Should I Get Golf Lessons?

29 Dec

So, in the last article I talked about my beginnings to golf. While on a round in March, having been playing for about a month, I realised that if I wanted to get better, then I would need to spend some time at the range (obvious I know).

Luckily, as part of my membership, I actually got given 2000 range balls, so I decided to come up with my own training plan, which included practising on putting and chipping but mainly focused on the driving range.

After a few sessions at the range, I had some reflections:

1. I had no plan - I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve from each session.

2. Smashed through balls - I would get a basket of 50 balls and be done with them within 30 minutes

3. I didn’t know what to aim at/how to aim on the range

I obviously did some research to help, but I also came to the realisation that the best thing to do would probably be to get a lesson.

Now, there are effectively 2 types of lessons you can have, one-off and regular coaching.

One-Off Lessons

Pros

Lower cost as less frequent, quick feedback, corrections on major problems

Cons

Can be difficult to get right, no course correction

My thoughts: I had a one off lesson with my course Pro, Tom Muchmore. I had a one off introductory session with him and then didn’t return for quite a few months. In this lesson, he was open that this session would be about giving me some major corrections to help with some problems I was having but regular coaching would likely be better.

In this session, we focused initially on the swing where I was told that I had a weak grip, which caused my shots to go right all the time. I also was missing the final wrist action on my swing so we looked at that.

After the session, I applied what I learnt for a while and my results shifted dramatically. I went from shooting 55 (9 hole) regularly to suddenly hitting 44. My handicap tumbled as a result. However, then things started to go south again and I couldn’t work it out…

Coaching Plan

Pros

More frequent sessions, once every two weeks, results in regular feedback and an ability to tweak from last lesson.

Cons

Price - more expensive

Thankfully Tom sent out an offer as we approached the winter to help golfers who wanted to continue working on their game through the winter. As I was determined to not be a fair-weather golfer, I decided this would be a good approach.

I also felt that I needed to have that regular coaching - I’m used to it with previous sporting endeavours and know I respond well to feedback.

First session we had, we went from focusing on the grip to suddenly focusing on my hips. Tom videoed me (see screenshot at the top of this page), and gave me the feedback to try and keep my left hip to the left, pushing through on impact.

After this lesson, I started to see a difference to the way the ball was swinging. Two weeks later, we were looking at my shoulders, keeping them back and tilted the opposite way to my hips.

All of a sudden, my standard shot shape is changing to a draw, but more importantly I know how to get back to a fade if I need to. Obviously, putting practice into something tangible on the course is another thing, but on the range I’m seeing some great results.

Conclusion

After having quite a few lessons on the coaching plan now (at the time of writing, I’ve been doing it for about 3 months), I feel like I have more purpose at the range and more importantly like I will get results on the course when we start seeing better weather.

Some of the rounds I’m having, scoring wise haven’t been great, but this has been more about decisions than poor striking.

I feel like I have more purpose at the range, I take more time reviewing the shot and thinking about what I want to do. This has also been reflected on the course - my pre-shot routine has developed and I feel good with the regular feedback.

For those of you from Kent - I would highly recommend

Tom Muchmore @ Ashford Golf Course.