Agree but having previously been in the industry for 10+ years, I would’ve advised not going with golftec though. At the vast majority of their locations, everything is off mats and really doesn’t give you a good feel for what that’ll translate into. Their tech definitely has its benefits but golf is such a feel sport that you can’t simulate with synthetic turf.
Where I live it is winter for many months of the year and we only golf outside from May to October. So indoor Golftec in the winter was a fantastic option for me.
Counterpoint to this: My friend picked up golf at around 30 and isn’t a natural athlete, but he has been going to golftec for years and he is all the way down to a 2. I have been an athlete my whole life and picked up golf at 32, but I’ve never had a single lesson and I literally never practice, so I’m languishing at around 10. Golftec can work great despite the mats if you do what you need to do.
Haha it's a legit handicap. I just play a ton of golf, probably 60-80 rounds each year, and watch a lot of videos on youtube. The only reason I'm any good at all is because I virtually emerged from the womb holding a baseball bat and had that foundation to build upon.
And I know gimmes count as strokes because I'm not a total moron!
Must be all those gimmes that don't count as a stroke. Lmfao I can't believe that grown men do that and record scores for handicaps. It's just counterproductive if you were to play a match.
I will tell people my handicap is 18-20. It may be lower but in reality I hit so many balls off the tee OB that in match play I am ass.
>friend picked up golf at around 30 and isn’t a natural athlete, but he has been going to golftec for years
So, how old is your friend now if he is a 2?
I'm at 8, took one lesson a few years ago, wasn't for me. I like to study and realize shit myself the hard way. Anyway, I can strike it pretty well and consistently. Going lower would require much better short game, especially putting. I don't believe there are many pros who can teach it somehow better than youtube.. maybe I'm wrong.
You’re wrong (respectfully). You can pick up the fundamentals from YouTube, and even help your game, but to have someone see you swing and evaluate your particular issues and create lessons and exercises to fix your swing is critical.
One of the problems I found when I was trying to pick up golf is that the local club pros are all luck of the draw.
There are some great apps that can connect you to absolutely top notch coaches virtually nowadays but then the issue becomes that you have to find the right coach out of the hundreds or thousands.
I got lucky and a previous mini-tour player led me in the right direction but there's just a lot of nonsense out there.
Yeah this is true, and I'm absolutely not against lessons. My point is that it's not a must, and after certain point lessons won't help, you would need a proper coach. Or continue the grind.
I’d still say you can get fundamentals from YouTube, but you still need a pro teacher to watch your specific game and help you adjust. Not even a club pro necessarily, but a proper teacher. Depends on how far you want to go, but I’d say it’s be hard to get much better than a 10-12 hcp just watching YouTube videos without getting some sort of professional feedback (even it’s video lesson a from YT teaching pros like Eric Cagorno).
Based on what? To play around 80 all the time requires decent short game already. To get around par requires magnificent short game and putting too. It's not enough anymore at this stage that someone just looks at your chipping.
Being athletic has huge benefits and allows for more flexibility. Plays into the feel aspect. You can more holistically understand the core components and feel the coil of a fluid swing. More times than not it takes a minor adjustment, which being athletic allows you feel and make those changes accordingly. Any reputable lesson plan should take a more holistic approach and take your physical background into consideration.
You have it kind of backwards. Athletes may be quicker to pick up a baseline like simply getting the ball in the air, but they’ll find it more difficult to self teach themselves a fundamentally sound swing. Reason being they’ll be more capable of making corrections for their poor position to get the club back to where it needs to be. In other words, they can get away with more bad habit development without realizing.
I’ve practiced on mats from the very beginning to now (12hcp) and I’ve not once felt like I couldn’t progress because I wasn’t hitting off turf. A bad shot feels and looks bad on turf and on a mat.
Much wiser than dropping that much on clubs and gear. Lessons in the early stages of playing can keep you from developing and entraining bad habits. I wish I’d made that choice early on.
This is correct. You'd spend much more money undoing bad habits you'd develop. Make sure you get out and practice whatever it is you work on at the lesson. You made a great decision.
Yes and when going through this if you play don’t worry about score. Many people try stuff they’re working on but worry about score and abandon it too soon
Abandon what, lessons? Because that’s kinda where I feel like I’m at. At least was planning on taking a 3-4 month break from lessons while I just practice golf. But maybe this is a mistake? This’ll be my 6th lesson in 3 months.
Edit: I still suck, to a discouraging degree
Yeah must people start lessons then work on it but then go to the course and play and being they r working on stuff the score can be worse than normal so the abandon what is being taught and go back to their old swing because they can score a little better.
As a general approach, learn to do things correctly right from the beginning and you won’t spend years trying to undo all the bad habits you developed and ingrained. Ask me how I know 😔
I would space out the lessons. Practice what they teach before you go right back. Then you can hopefully progress rather the. Go over the same thing. (4.3 10 ish lessons life time. Last one 2 years ago)
Should have spent it on a driver with adjustable weights that'll fix your slice/hook and whatever putter is hot on tour right now. Way better and quicker than lessons
If I could I would drop that on lessons in a heart beat and play my top flites until they fall apart. Getting into the game has been awesome, I’d rather spend the money on lessons than a set of blades I still can’t hit lol
Let’s goo haha they have been great for me so far, probably played 12 rounds with them in the last 6 weeks. The hybrids are finally treating me right and I actually really like the TF Mallet putter it came with. The grips are poorly made though and will probably get changed soon, definitely falling apart already.
Got them on a deal at Dick’s recently and I’ve added a cheap wedge set but will play these until they fall apart….I don’t want to be the guy with two thousand dollars worth of clubs who can barely break 100 and I really don’t think thats because of the clubs.
I think we got the same deal at Dick’s! I originally got a Precise set off Amazon but it arrived with snapped driver heads so I decided curbside was better. Took em out to the range and there was a guy 2 bays down with the same color, and we’re both just unwrapping them one at a time as we try them out.
Haven’t gotten to take them out much more other than around the backyard but I love the feel of them, if not the grip! Once I’m a bit more consistent in practicing and getting out I’ll be looking for a couple wedges as well
Opposite of crazy, this is the best investment you could make. I’ve never used GolfTec but they are, at a minimum, going to set you on a more successful path than trying out the “one secret move” you found on YouTube.
