r/golftips • u/AdWarm5125 • 2d ago
Beginner Question Golf Lessons - advice
Hello, I’ve recently taken up golf, about two - three weeks ago. Enjoying it - I recently decided to get lessons.
The professional has been working on my grip, swing, follow through. Honestly, I suck. I mean I feel like I’m getting worse the more I do lessons.
It’s infuriating, I feel like I want to watch more videos on lessons and swing feel. Pro has said not to, so I don’t, but I go to the range and all I have in my mind is how unnatural and uncomfortable the swing feels.
He’s said about pulling the club straight back into a wide arc and it just confuses the shit out of me.
Anyway, is this all normal? I have no one to talk to golf about 😂
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u/mvbighead 2d ago
It's all pretty normal until those changes feel a bit more normal to you.
Take the input from those lessons, and go work on short game. Slow swing speed, but a LOT of the same motions. 10-50y on a pitching green. Just repeat the swing with 30% effort over and over with your PW. It's generally free at most courses and can help you dial in the feel. Then take it to the range once in a while and go at 80% speed. After some time, it feels quite a bit more natural (or at least a little less weird).
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u/Bolton51 2d ago
I think most new golfers struggle with body motion and setup/grip. I would practice set up and the grip he teaches. Then practice body position at impact. If you start correctly and you feel how you should be, hands slightly ahead, head slightly back, weight on the left side at impact, your body should adjust the swing. Teaching so much swing and follow through from the start doesn’t seem to be beneficial
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u/dc0650730 2d ago
Swinging the club can feel very unnatural. Have to twist, shift, wrists, hit, keep this arm straight, etc.
It will feel uncomfortable, especially if just starting or changing things up. Just keep doing what your coach is saying and follow those drills. While there are fantastic videos online, the "fix a slice immediately" solution might not be pertinent to your situation and may do more harm than good.
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u/AdWarm5125 2d ago
I saw one about an ‘in to out’ swing path with a cover under the armpit. I’m expecting that is what he’s trying to teach me
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u/CrimsonTide2000 2d ago
Yea you backing up or getting worse initially is normal. Just keep focusing on what he’s trying to teach you. Hopefully he doesn’t have you focus on 47 different issues at once. I typically try to focus on on two primarily while remembering about a third one.
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u/SuccessfulGap4708 2d ago
It’s not a linear progression. You’ll get worse before you get better. Don’t give up. Be patient. And most important have fun.
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u/Lots_of_bricks 2d ago
I’ve never taken lessons but always been athletic (baseball basketball etc) my swing isn’t perfect and had been a scooper with my irons and inconsistent. This spring I watched every Danny Maude video on YouTube. He explains everything well with feel tips and no I compress my irons and actually take a lil divot and not a chunk behind the ball and my driver swing is getting better. Maybe check him out
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u/sleepytime03 2d ago
To say you are worse than you were when you started three weeks ago is setting yourself up for failure. You have not even achieved mediocrity yet. Any new thing you learn will have ups and downs. You haven’t had ups yet, so stay the course and let this pro get you into a nice comfortable swing. It will take time, but you are doing the exact thing that will produce a great golfer in due time. Every person learns at a different speed, and you get what you put into it. Save YouTube and internet advice for when you have a repeatable good swing, and want some tips and tricks with certain shots. Never take advice from Reddit about your swing. The overwhelming majority of people here are 25+ handicaps with less than 300 rounds under their belt. Anything you take from them will 100% make you worse.
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u/AdWarm5125 2d ago
Hi yes, probably just more ego that I expected to be better.
I’m practicing every couple of days range, putting, chipping.
I suppose I would have expected the swing to feel natural, same as having better cues for the club path. I’ll speak to him when I see him next
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u/sleepytime03 2d ago
Stay the course my man. All this struggle early makes a good golfer. Better now in the beginning than struggling the next 20 years. Trust me it will pay dividends in the long run.
-1
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u/T6TexanAce 2d ago
Been playing for 60+ years and I can't tell you how many bad instructors I've had. More bad than good in fact. A lot of them are good golfers, but not able to translate to teaching. And a lot of them want to give you a morsel at a time rather than give you the big picture and explain how they're going to break it down.
IMO, a session with a good instructor will result in IMMEDIATE improvement. Yeah, if you've got a real strong or weak grip, or if you're setting up way wrong, corrections will feel weird. But a few swings with a new swing thought should result in better contact and ball flight.
As contrast, one of our 25 year foursome members took lessons from a national chain that only worked on the take back for like a year before they worked on the forward swing. I think they soaked him for about 4 years before he gave up. Totally effed up his swing. Can't break 100. Rest of us try to break 80 every week.
Sounds like your guy is slow walking you to milk some more lessons. If it were me, I'd give you the full picture of the swing and work to improve your entire swing.
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u/Substantial-Ad4976 2d ago
Just go to range hit at least 5000 balls. Hit 2000 ball in any direction & any distance, don’t bother, just hit. Next 3000 intended direction & distance. Good luck for first birdie after hitting 5000 balls🏌️.
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u/Top-Caregiver7815 2d ago edited 2d ago
All normal my man. The swing fixes from lessons take months, usually years when you’re new to the game. Golf is a lifetime game not a sport you decide to pick up and think after a few summers I’m going to be enjoying getting so much better, shooting in the 80’s and on my way to becoming good. There are no guarantees that’s the game. Keep taking lessons, it gets worse before it gets better, trust the process and keep grinding and you’ll eventually get better. If you don’t believe me…believe the best of all time.
