How to Make Your First Golf Lesson Worthwhile – For the Beginner
There is little doubt that golf lessons from a PGA professional or an experienced and qualified Instructor will improve the swing of almost any golfer. Such lessons will also reduce the amount of time that it will take for any golfer to improve their swing. To ensure such improvement however, the golfer should be serious about the game and not approach it as a onetime effort. It could be assumed, that if the golfer is willing to spend anywhere from $30 to $100 per lesson or more, that the golfer is serious. Such however is not always the case.
Tip #1
Before taking the lesson, the beginner should ask a very basic question: Why am I taking this lesson? Honest answers can range from:
1. My Mom wants me to take lessons and she is paying for them.
2. My Dad wants me to become a golf pro.
3. I want to lose some weight and golf looks like a good way to do so.
4. I need to get some exercise and golf is an option.
5. I want to meet new people and I don’t want to look like I know nothing about the game.
6. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.
7. Many other possible answers, too diverse and too numerous to list.
Armed with an honest answer, the beginner should tell the Pro/Instructor up front, why s/he wants to take this lesson. And the beginner should volunteer this information, even if the Pro/Instructor does not ask. The reason is that when the Pro/Instructor has an idea of the golfer’s goal for the lesson or for golf, the Pro/Instructor will tailor the lesson accordingly.
As an example, if your goal is simply to look like you know a little about the game, the Pro/Instructor will walk you through the entire swing from grip to follow through so that you have some basic knowledge of the game. If, on the other hand, you want eventually to become a golf Pro, the Pro/Instructor will spend considerable time on the grip and the address, the stance and posture, knowing that you will be back for your next lesson and for reinforcement of the basic but very important aspects of the swing. Whatever your reason, you will get the most from this first lesson by telling your Pro/instructor the motivation behind your lesson.
Tip #2
Regardless of why you are taking your first golf lesson, you will do yourself much good if you will spend $10 and buy the paperback version of Ben Hogan’s, Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. If you can, read the book cover to cover, prior to your first lesson. It will take less time to read this masterpiece then it would take time to drive to and from the lesson center and spend your first hour with the instructor. You can be assured that the Pro/Instructor is well aware of Hogan’s book and there is an excellent chance that the Pro/Instructor uses it as a basis for her/his lessons. The book is that highly regarded and utilized throughout the golfing world.
This tip will save you the cost and time for at least two lessons. If you are new to the game, the Pro/Instructor will start with your grip and posture, just as Mr. Hogan does. So now that you already know how to grip a club and address the ball, the Pro/Instructor will simply be reinforcing that which you already know. The reinforcement will help cement the learning points and you have saved yourself the time and money it would have cost for you to learn these basics.
Tip #3
Unless you have a “steel trap mind” it would benefit you greatly if you were to take notes on the key points offered by the Pro/Instructor. It might even be beneficial for you to bring with you, your copy of Hogan’s book. You can jot your notes in the book and you can earmark those pages or highlight the key points within the book that the Pro/Instructor emphasizes. Do not hesitate to ask the Pro/Instructor exactly where or what in the book, is being emphasized.
Tip #4
Armed with what you remember from the lesson, your notes and Hogan’s book, it will add greatly to your first lesson if you now practice that which was offered. Short periods of practice, like ten minutes per day will prove to be more beneficial than one day of 60 minutes of practice. The consistent golf swing is one of muscle memory. Muscle memory takes many repetitions of the desired aspect of the swing to become memorized and ultimately performed from the unconscious.
Golf is not an easy game. And most professionals will say that there is no such thing as a natural swing. In fact, many aspects of the swing require unnatural bodily movements. Thus, any practice of the key points offered in your first lesson will pay large dividends in the long run. Enjoy your lesson, go back for more, do not expect perfection, and enjoy every round you are able to play. As good as Tiger Woods is, he also says: his swing is “a constant work in progress.”