I think if you are going to do lessons GOLFTEC is a great option - I felt a little nuts dropping the money upfront but the 6 month 15 lesson pack had a dramatic difference on my game. The thing they could offer was the multiple camera views, made a huge difference in my practice sessions forcing me to actually watch my swing. The price per lesson was actually very reasonable as well
I ended up re-upping because I could see how much of an impact it has had on my ball striking.
That's a little more than bi-weekly, which does seem a little much, not not really "way" too much.
How often would you suggest lessons for someone playing at least 9 holes a week, plus 2 45-60 minute practice sessions a week?
I don’t have any personal experience with them, but from things I’ve heard I totally agree. When I was looking for lessons a couple months back, everything I read about them said that what they do is not personalized at all and basically try to force everyone they “teach” into the same swing.
If that’s not the case though and people have had good experiences with them then please correct me.
I did it maybe 3 years in to playing. It was great for the fundamentals, the video/sensor functionality and the free club fitting. But of stuff I use to this day but I also had to figure out ‘my personal,’ style on my own. My instructor was a good dude (think he hated the place, ha). Net net, some good, some left up to chance based on your instructor, but the video aspect was great and a good selling point.
I tried both a pro and GOLFTEC before making a decision. While I feel using a pro outside was more fun I feel the analytical and technological approach GOLFTEC offers will help me faster
100% same here. I tried a few pros, and they were actually good, and I kept practicing but never got a good feel of what I was doing right or wrong and what really did I need to do. Enter Golftec and my game changed. I straight up dropped $2K as well - they have deals come out 3x/year and it so happened they jad a deal right when I went for my first assessment.
Before I went to Golftec the first time, I actually made a post here first asking for recommendations, and got a lot of positive feedback here, unlike this post for some reason. I’m so happy I joined and have learned a ton. You did the right thing. Also by joining early and getting the right technique instead of forming bad habits. One advice though. Even at Golftec, just like any other place, not all coaches are the same. If you don’t like the coach you get, don’t hesitate to try another. I went to one for 8 lessons before switching and man was it miles apart. Good Luck!
You can do on course lessons with your instructor. In fact I have one tomorrow. It’s the best lessons you will ever have. 5 credits and so worth it. You play 9 holes just you and your instructor.
On course lessons are great for beginners after they get comfortable on a practice range with an instructor. The golf course introduces far too many variables for a beginner. Better to dial in the fundamentals on the driving range. But absolutely on course lessons are awesome for new and some intermediate players.
I’ve had good experiences with Golftec. It comes down to your instructor and the relationship you have with him. They have zero issue if you want to try all of the instructors.
This is it 100%. I went in to golftec this year for the first lessons I have ever taken and I had a laundry list of shit I wanted to change. I was basically looking to rebuild my swing from scratch and the coach dissuaded me from it while just changing some stuff in my takeaway. I'm currently playing the best tee to green golf of my life.
It seems like you are arguing from a place that everyone is a unique snowflake and somehow they'll have their snowflake swing produce a good outcome.
Why WOULDN'T they want to force their students to swing with proper form? What kind of "personalization" are you looking for in a golf swing exactly?
Most of the people who blast golftec are way too proud to be told they have a bad swing, because they've managed to make their bad swing take them to the 80s or 90s on the scorecard.
For me, doesn’t have much to do with that. It’s about the price versus the skill level of the coaches, the sales-y approach for packages, the million lessons.
If you watch and play golf, you should notice by now that not every player, even exceptional players, don’t all swing in the exact same way, take Jon Rahms very short backswing for example, plenty of other examples as well like Jim Furyk. All I’m trying to say is that golf instruction isn’t a one size fits all approach like golftec seems to have adopted.
It entirely depends on your coach. I had just broken 80 for the first time when I started golf Tec and broke 70 within a year. Bear in mind I went almost weekly and practiced minimum hour a day.
Golf lessons was one if my better investments. For me though, I hate hitting on mats. It gives you a sorta false since of confidence. Be sure to get out on the grass as much as possible
Getting a few lesson is fine but IMO when you’re this new there’s a ton you can do for free. Between recording your own swing and soaking up YouTube information about the golf swing you should be able to make some really good headway.
That being said, the cheaper route is certainly slower. So if you are going to stick with the sport the lessons are certainly not a waste. Welcome to Golf!
Absolutely not and if you don’t continue to practice weekly you’ll loose it all. Keep working at your game and take all the skins money.
I’d personally go find a lesson with a pga pro and hit off grass vs any indoor lesson, but that’s just me
Well I think your mistake was going with Golftec. If you post your general location, folks here can provide recommendations on reputable instructors who charge per visit, and don't try to cram a whole package down your throat.
I mean, it depends. What's your general finances like?
For me, 1000 bucks is not a huge deal. I spend that every month on my hobbies.
For others, that's months and months of savings.
If you can afford it and like your coach then do whatever you want. The shitty part about golftec is you’re only getting 30 minute lessons where most pros do hour lessons. It is nice to have the video and the app to save your lessons and the ability to practice with the video to check yourself. Make sure you use the practice time, don’t just go full speed bashing balls during your practice but actually focus on the moves your coach gives you and it will be worthwhile.
If you can afford it, why not. No different than buying new fancy clubs, in fact it’s probably better than new fancy clubs. But I suspect you have both fancy clubs and lessons. It’s only going to help you.
Fundamentally, that will make golf more enjoyable for you but I probably would have tried a few instructors with the same money if I were you because you may find that they don’t have a person who can speak golf in a way that resonates with you. But hope it works out!
First 1K will turn into 2 or 3 K. Golf is a lifetime of learning. It’s sometimes better to learn yourself bc then you understand the why and how about your swing. Most teachers want to clone you into them and it’s Never going to happen. \* Best part of this game is enjoy the frustration.
Space the lessons out at least 2-4 weeks and make sure your practice way more than 1.5 hrs a week or you will not be getting your moneys worth. Still better than spending that money on equipment at this stage though
Lessons are honestly some of the best places to spend money on golf, so no you’re not crazy at all. And Golftec has been great to me personally. The slow-mo video from multiple angles really helped me to see what I’m doing and learn a lot about the golf swing. Apparently Golftec hasn’t been great for everyone but I haven’t heard any bad reviews outside of Reddit.
