How a Golf Lesson Could Change Your Game

With the promise of lighter nights not too far away this is the ideal time of year to set some targets for 2025. Surely most of us want to finish the year as better players than we started it?

So how can you do that? Yes, you can go to the driving range and hit endless golf balls, but one of the problems with that is that if you already have bad habits or swing faults all you are going to achieve is to ingrain them.

Why Don't More Golfers Book Lessons?

For reasons that I fail to understand, most club golfers seem pretty reluctant to seek the advice of an expert. We have all played with golfers who are free with their swing advice. But should you be listening to somebody who plays off a 20 handicap? No, you really shouldn’t! If they knew what they were talking about then they would not have a 20 handicap, would they?

Of course there are times when a playing partner will spot something you are doing wrong. The most obvious way they can help is with your alignment. I recently played with somebody who was hitting every single shot miles right, but dead straight. This was because that is where he was aiming. He thought he was squared up but his feet and shoulders were actually aiming way right. We were quickly able to get him back on track.

So why are so many of us so reluctant to book lessons with the club pro?

I believe there are two reasons - 1) the cost, and 2) we know that we are going to feel uncomfortable with the swing and grip changes they are going to want us to make.

A golf lesson with a competent professional will probably cost you in the region of £40. Book a series of lessons and you will probably be offered some form of discount. I suppose it all depends upon what we want to get from our game, but I don’t believe that £40 is too expensive.

Chance to Improve Your Fundamentals

Nothing worth doing is going to come easy. It may well be that a lesson is going to involve you being told that you are going to have to completely change the way you hold the club. Gripping a golf club correctly is one of the most basic of the fundamentals. When you look at the top golfers you may see different swings but, by and large, they all grip the club the same way. So if your teaching pro tells you to change your own grip then you really should be listening.

I am old school. If I start struggling with my game I book a lesson. I have been lucky enough to find a teaching pro who explains things in a simple and straightforward way, who does not fill my head with a million swing thoughts.

The Benefits

Not long after returning to the game last year I developed a dose of the shanks. If you have ever suffered from this affliction then you will know it is the most debilitating shot in golf. There is nothing worse. You find yourself waiting for it. And it happens at the worst times, usually when you are facing a water hazard.

I put up with it for a couple of weeks but then realised that this was something I could not fix by myself. I duly booked a lesson and within seconds she had identified the problem. A simple tweak to my backswing changed everything - and I have not shanked a shot since.

I had also been struggling with a slice with a driver in my hands. Only with the driver. I was hitting the ball well enough but my trademark draw had gone. And the harder I tried to draw the ball the more I struggled to do so. It turned out that I was gripping the club far too tightly. It was a simple fix, and it worked.

No matter which part of your game you are battling with, a teaching professional will be able to point you in the right direction.

Yes, they can help you with your swing and may well recommend changes.

Get Lessons For Neglected Parts of Your Game

But how many people do you know who have ever had a short-game lesson? Think about this for a minute - every golfer uses his or her putter more than any other club in the bag. How many times in a round are you faced with a chip-shot from the edge of the green? How often do you find a greenside bunker?

And now answer these questions:

Have you ever had a putting lesson?

Have you ever had a chipping lesson?

Have you ever had a bunker lesson?

Just imagine how many shots you could slash from your handicap if you could eliminate three-putts, if you could average 30 putts per round. Think about how much less stress there would be if you clambered into a greenside bunker in the certain knowledge that you were going to get the ball out of the sand at the first attempt. 

We all marvel at the chipping prowess of the top professionals. When they pitch from the edge of the green they are expecting to hole out - and will be livid if they do not get up and down every time. Now think about your own game. How often do you hole a chip shot? What percentage of the time do you get the ball up and down? The chances are that you do not practice these shots but I also wonder how many club golfers struggle with these shots because their technique is all wrong. A teaching professional will help you with this.

This is an area of the game I work hard on. Trust me when I tell you that there is nothing more demoralising for your opponents than them knowing you are going to hit the ball stone dead more often than not. But this is another area where I have sought professional advice.

I believe that, no matter what standard you play to, golf lessons are a no-brainer. 

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