease. But i'd pay $75 for a lesson in a heartbeat. And until I can play with Tiger, I can't see any reason why someone wouldn't push themselves to be better, whether that means winning a regional qualifier or playing with 3 other hacks from the office.

R35

[gold nugget]

Well said.
But there is also something to be said about taking the challenge on yourself- and hopefully conquering that challenge. I guarantee you'll remember the answer a lot longer if you can work through it yourself. That's whay I think the video is so critical for the non traditionalist. Pictures don't lie.

[warbirdlover]

I also strongly disagree. I just go to my (very reasonably priced and excellent) pro when I can't straighten my problem out on my own. He usually has me back in business in less then ten minutes and just gives me a couple things to work on. He doesn't play that game and I don't think any "legitimate" PRO does. The only ones they have come back (and only if they want to) are the beginners. And he charges $25 for a half hour.

[VtDivot]

On the other side of the coin, the last 2 pros I saw didn't help me at all. I highly doubt $75 worth of lessons will shave 5 strokes off my game either. I think I've been playing long enough to know my swing the best, and be able to analyze/fix it MOST of the time.

I'm not saying pros aren't useful, especially for the higher cappers, or a low capper who is struggling, but you need to find a good pro.

[APowell1990]

My father is my current swing coach. It is all about comfort for me. He knows my game and can usually figure out what is wrong, plus give me more things to work on. He is not the most patient person in the world, but his attitude really makes me better. I definately think lessons are a great idea if you are in a slump or just taking up the game. I have had lessons before, but only because dad said I wouldn't listen to him. I didn't take one this year from anybody and ended up having a pretty good year imo. It is important to find somebody that you trust when finding a swing coach.

[daddymack]

I have read many people on this board say "go get lessons". Rarely do they emphasize getting lesson from a "good" teacher. That in itself will vary from person to person. There are plnty of "quacks" out there. And probably some of the best teachers are not pros.

I took a few lessons from a reasonbly priced pro. Did not feel like I improved much. He told me I have to put in hours of work on my own to really get better. Otherwise just enjoy playing and not worry about scoring.

I started hitting the range about 3 times a week and really got an understanding of my game. I don't have a textbook swing, but neither does Furyk or doyle. I have shaved about 8 strokes off my score, And I havent even strted thinking about my short game yet.

I go back to that teacher when things start to fall apart. i was pushing and slicing for a while and, he got me back on track. I think thats the best way to use a teacher. Use the teacher help with some points, not construct a game for you. That would cost a ton of money. It makes about as much sense as teaching a right-handed player how to play left-handed.

[winders]

For the most part, I think gold nugget has it all wrong.

I have played golf a little bit here and there for years but I have never taken the game seriously (until now) and have not had lessons since high school. So, I can't talk from a position of experience in relation to golf.

But, on a serious level, I have raced cars, road raced motorcycles, and shot Skeet. In all three sports, most participants don't know enough about the mechanics of the sport to correct flaws in technique on there own. They need help from an experienced and well qualified teacher to identify the shortcomings in their technique and to find ways to fix those shortcomings.

I would be willing to bet that golf is no different. I am sure that it takes a real student of the game with some specific talent to see problems in a person's swing and know how to fix it. If it were as simple a videotaping one's self, don't you think most pro players would never go to a coach? Even Tiger seeks the help of a coach now and then.

In my experience, the only way to get better at anything is to improve technique and improve consistency using proper technique. Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Learning how to practice effectively is critical. You can get better results by becoming more consistent. But the only way to get a lot better is too improve your technique while becoming more consistent. The best way to do that is to get help from a well qualified and experienced teacher. The best investment one can make in any sport is in instruction.

Scott

[Sandpiper3]

What GN said is a horrible travesty imho. Practise DOESNT make perfect, not by a long shot. Practise makes persistance, meaning your doing the same thing wrong over and over and over again until wrong is your habit. Some guy who tapes his swing, and reads a tip "that helps/cures his slice/hook", is 80% chance of making his swing worst. Generally 70-80% of people over single digit hdcps dont know which things are good for wat kinda swings, not saying the people single digit know, but generally they know which is good/bad for THEIR OWN swing (then think theyre smart and tell other ppl with diff swings the same thing....).

Once you understand every mechanic of THE golf swing, then YOUR golf swing, then GN is right. So GN is wrong

[dave.]

If you don't improve,try another pro.I have constantly improved with the guy I use,so there is no reason to 'go it alone'.

Sorry,but your advice is nonsense,the vast majority of players will benefit from regular lessons.

Practice bad habits and you will take twice as long to get rid of them,practice has a value if you practice SOMETHING meaningful.If you just self diagnose nonsense and then just batter balls meaninglessly you end up nowhere.

[charnockpro]

Combination of Knowledge from a lesson and practice, you will always improve.

The only people who dont improve are the ones who take a lesson and dont work at what they are told at all, PGA pro's know whether their clients practice just by their general shape of swing

[gold nugget]

Sorry Guys, I've been out video taping the swing and therefore have been unable to defend myself in the interim.(just kidding -just Kidding)
But seriously, practicing bad habits as most of us mortal beings have learned by now is the #1 sin in golf.
So we therefore have two choices; Spend money like a "drunken sailor"to coin a phrase from John McCain-and by the way Tiger can certainly afford that and anything else on two feet that strikes his fancy...(I'm just jealous) or we can become true students of the game and practice with great care and study. It obviously helped that I took the game up at 5 and played many years of SCJGA. oh... and sorry, I did have a godfather whose swing I took every opportunity to emulate and analyze and ask questions of. But I just never got into taking lessons.
I'm the guy that enjoys learning how to fix the things around the house too. I did however study every great swing from Shell's wonderful world of golf, and anyone on the junior circuit that could out do me (and there were plenty). Not an easy road, but I think I can truthfully say that as a result, I understand the fundamentals pretty well now. So can't we all "just get along" and maybe agree to disagree, and who knows we might all learn a little bit from each other.
Great responses by the way.

G.N.