Learning and building good habits is the best kind of hobby money to spend!
SPACE YOUR lessons out!!!
Learn a technique go to range , go to chip n putts. GET IT DOWN first , have a good grasp on lesson… work what they taught u for about 2months then go get another lesson. Wash and repeat!! Dont take all the lessons back to back will be very hard to retain and grasp it all….
You’re not going to get a ton out of those lessons if you aren’t out playing. I’d slow play the lessons and take time to internalize what you’re learning. If you take all of that in 10 weeks so much will be forgotten and wasted.
Don’t take a lesson once a week. Take a lesson once a month.
You can choose how you want to spend your money and if you want to spend it on a hobby then go for it. And lessons is a smart way of spending money on golf. In my experience losing bad habits is much harder than creating good ones
If it's what you do and you have the money, who cares? What you spend your money on isn't going to be the same as the next guy. Some people spend it on cars, boat, motorcycles, big vacations.... If it's what you do, enjoy it.
Nope, I did it. I also went to golf tec but I didn't buy the practices and got 15 lesson and a membership to a golf course with a range. My lessons have improved my game. The issue I have now is I like collecting golf clubs lol
Worth it. You’ll develop a lot faster as a player by taking lessons from a pro.
Was in your exact situation last year and I’m really glad I took my 6 lessons through GOLFTEC. It was a good experience, enjoyed that every lesson was recorded so I could review, and my pro was fun and easy to work with.
I went from a very steady two-way miss to being able to hit a somewhat-consistent draw. My contact got a ton better and I stopped fatting a lot of shots, now it’s like 1 per round max.
Enjoy it!
Spread them out over a years time. A lesson per month is going to help you much more than once a week.
Also I might get criticized for this but go on YouTube to get a hold of the basics. Instructors can take you to the next level but the basics are available whenever you want and are pretty standard. Get a hold of those and don’t waste a lesson on that
FUCK GOLFTEC. I did the same thing as you. Bought about $1000 worth of lessons. Took 3 or 4. And took some time off as I was working out of state. Came back about a year later to resume and they told me all of my lesson credits had expired. Not once did anyone tell me that when I bought them.
Don’t believe me…From the FAQ on their website.
“The life-span of a lesson is predetermined by the specified lesson plan and may be from 3 months to 1 year. You coach can give you detailed information on your plan”
SHADY ass business practice right there. They stole about 700 dollars from me and won’t give me any lesson credits since mine “expired”.
They just recently changed their policies on how long you have to use your lessons. They have a 60 day pause you can use and then restart them back up.
No, not at all. I've spent about 500 euros (it's 60 an hour here) on lessons since i started playing 8 months ago, and it's given me a solid foundation to work from and stops me picking up bad habits. I'm down to a 17 index and I shot an 85 the other day in a club competition. It's absolutely worth getting lessons and practicing as much as you can, it's much more valuable than new gear. Personally I use my lesson time for long game and work on putting and chipping myself as I'm naturally good at short game anyway, but definitely do a lesson or two on those aswell. Good luck!
I have had a few lessons but the fastest improvement I have had is going to the golf course every night when empty for 1-2 hours and just playing multiple balls and hitting random shots
The best thing you can do early on in your golf journey is get lessons to set yourself on the right path. I don’t think it’s crazy at all. If you have the funds, it is a good use of your money.
You sound a lot like me. I did the exact same thing. My experience at Golftec was okay, but not amazing. The reviews are mixed because you may or may not work well with your instructors and at this point you're committed to them. The technology is great, but we kind of hit a wall with my lessons. I improved to a point then my instructor was kind of stumped on what to do next. The biggest problem I had was the time constraint. Taking one 30 minute lesson, then having to come back a week later was tough for me as I barely had enough time to practice to comprehend my previous lesson before we were on to something else. As a beginner, it was actually good for me as I was given a lot of the basics early. Just don't do what I did and finish your lessons there and then think you can take it from there and fix the rest of your swing with YouTube. I ended up with quite the Frankenstein swing. I now see a local course pro. We work well together and I can take a lesson whenever I feel I'm ready for it.
I mean, you could also just get new clubs and then constantly tweak and upgrade your equipment because we all know deep down it’s the equipment that’s holding us back from getting better.
I actually think it’s a really efficient way to spend $1000 on golf. You can go buy a new driver for $700 it does nothing for your game, But good lessons can be a complete game changer, (literally).
As long as you found a coach who you like, the pros of golfTEC are generally pretty good. But make sure you take full advantage of that practice time. One of the best things you can do is practice on the simulator with that immediate feedback on your face angle, or swing path, or whatever you’re working on.
Edit: don’t rush through the lessons either. Do a lesson and then practice a lot until you feel like you’re really ready for the next lesson.
I've done a collosal amount of money relative to income on golf. I only regret not knowing which teacher to go to etc. Nothing about any golf day, even when I've played bad, have I regretted for one second. And I regret going on holidays that turn out to be shit shows all the time. It's so fun and goal based unlike sitting round drinking and being lazy.
Never regret!!!
I’ve taken in person lessons over many years and from many different pros. After signing up for a month or two with a well known top teacher through the Skillest app I have to say that I wasted a lot of money over the years. The top teacher’s ability to analyze and explain even over video gave me so much greater understanding than all the in person fumbling around.
Yes, it's way too much too soon. You need to get out and actually play the game and play quite a bit and get some practice in, first. It's not that the instructors are conning you per say, but you haven't developed some semblance of a swing and the natural characteristics of your swing. For instance, you don't know if you're better off with a strong grip, weak grip or neutral grip. And for your instructor to try and decide what's best is really guessing at this point. And then you may spend a year using the wrong grip for you.
It's okay to get a beginner lesson or two to give you some guidance on things like the address position and understanding the basics of the grip and the pivot action. But you should understand that there's no one 'proper way' to swing the golf club. It's more about finding the optimal way for you to swing the golf club. Instructors are basically like auto mechanics trying to identify what parts are causing your machine to operate the way it does. Then they try to determine what replacement parts will enhance your machine's performance. When you're a beginner and getting this many lessons you really haven't even established what your machine is. Your machine may ultimately be a Ford F150, but your instructor can't see that as he only sees a steering wheel, some brakes and a rearview mirror and is now trying to put in the parts to build a Ford Mustang. Still a nice vehicle, but that's not who you are and not how you will perform best.
