lessons/coaching

hi all, having just played my 1st round in about 10 years, went round in 146. whilst over the range  1 of the pro"s came up and gave me a quick 15 mins of his time and to be fair showed me how to grip the club properly and it has/did straighten up a lot of my shots on the range.(on the course a different matter lol) i am now thinking maybe a few lessons with him would be the way to go. my question is do u think this is worth while and how many lessons would u go for ? cheers all!

I have been playing for 12 years and without a lesson managed to get my handicap down to 10. I used to read tips and tricks from magazines etc. And also get tips from playing parteners, I really thought there was no need for lessons. Then I bought 4, 30 min lessons and had the first one 2 weeks ago, just a chipping lesson and he also altered my grip slightly.Nothing much really, then last week I had another lesson and within minutes I started drawing the ball with my 6 iron and hitting it 15 yards further with hardly any effort. Whereas before I had a slight fade !

All I can say is I wish I had taken lessons when I first started and I can't wait for my next one. But remember to practise what you are taught until it feels natural !

Definitely, lessons will make a huge difference, especially when you are effectively starting up as it will prevent the errors before they start. 

I would suggest a course of six (many places do six for the price of five) as this allows you to cover all the key aspects of the game and the last lesson is often a playng lesson over a few holes

Welcome back to the game

Couldnt agree more with Chris. If you learn bad habits it is much harder to correct than starting well.

I have found that it is not always the technical ability of a teacher/coach that is important as much as how well you get on and how easily you can take in what they say.

Find a coach that you can understand and get on with and then see what kind of deal he will do.

You cannot have too many lessons ( the pros have full time coaches that travel with them) but you have to practise , practise, practise what you are taught.

This is sady where i cannot practise what i preach at the moment as i simply dont have the time.

I hope you enjoy learning and improving as much as i did and will do again in the future.

A few months ago I would have said don't bother with lessons and just work it out for yourself.  Since actually finding a Pro I can relate to that has now changed completely.  Give the guy who helped you out a try, if he's interested enough to give you a bit of time to give you a few free tips he's probably one of the Pro's who like's seeing players improve rather than one who just likes to show you how good he is - and believe me there are a few of them out there.

Tim makes a very valid point. Find a guy you can relate to. I've had lessons from an ex-European tour player, who has a good rep, but we just didn't gel. His record for teaching is excellent... maybe I'm just too thick for him.

Getting the basics right early on will make a difference to how far you progress, and how quickly.

went over the range today ,and the guy was there, he came and watched me a while, then had a chat .asked how i got on friday, also said he could see the improvement from when he showed me my grip etc, which to be truthfull everything felt better and the ball was going further and straighterthan b4. anyway ive just arranged 4   45min lessons with him!! he is also going to start off with me playing 4 or 5 holes to see how /what i do. he says he just wants me to play how i do! this bit is for free b4 my 1st lesson .sounds fair enough to me ,coz i was telling him what i thought was going wrong ,he just said he would rather see fo himself!!!   dont think i can ask for more than that.  ian

You sound like you have found a teaching professional who really is interested in helping you to improve.

Take advantage of this and your game will certainly get better.

He sounds like a decent guy, especially as he has already given you 15 minutes of his time for free.  Also, he's going to watch you play (again, for free) so he can see for himself what you need to work on.

Russ

yes russ, he seems a nice fella,easy to chat with and what advice/help he has given me seems realy good, to be honest when he 1st started chatting i got the impression he just wanted to see me hit the ball a lot better,  yes i know he wants to earn money ,but i think  more than that he wants to see my game improve(i know theres  a lot of improvement needed lol). will see how it goes, 

Where is this pro based Ian, I think he deserves a bit of free advertising, sounds like a great chap!

I would strongly recommend playing lessons, range lessons are useful but the pro gets to see everything, warts and all on the course. Putting, chipping, course management, all the things he doesn't see on a range, and will probably cost less than a block of lessons in the end anyway. 

true david !!! he is based at  golf and fitness at horsham , his name is lea. so if any1 in the area after some lessons ,nip over and see him.