golfrewind.com

I took my first ever lesson today...My instructor was Barry Goldstein, he was ranked in the top 100 golf teachers in Golf Digest. He seemed like a real down to earth dude and helped me with my take a way swingplane a ton. He also gave me a new grip to work on and showed me how to align myself with the target better. All in all I am happy with the $65 I spent on the hour lesson...in that time we discussed where I was in the game, he video taped my swing and showed it back to me and after watching the video he fixed my swing...LOL. Now that I'm done rambling....I started this post just to let the people out there like me that feel like it won't help their game to take a lesson or two that if might not be such a bad idea after all ;)

Peace

Just listen to everything he says and try not to get overwhelmed. We all need lesssons, anyway. Even the pros, most of them, have teachers.

sbrentt,

Like most of us, your swing will probably seem a bit out of sync after a lesson. Your scores will probably increase too, but stick with it and you will see the results of your work. "It'll get worse before it gets better" were the words offered to me, and they proved to be true. If you care about your game enough to take lessons, you owe it to yourself to give everything a chance to work. Good luck!

I have been wanting to get a lesson too, since I am new to the game. I went to a local driving range and the "pro" was a real jerk. He made me feel as though he was doing me a favor of him giving me lesons instead of me giving him my business. He started by saying he didn't know Mexicans could afford to play golf. I couldn't stand the 5 minutes I talked to him, let alone think about spending several hours with him.
Any ideas as to where I could find a good place?

sbrentt: Good decision to take lessons! I agree with the feedback you got from drstroud and leaguegolf. I guess the only thing I'd add is that you should make sure to put in the practice time to apply what you're learning. Also, it might be good to write down questions that occur to you between lessons, so you won't forget to ask them the next time you see your teacher.

angel28: Sorry you had that bad experience. Don't give up. If I were looking for a teacher (and I should be!), I'd go to a few municipal courses near my home and ask if anyone there gives lessons. If you know some experienced golfers, ask where they play and whether anyone at their course gives lessons. Maybe someone you know has taken lessons and can give you the name of a teacher they thought was good. If there's adult education or community education in your area, sometimes golf classes are offered. These might be a less expensive way to get instruction, plus which you could meet other people at your skill level. Also, you could look on the website for your state golf association; maybe they have some info about association-approved instructors. You could even try doing a Google search; go to www.google.com and doing a search. In the search box, type "golf lessons" (include the quote mark) and then the name of your town or county. When you find someone who you think might be a good teacher, don't be embarrassed to ask about their teaching credentials. If they're PGA members, that's a good sign, I think. Good luck to you!