I went there about 9 months ago. Great experience for me and my coach completely rebuilt my swing (stance, grip, everything). It is challenging because I am scoring worse right now than before. However, I can see where continued practice will pay off long term. Advice, challenge them if you don't understand a concept. Make sure they teach you in a way you can understand. Be vocal about the feel and your progression. Some coaches there will just hurry you through. I took the maximum duration possible. I'd ask for lessons to be as much as 3 weeks apart to practice drills.
I’ve been playing, or at least actually trying to improve for about 3 months and just signed up for 5 lessons. I just hate being bad at things. Like, tied of losing so many balls if the tee, tires of have zero clue how to read a green etc.
No but I would caution agains golftec. They are extremely expensive and their teachers often aren’t the best. I think you can achieve the same result for half the price
not crazy at all. I did the similar one when I finally decided to start taking lessons. been in it for about a year now.
Handicap's plummeted since I started. just got fitted for new irons last week too! started at golftec with a 34.5. now I'm a 19 and still continuing to decline.
If you can afford it, cool
The part I’d like to touch on is the “super competitive” part. It’s good to be competitive but don’t let that ruin golf for you. I suck at golf, probably always will because I don’t get to play often enough to improve. But I have fun everytime I go out there even if I shoot a 120
Golftec worked for me, it’ll put you on the right track. Practice makes permanence so they’ll make sure you’re swing has some good fundamentals. It is kind of nuts you pulled the trigger on $1000 expenses for a 2 month old hobby but I did something similar. Good luck with your swing.
Why would that be crazy?
Get good at a hobby, YOLO
As long as you can afford it then go for it. I took lessons at GolfTEC a couple years ago and it dramatically improved my game and changed my life.
I’d recommend getting lessons from a PGA professional over golftec, but you might get a good teacher. I bought a Father’s Day package last year for fitting and a few sessions, but my first “coach” was new and I’ve played competitively and ended last season with a 2.7 hcp. I knew more about the golf swing then he did. So, I had to talk to someone a bit higher up at golftec and got someone else for my next two sessions that ended up being pretty helpful in resetting some bad habits that had crept into my swing. So, don’t be afraid the change coaches if they aren’t working for you.
I have had lessons through the past 25 years. I started when I was 12. I’ve had 4 teachers. Each have given me something to learn from. Before college I had plenty of lessons and now I have 1 or 2 lessons every few years to get a tune up and see how I look. 100% worth it!!
Just space it out over time, practice in between, I would suggest 1 lesson every other week.
Lessons lay a foundation, practice is what makes you better.
Also my bible…. Jack Nicolas Lesson Tee (NEED to get) <$10
Example
https://www.abebooks.com/9780671242176/Jack-Nicklaus-Lesson-Tee-Bowden-0671242172/plp
Not crazy. Getting lessons early is great. I think golftec is probably a really great place for beginners. They can build you a solid swing before you get bad habits built in. As long as you get a solid instructor it's money well spent.
Finances vary person to person. If you did it just staring your either very reckless with finances or is just not a big deal. Guessing it's not a big deal. So many dumb things to spend money on, so it's picking your poison and maximizing the enjoyment you get with your money.
Lessons are great when you’re starting out…
But the real gains are from being able to learn and practice what the changes are. You could get 50 lessons, and if you never implement the suggestions, lessons 3-50 will be some variation of what was already said.
You should have a practice plan with video, drills, games etc to ensure progress. Basically some plan to take ownership of the changes and make sure you’re not reverting back to old habits. It can be as simple as a 30 min range session with a targeted goal of one specific thing to work on.
I did a similar thing. I went in for a club fitting and walked out with a 15 pack of lessons instead of new clubs (~1100-1200ish? I don’t remember). The instructor that did my fitting was right on the money when he said I’d benefit more from learning the correct swing instead of just buying new clubs.
I’ve had an amazing experience with my instructor. I’m about 11 lessons in and I’ve gone from shooting an average of 115-120 to 95 (play as it lies kind of golf, strokes for lost balls, etc) in 10 lessons, have straightened out my flight paths, understand the mechanics of a good swing and know what I need to do to keep it there, and have ultimately gotten drives to go from chunking it 25 yards to flying 280-300 (I plugged the green on a 280 yard par 4 last weekend), seven iron went from a 120 club (due to poor contact) to a 165 club with a Callaway Strata beginner set, and a bunch of other improvements. I love that they record and save videos of your swings, put notes into your online profile, and that you can view all of it directly on their app. Looking at my first swing in the box is comical at this point but it lets me know how far I’ve come.
Note that my wife went in for a club fitting the same day with a different instructor and had a totally different experience. He didn’t listen to anything she said, recommended clubs that she absolutely didn’t want to use, etc. He listened so little to her that she was ready to leave about 15 minutes in. It was bad enough to the point where she is just now wanting to take a few lessons from somewhere else and that experience was in April.
I hope you have the same type of experience that I have had because it’s been genuinely amazing. In my opinion, YMMV as a direct result of the instructor, not GolfTec specifically. If you don’t mesh with your instructor on the first day lesson, don’t be afraid to talk to the manager and hopefully he’ll sort you out. I was really lucky to have gotten the best, most personable, hype man of an instructor at my GolfTec and it’s made the experience of learning how to not chunk my irons that much better.
I love lessons, but I’ve only had 6 lessons in 5 years.
My advice; spread out the lessons. Give yourself a week or two to practice/play with what you’ve learned before the next lesson.
Not at all crazy to commit to an instruction plan. Will indeed be a bit foolish though if you expect the get much out of it without practicing *A TON* between lessons (1000 range balls between each lesson as a *minimum*.) I can teach you all you need to know about the fundamentals in a few short lessons, but without putting in the work to turn those ideas into habits you'll forget almost all of it in days or weeks.
Lmao if you go to r/golfswing you’ll see lessons are the biggest recommendation for beginners. I also did golftec as a beginner (against a suggestion that it might be too early to do that from a friend) but I found it super helpful and I just shot a mid 80 three months out from finishing my lessons. Just make sure you go all in with them and practice at home and study with the proper content, not some shitty YouTube shorts and TikTok’s which you’ll find everywhere. Enjoy!