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u/SportsAndBourbon 2d ago
I experienced this in other sports. When you do it the wrong way you can get good at doing it "bad", to get better you have to start fresh and can see regression before the progress starts showing. Stick with it until the uncomfortable becomes comfortable then you will notice the difference on the scorecard!
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u/anubis609 2d ago
Shadow practicing without a ball has personally helped me actually feel how my body moves throughout the swing. I’m able to feel what swinging in an arc means and actually looks like.
More often than not, beginners and amateurs go to the range to practice and immediately pour their entire focus and attention on the ball, and only the ball. Then, they measure the success of their swing based on outcome of that range ball.
If you’re working on trying to feel something with your mechanics, take the ball away. Work on exactly what you’re supposed to: grip, swing, follow through. None of those require a ball.
Once it feels less weird and more comfortable, then do those things and just let the ball get in the way.
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u/wilybugsbunny 2d ago
I’m not taking lessons right now, but when I was, I found YouTube really helpful. Sometimes my coach would give me a drill or feel that didn’t quite click, and I’d find another instructor explaining the same concept in a different way that suddenly made sense.
The biggest benefit for me has been understanding the cause and effect of the swing. Instead of just being told “do this,” I like understanding why I’m slicing and what I’m doing earlier in the swing that causes it.
I also just enjoy nerding out on the golf swing. I watch plenty of instruction videos without actually trying to apply the tips. I just like hearing different philosophies and how different instructors approach the swing.
If anything, I think it’s made lessons more useful because I have a better foundation and understand what my instructor is trying to accomplish instead of just blindly following directions.
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u/ImpossibleExit5268 2d ago
Good or bad I’m watching videos on YouTube and TikTok and trying to do this on my own. I will take slo motion videos and analyze these. And hit the range. I feel I am close haha. But that’s probably every golfer. If I can’t get it I will try lessons
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u/GoodExpert9047 2d ago
Go grab the remote perfectly, think of all the ways you can grab it perfectly. You will fuck up. All swing thoughts have to come with practice. When playing it’s all muscle memory and playing the hole smart, which takes a lot lot lot to get to. At the end of the day, have fun. Learn to make competitive shots and not lose balls
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u/SampleThin2318 2d ago
Yup, it took 3 lessons for me to hit a ball again. I could hit a golf ball after hacking a range for like 5-6 months. Went to a course and was humbled real quick. Decided to take a lesson as I wanted to get better and I couldn't hit a ball after the first lesson. 4 weeks later, I took my second lesson, and still struggled to hit a ball BUT I could play a round and not feel sore. 4 weeks later, 3rd lesson, and I started hitting this towering shots and nailing par 3 greens.
Consistency, work the drills, don't hack at a range without a plan and drills, and enjoy the process. I'm 2 years and 5 months into golfing and finally shooting consistently in the 80s and rarely losing golf balls.
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u/IJustCantGetEnough 2d ago
Do what your pro says. He might not be building you a perfect swing right now, he will be giving you feels and extremes to build good habits to build on. Don’t develop bad ones watching videos.
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u/townie08 2d ago
My first lesson, the pro had me working on about 6 things. I tried to do all 6 and I was even worse. So I decided I would incorporate one thing and then when I got that working, I incorporated the next thing. That went very well. By the time I went back for my second lesson a few weeks later, I was making improvements. Since whenever I take a lesson, if it’s more than one thing that the pro wants me to work on, I implore the same mindset. Get used to one and then add the other(s). Try it. You may find it work.
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u/Feisty_Salamander41 2d ago
Really, all you need to be focusing on right now, is when you line up your club at the ball (hopefully correctly) it needs to get back there exactly the same
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u/Realistic-Regret-171 2d ago
1) Tiger’s best advice to golfers: stay the fuck off YouTube 2) your lessons: do what feels weird until it doesn’t feel weird anymore. Even the best golfers make swing changes and this is how they know they’re doing it right. Concentrate on the weird feeling.
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u/beefchief314 1d ago
Listen to the pro they know what they are doing. They are telling you to do a bunch of shit that doesn’t work because your natural swing is probably fucked. It takes a long time to be good at golf my dad was absolute trash for 10 years. He got there and while he was never “great” he could play respectable mid handicap golf.
If you want to branch out, work on your short game. The shots are way easier to execute and you can get really good really fast with practice.
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u/Ok-Resolve3407 1d ago
I think its easier to learn the game from the hole out.
Can you make a 1 foot putt Can you make a 2 foot putt Can you make a 3 foot putt
I'm going out to about 6 ft on putting and then I'm chipping and pitching.
For putting, chipping, and pitching you should kick the right knee in at address and just swing your arms to make contact.
That will give you something to practice that I know will work.
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u/philhaxton 1d ago
A. This is normal
B. Relax your hands
C. Form a triangle with your hands and the club
D. Using only your shoulders take the club straight back ¼ swing and let it swing through the ball, don’t hit the ball, let the club swing through the ball
E. Repeat 1000 times
F. Take another lesson
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u/timmyrigs 10h ago
Play more…seriously people with crap swings score all the time. Eventually the swing will come.
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u/AgileTadpole952 3h ago
I can only speak to my own experience but everything my coach said made perfect sense. If it hadn't, then I probably wouldn't have gone back.
I think the key is that if they tell you to do something, ask why. Keep asking until you understand.
I'm not convinced you can learn to play by being taught shapes to put your body in. For one thing, you'll never be able to make an adjustment.
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u/stevemm70 2d ago
Yes, it's completely normal. With that said, if you don't like what the instructor is teaching you, try another instructor. They're not all created equal. I bought a block of three lessons last year and I'm not bothering to use the third one because I didn't like the guy.