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Hello everyone. As you can see in my signature, I am 16 years old and I'm just trying to get better. At my best, I shoot in the high eighties, low nineties. At my worst, I don't even add up the scorecard it's so bad. But I estimate that is around 110 or so. It is this extreme inconsistency, as well as being an essential part of my high school's team that inspired me and my dad to find me some lessons. One of my dad's coworkers suggested a guy about an hour and a half of a drive away from my house, so it's not exactly convenient.

My dad purchased a set of three lessons, with the third being this Saturday.

Over the first two lessons, we've established that my right hand grip is too strong, which I already knew, but never really affected me THAT bad to have to fix it. This is something I'm struggling to fix, I've been doing it so long that when I'm not thinking about having a weaker grip, it just moves back.

The next is my stance. My spine angle. I never really thought about this, but my teacher says it's the reason that sometimes I dip down and take a huge divot, or pull up and top the ball, which happens more often than the former. In order to achieve this, my teacher had me do a few things, which may or may not be related to the spine angle. First, move my weight more towards my toes, and next flex my knees a little more. After that, he had me push my butt out more to straighten my spine. I never felt comfortable with this from day one. I always figured it could have been because it was something new to me, but I'm starting to think that even in my ripe young age, my lower back won't allow this type of stance.

I utilized both of his methods when I played today and did horrible. I'm not blaming him, or even expecting immediate results. But what I do want to see is at least some hope that one day I will be getting better WITH these methods.



There is my stance, more naturally without instruction. Yes, I have my golf pyjama pants on.

My teacher's name is Ray Bridy, and he's an official PGA Teacher, so I'm not calling him a quack or anything, I've just been a little let down. Although thinking that probably isn't helping.

Thanks for any and all advice, and sorry for the long post.

Don't take this wrong, but with the golf slouch you've got going in that picture, I can understand why you've been so inconsistent. It is hard to break old habits. No one knows this better than I do.
From what you've said in your post, I'd say your teaching pro knows what he's talking about. It takes time to break those old habits, and the only way to do it is to continue doing what he's told you, and practicing it hard. There's no way I can guarantee you that it's going to improve your game, but if you practice doing something the right way, it should improve your consistency, and it will get easier to do it the new way the more you do it.
Good luck, and keep practicing what he's teaching you. I believe you will get more consistent. You've just got to start believing it yourself.

I also agree with Iowo. As for my son and his coach, who he's been with for 3 years...take the changes slow. In other words, every time your swing, stance, what have you is changed....give yourself at least a week if not more for you and your body to adjust to the new change, do not expect to start hitting into the 70's after a change. Expect your scores to go up until you're confident and capable with the change. Heck there were times my kids score climbed in to the 90's after a major adjustment. It happens.

I do hope you stay with the swing coach. Though I'm surprised that the coach wants to see you that often, I'm assuming your lessons were once a week, with such major changes going on with your swing/stance. When my son first started with his swing coach...he'd give him something to work on for two weeks at least. Once my kid was ok with that, and was implementing the change in his swing, and his scores dropped, then he went back to be tweaked again. I know I'm just a golf mom but let me put it to you this way.....it's almost like a puzzle. You get a few pieces you work on it, then the coach hands a few more pieces to you to add to the puzzle, and you keep working on it. Practice what your coach is teaching you...and when you're so tired of golf....practice more. I wish you luck.

Oh and to add something that really helped my kid to visualize his stance/swing, were mirrors. Sounds weird, but my kid understands better seeing it then being told how to make the adjustments, once he "felt it" then he was fine. A couple of mirrors in the garage and he can stand there and practice whatever change/tweak his coach did by watching himself.

Stick with the lessons and what your instructor is telling you. You will likely get worse before you get better, but if you stick with it you will get better. The first time I took lessons (5 lessons over a 2 month period) I went from shooting in the 90's to not being able to break 100 (after the first and second lesson), but once the changes started to become ingrained in my swing (from the 3rd lesson on with lots of practice inbetween) my scores worked down into the mid to low 80's consistently and I could tell how much better I could hit the ball. My instructor all those years ago warned me that it would get worse before it got better. Hang in there and it will pay dividends if you put in an honest effort and work on what he is teaching you. Good luck.

it always gets worse before it gets better...but continue with lessons. whether it's from this person or someone who is closer to home (cause i would hate a drive that far away). when i took lessons i got became so much worse...but now I am a so more of a complete and consistent player with a higher ceiling than ever before.

here's a tip, don't be concerned about the ball flight as much as you should be about having the proper technique...your body will get used to the new swing and then you'll see changes to the ball flight.

You shouldn't give up on lessons just because your game doesn't immediately improve.

Golf is a tough sport, and even a small beneficial change can take months to show in your scores.