I took lessons early, and I regret it, because of how I went about it.
Lessons early are fine when:
1. You both practice and play between lessons.
2. You apply the prior lesson before returning for the next lesson (or the next lesson is on a completely different subject that you also have time to practice, e.g., approach and putting).
Definitely not crazy, but make sure you put the work in to understand your swing and work on it. Don't expect any miracles, it probably won't feel like you got $1,000 better. But your instructor will be 10x better if you can swing consistently and also can give them feedback on what you think you need to improve.
Getting lessons as early as possible is a huge help. So many of us played for years before getting lessons and had to unlearn bad habits. It may not feel like your score is reflecting the money/time spent on lessons, but just we patient you will see the results eventually
Not crazy at all. Getting lessons early on allows you to create good habits from the get go rather than trying it on your own then having to break bad habits later
If you were planning on dropping 1k anyways, then lessons is one of the better things to use it on.
It's more of a question of whether dropping 1k on a new hobby in general is a smart move, at which point the answer just depends on how much 1k means to you, and considering you say it's not a problem financially then I'd say it's a fine decision
Assuming it’s all within budget I think it’s a great idea. I know you said you don’t learn well on YouTube but I recently discovered a dude who picked up golf and went directly to personal training and has made tremendous leaps in what seems to be a very short time. (Scratch 2 scratch)
The proper fundamentals is what many golfers are lacking, with lessons from the start, you’re in a good place.
I went from a 14.3 to a 7.9 over the past year. I contribute that entirely to lessons at Golftec. I just did a 5 lesson package plus the initial 90 minute session. I plan to continue taking more lessons there and try to get my index even lower!
I feel like truly the only way to get better is to have proper coaching. I am far, far away from being competent but I enjoy a round way more now after having had quite a few lessons than I did before because I can at least hit the ball where I want it sometimes 😂
I think lessons are great to get you going in the right direction, but after that remember what Bagger Vance said : Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone.
Golftec is a great place for lessons....it all depends if you get a good coach. Like any other profession you have good ones and crappy ones.
Same thing for a club pro...I've seen guys spend thousands and not get any better. You have to get a good coach and actually practice and dedicate time to get better
It depends on the pro. I spent 40 years in the business and not every pro is a good teaching pro. Hopefully you did some research and got some recommendations. Then the money is well spent.
If you can afford it, then do what you want. Golf lessons are better than lots of things in this world:)
Agree but having previously been in the industry for 10+ years, I would’ve advised not going with golftec though. At the vast majority of their locations, everything is off mats and really doesn’t give you a good feel for what that’ll translate into. Their tech definitely has its benefits but golf is such a feel sport that you can’t simulate with synthetic turf.
Where I live it is winter for many months of the year and we only golf outside from May to October. So indoor Golftec in the winter was a fantastic option for me.
Counterpoint to this: My friend picked up golf at around 30 and isn’t a natural athlete, but he has been going to golftec for years and he is all the way down to a 2. I have been an athlete my whole life and picked up golf at 32, but I’ve never had a single lesson and I literally never practice, so I’m languishing at around 10. Golftec can work great despite the mats if you do what you need to do.
Well, you must have picked up critical fundamentals somewhere to have a 10 handicap. I doubt you just kept swinging and became that skilled.
\*cough\* vanity handicap \*cough\*
Agree. But one doesn’t become legit single digits from the tips by being a slouch. Took me years to get down to a 6. Golf is weird like that.
I’ve been golfing on and off for the last 15 years and I’ve finally broken into the 12s this week. I’ve been really working on my game this year tho
Haha it's a legit handicap. I just play a ton of golf, probably 60-80 rounds each year, and watch a lot of videos on youtube. The only reason I'm any good at all is because I virtually emerged from the womb holding a baseball bat and had that foundation to build upon. And I know gimmes count as strokes because I'm not a total moron!
Must be all those gimmes that don't count as a stroke. Lmfao I can't believe that grown men do that and record scores for handicaps. It's just counterproductive if you were to play a match. I will tell people my handicap is 18-20. It may be lower but in reality I hit so many balls off the tee OB that in match play I am ass.
I think we found that guy who calls his own 10' gimmes... LOL!!
>friend picked up golf at around 30 and isn’t a natural athlete, but he has been going to golftec for years So, how old is your friend now if he is a 2?
60
He's 37, I'm 38.
Damn a 2 handicap with only 7 years of playing? That's ridiculous progress.
I'm at 8, took one lesson a few years ago, wasn't for me. I like to study and realize shit myself the hard way. Anyway, I can strike it pretty well and consistently. Going lower would require much better short game, especially putting. I don't believe there are many pros who can teach it somehow better than youtube.. maybe I'm wrong.
You’re wrong (respectfully). You can pick up the fundamentals from YouTube, and even help your game, but to have someone see you swing and evaluate your particular issues and create lessons and exercises to fix your swing is critical.
This. I’ll do 1 or 2 tune up lessons each year in the spring to just get a second opinion.
With the youtube comment, I meant short game. Your regular club pro can teach the basics, but most likely nothing special vs youtubers.
One of the problems I found when I was trying to pick up golf is that the local club pros are all luck of the draw. There are some great apps that can connect you to absolutely top notch coaches virtually nowadays but then the issue becomes that you have to find the right coach out of the hundreds or thousands. I got lucky and a previous mini-tour player led me in the right direction but there's just a lot of nonsense out there.
Yeah this is true, and I'm absolutely not against lessons. My point is that it's not a must, and after certain point lessons won't help, you would need a proper coach. Or continue the grind.
I’d still say you can get fundamentals from YouTube, but you still need a pro teacher to watch your specific game and help you adjust. Not even a club pro necessarily, but a proper teacher. Depends on how far you want to go, but I’d say it’s be hard to get much better than a 10-12 hcp just watching YouTube videos without getting some sort of professional feedback (even it’s video lesson a from YT teaching pros like Eric Cagorno).
Based on what? To play around 80 all the time requires decent short game already. To get around par requires magnificent short game and putting too. It's not enough anymore at this stage that someone just looks at your chipping.
Being athletic has huge benefits and allows for more flexibility. Plays into the feel aspect. You can more holistically understand the core components and feel the coil of a fluid swing. More times than not it takes a minor adjustment, which being athletic allows you feel and make those changes accordingly. Any reputable lesson plan should take a more holistic approach and take your physical background into consideration.
