Golf pro's and lessons

What is the criteria for being a golf pro?  It has occurred to me that I am going to want to look at getting some lessons after I've had a little time getting used to just playing the sport regularly, but have no idea as to a way of selecting who to approach for lessons. 

Is there any way of gauging, other than hearsay (not the band), as to the merits of a particular person? 

Now is the time for your lessons, Jamie, before you develop bad habits that will be very hard to change. Why go through all that pain and slow down your chance of rapid improvement.

Unfortunately the teaching professional is one who has failed to make an impact in the game itself so ends up teaching, but would you want a lesson from someone who cannot do it themselves.

Most prefessionals will not give toss whether you improve or not, it is only your money they are after.

Instruction should be a continuing part of your game,. especially at the stage you are at, so it is essential you find a pro who is sympathetic to your aims and is going to take an interest in helping you achieve them.

The beauty of this game is that everyone has an opinion as to how it should be played and, of course, we cannot all be right.

Narrowing the field down to ones that can really help is difficult, but IMO it is important that the person giving the lesson was at least able to do it himself, no matter how long ago.

Players can be divided into two groups, those who swing (Ernie Els) and those who hit (Tiger) and therefore require different techniques to achieve their aims, so it is a waste of time going to someone who is a hitter when you consider yourself a swinger.

Jamie would be far better off having these lessons now as it will pay dividends in the long run. As we all know bad habits are very hard to erase.

I remember when ten pin  bowling came into the country and the first bowl to be opened was in Stamford Hill, North London. I went along to have a look and quickly realised that it was a very technical game and not as simple as it looks.

I had no wish to be embarrassed, so I sought out the instructor and he taught me the approach, which is basically a four step move but has the idiosyncrosy of the first step being made with the same foot on the side that one is holding the ball.

If you start off with the wrong foot as a lead, then one finds himself at the delivery ploint with the ball in the wrong position and being 16lbs it then becomes difficult to do anything with it.

So this applies to golf as well, any method will hit the ball well on occasions, but to hit it well consistently requires a sound method.

Lessons Jamie, lessons, I had a group of them before I started playing, It might be just swinging a club at a ball, and we should'nt lose sight of that, but there is a certain technique which you should learn from a pro... 

I had 4 lessons with a pro at a course, who's name will remain unmentioned. Stance, swing etc...For my 5th lesson, he told me we would be working on my grip, at which point I decided this guy wasn't the coach for me..

Am I wrong or right, but shouldn't the grip really be the 1st thing you work on??

I booked a group of three lessons at my local range. Had the first that went ok, when i tried to book my second he had moved 20 miles to another range. I tracked him down and he honoured the booking and had my second lesson which again seemed ok at the time. I never got round to taking the third and found that it took me nearly a year of playing worse before i managed to get back to my previous form which i have still not improved on.

My point is that if you start lessons, book them thick and fast and keep at them till you improve otherwise like me youll just end up worse.

The pro i used has apparently coached many tour players including Vijay Singh, i am not entirely sure why he would then be coaching at my local range which does not even have a course attached to it.

The coaches that the tour players used are there, mainly for reassurance. All the coach has to do is sugges tlittle poionters from what he sees and this will either register with the pro, or it won't, in which case he will just ignore it.

The Pros know exactly what they are doing at impact by the flight of the ball and they usually can corrrect themselves, but it is always nice to have reassurance from someone they trust.