As others have said, you are hunched over, and your pro is correct to try to fix this. One of the keys to a good golf swing is having a consistent swing plane that is repeatable and doesn't require a timing move. If your spine is straight, you can rotate around it consistently without a timing move. With a slouch, your spine has a major curve in it, and this makes it very difficult to maintain a consistent swing plane for a repeatable swing.

It will be uncomfortable when you first start making a change, and you will probably do worse for a while. But if you can get your spine straight throughout your swing, you will be much more consistent in the long run.

To have an ideal spine alignment, your back end should feel like it is sticking way out, and your head should feel high. You should be looking out of the bottom of your eyes to see the ball. For an ideal spine alignement, someone should be able to take a club and place it on your back, and it should touch your head, your rear, and and your back about at the shoulder blades. There have been great golfers with a slouch, but it was in spite of the slouch not because of the slouch that they were great. Fix this, and although you will struggle at first, in the long run, you will be a more consistent golfer.

If you are unhappy with the results, you should have a discussion about this with your teaching pro. Good chance he will say about the same thing I did.

The lessons clearly aren't worth it:

You are second-guessing the teacher's instruction.
You are not giving him and yourself any time to achieve results.

If you don't trust the instructor, you won't practice what you are taught, and the lessons are indeed worthless. You need to find another instructor you can trust, or come back to this one after you have become willing to accept this teachings.

What he is telling you about your posture is pretty fundamental. A lot of things won't feel natural and instinctive. You have to do them for a while until they become routine. Frankly the posture you are showing in the photograph is pretty poor. You slouch the upper part of your body too much. Your shoulders are square to the target line while your hips are open. Generally you want hips and shoulders parallel to each other.

Arsenal:

From experience, I would say stick with it. I have now been with the same teacher for the last 4 years. She was an LPGA pro who was injured in a car accident and now only teaches. When I started with her my index was 29. Now, 4 years later I am 11 and have been down to 8.5 for a few months until I got hurt.

Changes will always bring indexes up, sometimes rapidly. However, if your teacher knows their stuff and is teaching you the correct fundamentals, once it clicks it will go lower just as fast. It takes patience, as I have learned. I always want quick results and it always takes twice as long as I thought it would to get the change to work. It also takes faith in the teacher. Many times I have blamed a bad day on the golf course on a change my teacher made thinking if she had not made the change, I would have shot 80 instead of 90. Then, it clicks and the next day I shoot 80 or better.

When I started I went once a week or once every two weeks. Since I practiced every day, once a week was fine. Now, I am down to once a month or once every two months depending on if I think I need to fix something or just want a checkup.

I believe there are two types of teachers. One who is working with you from the ground up to develop your swing the way it should be and including all of the correct fundamentals so you have the basics, knowledge and skills to have a decent golf game for the rest of your life. The other type of teacher I call the quick fix teacher who simply addresses one thing at a time which causes something else to go wrong. For example, if you go to a teacher and say I want to correct a slice. The teacher simply changes your grip and you hit it straight or at least better for a week or so. However, if some other part of your setup is also not correct, that change will result in something else going wrong soon after.

It sounds like your teacher is the first type which is really the only type I would suggest you go to. You are young and if you learn to do it the right way now, your lessons will give you years and years of pleasure of shooting good golf. You days of consistent 80's or better are coming.

1) Only YOU can make that decision.
2) YOur stance is horrible(sorry)
--bend your knees more and try to sit your butt down...that will straighten your back.

You asked...... so be ready for it. Ditch the far away instructor & get someone close. I have a women pro who is great. Looks like a little more need bend is needed & no slouching. I find the more still I can be with my legs the better. I almost go to a stacking when I'm swinging off. Stacking is loading most of your weight on the front leg. Go to your local range with several instructors & watch them w/ other students then watch there swing. Stick with the lessons, it might take months to see results but when you get the right mechanics you know. Good luck.

Well said : A teacher who

is working with you from the ground up to develop your swing the way it should be and including all of the correct fundamentals so you have the basics, knowledge and skills to have a decent golf game for the rest of your life.

Knowledge is key. A good pro will show you what your swing should look like. Watch the LPGA girls, they have perfect fundamentals & follow thru.

First off, not to **** anyone off, but i would take the advice you get here with a grain of salt... The guy who posts on the forum that he is a golf stud could really just be a cubicle cowboy who cant break 100. So dont let these guys beat you up too bad... The second thing I would say is you have to evaluate your goals. If you are really trying to become a college golfer or something like that then you need to seek out a teacher who is teaching the college players n your area. If you are just trying to get better to enjoy the game then you can get by with most pga pros. So, it matters more in my opinion what your desired result is than anythng as to whether these lessons are worth it and whether your teacher is the right one...