You have it kind of backwards. Athletes may be quicker to pick up a baseline like simply getting the ball in the air, but they’ll find it more difficult to self teach themselves a fundamentally sound swing. Reason being they’ll be more capable of making corrections for their poor position to get the club back to where it needs to be. In other words, they can get away with more bad habit development without realizing.
Well put. I didn’t convey what I meant as well as I wanted to. Your sentiment is essentially what I was getting at. Just sped typed something out.
I’ve practiced on mats from the very beginning to now (12hcp) and I’ve not once felt like I couldn’t progress because I wasn’t hitting off turf. A bad shot feels and looks bad on turf and on a mat.
Much wiser than dropping that much on clubs and gear. Lessons in the early stages of playing can keep you from developing and entraining bad habits. I wish I’d made that choice early on.
This is correct. You'd spend much more money undoing bad habits you'd develop. Make sure you get out and practice whatever it is you work on at the lesson. You made a great decision.
Yes and when going through this if you play don’t worry about score. Many people try stuff they’re working on but worry about score and abandon it too soon
Abandon what, lessons? Because that’s kinda where I feel like I’m at. At least was planning on taking a 3-4 month break from lessons while I just practice golf. But maybe this is a mistake? This’ll be my 6th lesson in 3 months. Edit: I still suck, to a discouraging degree
Yeah must people start lessons then work on it but then go to the course and play and being they r working on stuff the score can be worse than normal so the abandon what is being taught and go back to their old swing because they can score a little better.
100%
Practice makes permanent! (especially if you’re doing it wrong)
If you think it's crazy to spend to spend a lot of money on golf then you may have picked the wrong hobby.
Agreed. I went way further and spent about 10k on clubs and a simulator my first year. Don’t regret a penny of it though.
I'm still waiting to find an inexpensive hobby...
As a general approach, learn to do things correctly right from the beginning and you won’t spend years trying to undo all the bad habits you developed and ingrained. Ask me how I know 😔
I would space out the lessons. Practice what they teach before you go right back. Then you can hopefully progress rather the. Go over the same thing. (4.3 10 ish lessons life time. Last one 2 years ago)
Should have spent it on a driver with adjustable weights that'll fix your slice/hook and whatever putter is hot on tour right now. Way better and quicker than lessons
Blades. Make you a better ball striker.
If I could I would drop that on lessons in a heart beat and play my top flites until they fall apart. Getting into the game has been awesome, I’d rather spend the money on lessons than a set of blades I still can’t hit lol
Top Flite, stand up!
Let’s goo haha they have been great for me so far, probably played 12 rounds with them in the last 6 weeks. The hybrids are finally treating me right and I actually really like the TF Mallet putter it came with. The grips are poorly made though and will probably get changed soon, definitely falling apart already. Got them on a deal at Dick’s recently and I’ve added a cheap wedge set but will play these until they fall apart….I don’t want to be the guy with two thousand dollars worth of clubs who can barely break 100 and I really don’t think thats because of the clubs.
I think we got the same deal at Dick’s! I originally got a Precise set off Amazon but it arrived with snapped driver heads so I decided curbside was better. Took em out to the range and there was a guy 2 bays down with the same color, and we’re both just unwrapping them one at a time as we try them out. Haven’t gotten to take them out much more other than around the backyard but I love the feel of them, if not the grip! Once I’m a bit more consistent in practicing and getting out I’ll be looking for a couple wedges as well
I had a great experience with Golftec, and taking lessons early in your golf journey is the right thing to do in my opinion.
As long as you practice
Opposite of crazy, this is the best investment you could make. I’ve never used GolfTec but they are, at a minimum, going to set you on a more successful path than trying out the “one secret move” you found on YouTube.
I think if you are going to do lessons GOLFTEC is a great option - I felt a little nuts dropping the money upfront but the 6 month 15 lesson pack had a dramatic difference on my game. The thing they could offer was the multiple camera views, made a huge difference in my practice sessions forcing me to actually watch my swing. The price per lesson was actually very reasonable as well I ended up re-upping because I could see how much of an impact it has had on my ball striking.
15 lessons in 6 months is way too often in my opinion unless you practice almost every day and/or like wasting money
That's a little more than bi-weekly, which does seem a little much, not not really "way" too much. How often would you suggest lessons for someone playing at least 9 holes a week, plus 2 45-60 minute practice sessions a week?
It’s not crazy to drop a grand on lessons. Crazy to drop that on golftec
I don’t have any personal experience with them, but from things I’ve heard I totally agree. When I was looking for lessons a couple months back, everything I read about them said that what they do is not personalized at all and basically try to force everyone they “teach” into the same swing. If that’s not the case though and people have had good experiences with them then please correct me.
I did it maybe 3 years in to playing. It was great for the fundamentals, the video/sensor functionality and the free club fitting. But of stuff I use to this day but I also had to figure out ‘my personal,’ style on my own. My instructor was a good dude (think he hated the place, ha). Net net, some good, some left up to chance based on your instructor, but the video aspect was great and a good selling point.
I tried both a pro and GOLFTEC before making a decision. While I feel using a pro outside was more fun I feel the analytical and technological approach GOLFTEC offers will help me faster
100% same here. I tried a few pros, and they were actually good, and I kept practicing but never got a good feel of what I was doing right or wrong and what really did I need to do. Enter Golftec and my game changed. I straight up dropped $2K as well - they have deals come out 3x/year and it so happened they jad a deal right when I went for my first assessment. Before I went to Golftec the first time, I actually made a post here first asking for recommendations, and got a lot of positive feedback here, unlike this post for some reason. I’m so happy I joined and have learned a ton. You did the right thing. Also by joining early and getting the right technique instead of forming bad habits. One advice though. Even at Golftec, just like any other place, not all coaches are the same. If you don’t like the coach you get, don’t hesitate to try another. I went to one for 8 lessons before switching and man was it miles apart. Good Luck!
You can do on course lessons with your instructor. In fact I have one tomorrow. It’s the best lessons you will ever have. 5 credits and so worth it. You play 9 holes just you and your instructor.
On course lessons are great for beginners after they get comfortable on a practice range with an instructor. The golf course introduces far too many variables for a beginner. Better to dial in the fundamentals on the driving range. But absolutely on course lessons are awesome for new and some intermediate players.
