Something I don’t think is talked about enough in the world of golf instruction and obviously, something very close to my heart as a full-time golf coach is how to get the most from your lessons and what to expect from them.
Let’s start by talking about where I see things going wrong.
My number 1 without a doubt would be the golfer who comes in with preconceived ideas of what’s wrong with their swing.
I have heard so many times “I know what I’m doing wrong” or the classic “my mate says my swing is too far out to in”.
Now, before the lesson even begins they already have a closed mind with ideas of how to fix it themselves and what they want to hear from the pro. Anything that’s said, that doesn’t align with that is almost disregarded instantly because it doesn’t match their thoughts or those of their mate.
Ultimately they will leave disappointed having reaffirmed their thoughts that lessons don’t work.
2 - You will not cure your _______ (insert the issue of your choice here) in 1 lesson, or 2, or even 3!
Golf is hard and whatever habits you have will have been expertly developed over months and sometimes years, no pro can cure that in one lesson.
Making changes to habits is a gradual process and something that has to be seen as a process rather than an instant fix.
3 - Too many people only ever have a lesson every time the swing goes wrong!
This way, we can only work on the bad bits, leaving no real time in the lesson for meaningful forward progression.
I could go on I’m sure but those are the key ones that stick out in my experience.
Going forwards and to get the most from the lessons you need to understand that lessons are about so much more than just swing mechanics!
The trouble is until you have a handle on where that horrible little white ball is going it’s hard to ignore any swing issues.
Initially, you have to get to the root cause of the fault and remove that - that’s at the very least, lessons 1 and 2 taken care of. Then you can work on improving the mechanics as the root cause of the problem has been dealt with - that can take anything from another 3 to x number of lessons!
We typically have a handle on the swing mechanics (I’m talking consistent delivery throughout the whole bag) somewhere between 6-12 lessons, at which point you’ll be on top of your game, hitting better misses and already scoring better from keeping the ball in play far more often. It’s from here where the real game-changing work begins as we start working on improving your scoring potential - putting, chipping, pitching, wedge matrix, distance gapping, course management etc.
My advice to anyone wanting to improve their game would be to look upon it as an investment, in both a time and a money sense.
Be prepared to give it at least 3 months of 2 lessons per month as a start and see where you’re at. That’s only 6 sessions but you’ll be in a much better place with your mechanics and have a newfound understanding of your swing tendencies and what causes the misses.
If you’ve not already tried a lesson then why not book in for an intro session where we can identify your faults and formulate a plan to fix them once and for all.
As always thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have any thoughts or questions about this or any other golf related topic please get in touch.
Shane
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