A refuge tradition unlike any other:
A multi part, often snarky, quoted breakdown of a response to @iacas from @iacas.
You truly do love to see it.
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Well, to be a bit brief about it (and cribbing from chapter 17 in my book)âŚ
- Survey the Landscape - make a list of instructors that are comfortably within your driving distance. If you plan to spend two hours on a lesson every two months, that range might go up to four hours away. I teach a number of students from Rochester or just beyond to Columbus and beyond (and south of Pittsburgh in that direction). I see them every 2-4 months. If youâre more likely the type to want an hour or 30 minutes every other week or every three weeks, maybe up to 45 minutes or an hour is your limit. Anyway, make a list. Letâs say this is 15 instructors.
- Stalk them on the Internet - see what their presence is. Some of the best may not have the time to post a ton of stuff on the Internet, so lack of a presence shouldnât disqualify anyone. But, if itâs obvious you donât like their teaching style (maybe you donât like their âEat My Buttholeâ hat or somethingâŚ), you can probably move them down your list. Obviously instructors are going to showcase their best students, but if they show a 27-handicapperâs horrible swing and then an improvement that looks noticeably better (while still probably not being great, thatâs good, too. Maybe you narrow it down to 9 this way and donât dig six of them.
- Ask them Questions - Send them an email or a text and ask them some questions about their style, availability, costs, etc. Ask what technology they have and use, what their overall philosophy is (JMO, but if they say âtear down and rebuildâ or anything like it, run). Ask for any referrals they may have of students similar to you. Maybe you donât like some answers, one guy says heâs not accepting new students, and youâre down to four or five.
- Observe - Try to observe a lesson or two (if theyâre nearby). Itâll give you an idea what theyâre offering, how they communicate, whether your feel for them matches up with how they are in person. Then⌠decide and go with it.
And, heck, Iâll just quote this part:
Taking Lessons
As you begin taking lessons with the instructor, donât be afraid to continue to ask questions. When he asks you to change something, ask âwhyâ and pay attention to the answer. If the answer boils down to âjust because,â you may have to re-visit some of the steps above. Evaluate whether you get take-home materials, and have a clear understanding at the end of each lesson what youâre to work on to improve on your own time. Make sure you know how to play and how to practice while working on your golf swing. Donât ask too many questions, though, as that can be detrimental to your own improvement. Odds are, if you followed the steps, youâve found a good instructor and he is focused on your priorities. Trust him to help you with your swing.
As a final word, continue to talk with your instructor about your goals, your struggles and successes, and to be honest with him and yourself about how much youâre able to practice outside of lessons. And practice! You may have found the greatest instructors in the world, but change takes time and if you donât put in the practice time, your game is unlikely to improve.
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Thanks, greatly appreciated.
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One thing I look for from instructors is they donât tell you to forget what youâve been taught etc. The more open the instructor is and the more they listen the better (in my personal experience). I donât deal well with method teachers.
Iâve also stopped buying range passes and instead invest in lesson packages. I found 2 teachers I really like who coordinate with each other, so it makes it very easy for me to schedule. I tend to buy their packages, power through them quickly - then go off on my own for a few months and repeat.
Itâs helped me to go from a 35 to 15ish (and trending down). I also like it when they have me try stuff and see how I take to it. If not, theyâll work on another thought.
Lastly - you see it in this video⌠they refuse to let me work on two things at once, really force me to take what their pointer is and work on it. Once they feel Iâve progressed enough, then theyâll add another thing. I really appreciate the honest candor feedback.
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Good stuff.
Sadly, my guy is in California and Iâm in Missouri.
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This has been a huge part of my swing improvements too.
My position at the top of the backswing looked hideous and I got super steep so all I wanted to do was drills to shallow it and make it look pretty. My instructor fixed basic things first like posture, leg movement, etc one at a time and not letting me move on until I got the previous piece down solid.
Fast forward like a year later and sure enough my top of the backswing position actually looks good and Iâm much shallower all without ever actually focusing on those things.