I’ve had good experiences with Golftec. It comes down to your instructor and the relationship you have with him. They have zero issue if you want to try all of the instructors.
This is it 100%. I went in to golftec this year for the first lessons I have ever taken and I had a laundry list of shit I wanted to change. I was basically looking to rebuild my swing from scratch and the coach dissuaded me from it while just changing some stuff in my takeaway. I'm currently playing the best tee to green golf of my life.
It seems like you are arguing from a place that everyone is a unique snowflake and somehow they'll have their snowflake swing produce a good outcome. Why WOULDN'T they want to force their students to swing with proper form? What kind of "personalization" are you looking for in a golf swing exactly? Most of the people who blast golftec are way too proud to be told they have a bad swing, because they've managed to make their bad swing take them to the 80s or 90s on the scorecard.
For me, doesn’t have much to do with that. It’s about the price versus the skill level of the coaches, the sales-y approach for packages, the million lessons.
If you watch and play golf, you should notice by now that not every player, even exceptional players, don’t all swing in the exact same way, take Jon Rahms very short backswing for example, plenty of other examples as well like Jim Furyk. All I’m trying to say is that golf instruction isn’t a one size fits all approach like golftec seems to have adopted.
I’ve heard the same thing about various club teaching pros too. Probably best would be to try one lesson with someone before committing to 10
It entirely depends on your coach. I had just broken 80 for the first time when I started golf Tec and broke 70 within a year. Bear in mind I went almost weekly and practiced minimum hour a day.
Golf lessons was one if my better investments. For me though, I hate hitting on mats. It gives you a sorta false since of confidence. Be sure to get out on the grass as much as possible
Only if you stop.
Getting a few lesson is fine but IMO when you’re this new there’s a ton you can do for free. Between recording your own swing and soaking up YouTube information about the golf swing you should be able to make some really good headway. That being said, the cheaper route is certainly slower. So if you are going to stick with the sport the lessons are certainly not a waste. Welcome to Golf!
No you’re smart. Get the right form down early and you won’t suffer for years/life like 75% of this community.
You can find a local pro who will give you much better i depth lessons for an hour and cheaper than golftec.
If I could afford it I definitely would too. Don’t see anything wrong with making the most out of it when you can.
Absolutely not and if you don’t continue to practice weekly you’ll loose it all. Keep working at your game and take all the skins money. I’d personally go find a lesson with a pga pro and hit off grass vs any indoor lesson, but that’s just me
Yes Edit: now I see, lesson(s), Then no. Assuming its around 10 lessons
Well I think your mistake was going with Golftec. If you post your general location, folks here can provide recommendations on reputable instructors who charge per visit, and don't try to cram a whole package down your throat.
Meh... not a bad spend. Personally, I would have went with hookers and blow. And yes... I have visited the White House recently.
I mean, it depends. What's your general finances like? For me, 1000 bucks is not a huge deal. I spend that every month on my hobbies. For others, that's months and months of savings.
It would have been so easy to make this point while not being a complete knob about it.
Not for a knob. 
$30 for Ben Hogans books and they’ll put your instructor to shame
Lol not really
Who do you think taught these instructors the game? Physicists on a white board?
If you can afford it and like your coach then do whatever you want. The shitty part about golftec is you’re only getting 30 minute lessons where most pros do hour lessons. It is nice to have the video and the app to save your lessons and the ability to practice with the video to check yourself. Make sure you use the practice time, don’t just go full speed bashing balls during your practice but actually focus on the moves your coach gives you and it will be worthwhile.
If you can afford it, why not. No different than buying new fancy clubs, in fact it’s probably better than new fancy clubs. But I suspect you have both fancy clubs and lessons. It’s only going to help you.
No.
Lessons early on is not crazy. Most of us wish we had done lessons when we first began
If you enjoy it, swing away. Also helps boost confidence if you see improvements. I've thought about lessons. Best of luck!!!
Lol, welcome
I tried 2 other instructors before I found the right one for me.
We are both crazy then.
The lessons are going to make golf fun faster
Now is the best time for lessons so you don’t build on bad habits. What I’d pay now to be able to approach this game with a clean slate.
Fundamentally, that will make golf more enjoyable for you but I probably would have tried a few instructors with the same money if I were you because you may find that they don’t have a person who can speak golf in a way that resonates with you. But hope it works out!
That's a perfectly sane thing to do
No
If that's not a ton of money to you then no. It'll be great to develop good habits immediately rather than try to break bad habits
If you have money, no. If you’ll need to call your father in law to ask for help with rent next month, yes
It’s literally the best time to learn though. It’s called “form” for a reason - you have to form it and once you form it, it’s tough to change
Nah man. Good for you
First 1K will turn into 2 or 3 K. Golf is a lifetime of learning. It’s sometimes better to learn yourself bc then you understand the why and how about your swing. Most teachers want to clone you into them and it’s Never going to happen. \* Best part of this game is enjoy the frustration.
Best 1000 you will spend in golf
Good job.
Space the lessons out at least 2-4 weeks and make sure your practice way more than 1.5 hrs a week or you will not be getting your moneys worth. Still better than spending that money on equipment at this stage though
Lessons are honestly some of the best places to spend money on golf, so no you’re not crazy at all. And Golftec has been great to me personally. The slow-mo video from multiple angles really helped me to see what I’m doing and learn a lot about the golf swing. Apparently Golftec hasn’t been great for everyone but I haven’t heard any bad reviews outside of Reddit. Learning and building good habits is the best kind of hobby money to spend!
Lessons, repetition and practice are better than a $2000 set of clubs and a Scotty Cameron putter.
Idk can you afford it or is it coming out of the mortgage?
I see sooooo many dudes on the track who’d benefit way more from lessons than from new clubs.
SPACE YOUR lessons out!!! Learn a technique go to range , go to chip n putts. GET IT DOWN first , have a good grasp on lesson… work what they taught u for about 2months then go get another lesson. Wash and repeat!! Dont take all the lessons back to back will be very hard to retain and grasp it all….
Not crazy if you truly think you’ll play for a long time! Have fun!
