3 Ways to Get More Out of Every Golf Lesson

Taking golf lessons is a great way to improve your game. There are thousands of talented and experienced golf professionals working across the country, and those pros are ready and willing to help you reach a new level on the course. Given their relatively modest cost, golf lessons are one of the best investments you can make if you hope to shoot lower scores.

With all of that said, it is true that some golfers come away disappointed with the results of their lessons in the long run. Initially, they feel like they will improve their play greatly, however they fail to make the expected strides over the weeks and months that follow.

Why is that? There are a number of potential issues that can come up, and those problems can interrupt the progress that a given player expected to make.

We’d like to help you avoid those problems, so you can get the most out of your lessons. Below, we have listed three important tips to keep in mind with regard to golf instruction. Use these tips and it’s likely that you’ll see great improvements when working with a teaching pro.

#1 – Ditch Your Preconceived Notions

This is a huge issue in the world of golf lessons. It generally plays out like this:

1. A golfer decides that he or she has a golf swing problem that needs to be fixed.
2. That golfer struggles to make the necessary corrections on the range, so an appointment for a golf lesson is made.
3. Heading into the lesson, the golfer is already convinced that he or she knows what the problem is and how it should be corrected.
4. With a closed mind, the golfer ignores much of the advice provided by the golf teacher, except for the parts that agree with the player’s preconceived notions.
5. Any progress is limited in the aftermath of the lesson, and the player winds up disappointed.

Does this sound familiar? This is a process that many golfers have been through, and they come away thinking that golf lessons ‘just don’t work.’ Of course, that’s not the case. Going into the process with a closed mind is what caused the lesson to be a failure.

Think of it this way – would you go to the doctor and ignore the diagnosis because you think you already know what’s going on? Hopefully not.

It’s wise to trust the opinion of the experts you work with, and the golf teacher is the expert in this case. If you want to get great results from your golf lessons, you need to go into the process with an open mind and be receptive to the ideas of the teacher.

#2 – Attack a Specific Problem

If you are hoping that a single golf lesson with a local teaching pro is going to turn you into the top golfer in the world, we have some bad news – it’s not going to happen. This is a hard game, and it takes years of consistent effort to reach higher levels, if you are ever to reach those levels at all. So, when you go into a lesson, you shouldn’t have grand expectations of fixing everything that ails your game.

Rather, it’s a better plan to go into the lesson with one specific issue that you would like to solve.

As a classic example, you might want to get rid of your slice. Or, it might be that you would like to work on adding a few yards to your average drive. Whatever it is that you’d like to improve, communicate that goal with the teacher and keep your lesson focused on making progress in this area.

Realistically, you are going to need to work on the points given to you by the teacher for a while before they become part of your game. Once you have successfully made the improvements you had targeted at the start, you can then think about starting the process over again with a new goal. Over time, you can work your way through various issues and eventually you’ll find yourself with a game that is vastly improved from what it once was.

One more note: try to work with the same golf teacher over the long run, if at all possible. Building a relationship will help the teacher get to know your game, and he or she will learn how to communicate with you effectively.

#3 – Ask for Notes

It’s hard to remember everything that you are told in a golf lesson. Your lesson may last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, and the teacher is likely to make many different points in that time. Are you going to remember everything that is said so you can work on it later? Probably not.

There are a couple of potential solutions for this issue. For one thing, you could record the whole lesson on video, so you can go back and watch it later to remind yourself of the key points. Alternatively, you can simply ask the teacher to make a list of notes for you after the lesson is over.

This is something that many teachers do anyway, but feel free to ask about it in advance just to be sure. Then, when each lesson is finished, you’ll leave with something that you can take with you to the driving range during your upcoming practice sessions.

Finding a Teacher

Once you have decided that golf lessons are the right way to improve your game, you’ll need to find a local pro to work with you. Most golf courses, as well as driving range facilities, have pros on staff who will be happy to offer lessons for a flat rate.

If you frequent one course in your area more than the rest, that course would be the natural place to start looking for a teacher. Feel free to ask a few questions when talking with a potential teacher so you can make sure he or she is a good fit for your situation.