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I have divided âlessonsâ into 2 types for myself personally and I make sure to make it clear which one Iâm looking for when I show up.
a) âI want to improve Xâ lesson(s) - In this case, have a specific part of my game that I want to improve. Likely it requires a technique change that is going to take a lot of reps and multiple lessons. Most recently this was iron strike consistency⌠I was hitting way too many chunks, had an idea of why, but wasnât sure how to fix it. I took a lesson, worked on it for a few weeks, and then took another lesson to make sure I was doing it better. Itâs still not perfect but I know what I need to do if things get chunky.
I only do these lessons in the winter now since during the summer months I have less time than I used to⌠if I have the time for golf in summer, itâs probably getting spent on the course. This has actually freed me up to play better golf since I donât worry about my technique so much when Iâm playing since I know to save the technique changes for winter. I avoid summer lessons as a rule.
âŚthere is one exception to this rule though and it leads to the other type of lessonâŚ
b) âOh shit the wheels have come offâ - Only have had to do this once or twice in the last few years. It usually comes after a month of hitting it all over the place, duffing all my chips, etc. Iâve found that if things get bad enough I will start searching. Iâve also learned that I am bad at searching. This is when I go for ONE lesson where the goal is basically just to get me through the rest of the summer. If we diagnose a major issue, I save it for the winter and basically just try to find a short term treatment for the symptom to keep me from losing my mind.
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you take a rib out to be able to self-fellate this hard?
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Canât wait for someone to ask a question about Chinese national oil companies, their investment projects in Central Asia, and the impact on regional security so I can quote my college thesis 
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GFY
@VanityIndex, thatâs a good way to go.
I often work on âbiggerâ things in the off-season with students, while in-season we tend to focus more on âguard railsâ type lessons - just keeping the car steering down the road, not paving a new set of roads like in the off-season.
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Are you giving lessons?
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Watched this last night and thought it was excellent. Lundberg seems like a good teacher, high level stuff without too much jargon. Even I could understand most of it 
Also, props to @Cody on the fitness regime, itâs definitely working as there is a noticeable change in body shape 
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For weeks I did nightly swing training and made zero progress. AMA.
I find doing drills to only help so much. Itâs easy to hit positions doing static drills, make everything dynamic and it all changes.
9-12 minutes a day may work for some folks, but personally it doesnât help. I need a dynamic swing feel to really âget itâ
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Yeah that was the first thing I noticed when the video started. Great work Cody!
I think it depends on what you are trying to change in the swing too. If youâre just trying to change something like setup position, maybe wrist/arm/torso position at top of backswing, etc you can make more progress with static drills compared to other things like something in the downswing.
But even someone like yourself who needs a dynamic swing feel to âget itâ can still do swings at home without a ball and work on those dynamic feels too.
And more likely than not, you doing something at home every night is better than doing nothing. Even if itâs just static things reinforcing other areas of your swing to keep those in check while using your range sessions to work on your dynamic areas.
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I think people need to remember that making a swing change is learning a new skill. People learn new skills differently. Doing 12 mins of whatever you were doing might work for others but not for you personally.
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Agreed.
I have always been a âlearn by doing/get thrown into the fireâ kinda guy. Not that I have not made some improvements incrementally in some parts of my game. But feeling a static position and trying get that same thing dynamically is just not working for me.
Putting in front of a mirror and checking alignment has been wonderful. Setup and grip static checks are great. Swing changes that effect some of the more dynamic moves, god I am bad at it.
Well⌠itâs not about âhitting positionsâ or whatever âstatic drillsâ are.
Positions are nothing but checkpoints - you have to learn how to move âthroughâ them. Not just âhow to hit this checkpointâ in a motion where you stop at a checkpoint.
If you pull your trail elbow too far around behind you, you can learn to make backswings and learn what feels produce what changes to the motion (not the position). You can look at the checkpoint, but youâve got to do the motion that passes through or gets you to that checkpoint.
Thatâs not what I recommend people do for 9-12 minutes a day.
New video with @sundaybag just dropped.
Benâs ball speed with driving iron is my driver ball speed. Cool cool coolâŚ
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Might have to watch this 8-9 times to work on my short game
Great job!
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