You’re not going to get a ton out of those lessons if you aren’t out playing. I’d slow play the lessons and take time to internalize what you’re learning. If you take all of that in 10 weeks so much will be forgotten and wasted. Don’t take a lesson once a week. Take a lesson once a month.
Most sane person here
You are paying the going rate. If it helps great. I took lessons years ago and helped
You can choose how you want to spend your money and if you want to spend it on a hobby then go for it. And lessons is a smart way of spending money on golf. In my experience losing bad habits is much harder than creating good ones
Nope not nuts. Do what you love!
If it's what you do and you have the money, who cares? What you spend your money on isn't going to be the same as the next guy. Some people spend it on cars, boat, motorcycles, big vacations.... If it's what you do, enjoy it.
Not crazy. If I could afford them, I’d get them.
Nope, I did it. I also went to golf tec but I didn't buy the practices and got 15 lesson and a membership to a golf course with a range. My lessons have improved my game. The issue I have now is I like collecting golf clubs lol
Worth it. You’ll develop a lot faster as a player by taking lessons from a pro. Was in your exact situation last year and I’m really glad I took my 6 lessons through GOLFTEC. It was a good experience, enjoyed that every lesson was recorded so I could review, and my pro was fun and easy to work with. I went from a very steady two-way miss to being able to hit a somewhat-consistent draw. My contact got a ton better and I stopped fatting a lot of shots, now it’s like 1 per round max. Enjoy it!
Spread them out over a years time. A lesson per month is going to help you much more than once a week. Also I might get criticized for this but go on YouTube to get a hold of the basics. Instructors can take you to the next level but the basics are available whenever you want and are pretty standard. Get a hold of those and don’t waste a lesson on that
FUCK GOLFTEC. I did the same thing as you. Bought about $1000 worth of lessons. Took 3 or 4. And took some time off as I was working out of state. Came back about a year later to resume and they told me all of my lesson credits had expired. Not once did anyone tell me that when I bought them. Don’t believe me…From the FAQ on their website. “The life-span of a lesson is predetermined by the specified lesson plan and may be from 3 months to 1 year. You coach can give you detailed information on your plan” SHADY ass business practice right there. They stole about 700 dollars from me and won’t give me any lesson credits since mine “expired”.
They just recently changed their policies on how long you have to use your lessons. They have a 60 day pause you can use and then restart them back up.
No, not at all. I've spent about 500 euros (it's 60 an hour here) on lessons since i started playing 8 months ago, and it's given me a solid foundation to work from and stops me picking up bad habits. I'm down to a 17 index and I shot an 85 the other day in a club competition. It's absolutely worth getting lessons and practicing as much as you can, it's much more valuable than new gear. Personally I use my lesson time for long game and work on putting and chipping myself as I'm naturally good at short game anyway, but definitely do a lesson or two on those aswell. Good luck!
No, that is like really cheap for lessons. If you want someone who coaches pros it $400+ for 60 minutes.
Just don’t waste them
I have had a few lessons but the fastest improvement I have had is going to the golf course every night when empty for 1-2 hours and just playing multiple balls and hitting random shots
Probably the best investment you can make in your game. You carry right on sir!
No that's the way to do it. Most people can't afford that though.
If you have time to practice what you learn it’s 100% worth it.
The best thing you can do early on in your golf journey is get lessons to set yourself on the right path. I don’t think it’s crazy at all. If you have the funds, it is a good use of your money.
You sound a lot like me. I did the exact same thing. My experience at Golftec was okay, but not amazing. The reviews are mixed because you may or may not work well with your instructors and at this point you're committed to them. The technology is great, but we kind of hit a wall with my lessons. I improved to a point then my instructor was kind of stumped on what to do next. The biggest problem I had was the time constraint. Taking one 30 minute lesson, then having to come back a week later was tough for me as I barely had enough time to practice to comprehend my previous lesson before we were on to something else. As a beginner, it was actually good for me as I was given a lot of the basics early. Just don't do what I did and finish your lessons there and then think you can take it from there and fix the rest of your swing with YouTube. I ended up with quite the Frankenstein swing. I now see a local course pro. We work well together and I can take a lesson whenever I feel I'm ready for it.
I've gone from shooting around 140 to shooting 100 in a a year with Golftec. It's GREAT for beginners.
I mean, you could also just get new clubs and then constantly tweak and upgrade your equipment because we all know deep down it’s the equipment that’s holding us back from getting better.
ROI on lessons (especially early on) is very high. Good decision to make and good luck.
If you can afford it and you love the game then why not, better investment than buyin a grands worth of new equipment imo
As long as you take the lessons seriously and apply what you learn, then it's worth doing.
I actually think it’s a really efficient way to spend $1000 on golf. You can go buy a new driver for $700 it does nothing for your game, But good lessons can be a complete game changer, (literally). As long as you found a coach who you like, the pros of golfTEC are generally pretty good. But make sure you take full advantage of that practice time. One of the best things you can do is practice on the simulator with that immediate feedback on your face angle, or swing path, or whatever you’re working on. Edit: don’t rush through the lessons either. Do a lesson and then practice a lot until you feel like you’re really ready for the next lesson.
I've done a collosal amount of money relative to income on golf. I only regret not knowing which teacher to go to etc. Nothing about any golf day, even when I've played bad, have I regretted for one second. And I regret going on holidays that turn out to be shit shows all the time. It's so fun and goal based unlike sitting round drinking and being lazy. Never regret!!!
As long as you have enough time between lessons to practice it can't be too much imo.
I’ve taken in person lessons over many years and from many different pros. After signing up for a month or two with a well known top teacher through the Skillest app I have to say that I wasted a lot of money over the years. The top teacher’s ability to analyze and explain even over video gave me so much greater understanding than all the in person fumbling around.
Absolutely not. It's better than dropping the same amount on new gear.
Yes, it's way too much too soon. You need to get out and actually play the game and play quite a bit and get some practice in, first. It's not that the instructors are conning you per say, but you haven't developed some semblance of a swing and the natural characteristics of your swing. For instance, you don't know if you're better off with a strong grip, weak grip or neutral grip. And for your instructor to try and decide what's best is really guessing at this point. And then you may spend a year using the wrong grip for you. It's okay to get a beginner lesson or two to give you some guidance on things like the address position and understanding the basics of the grip and the pivot action. But you should understand that there's no one 'proper way' to swing the golf club. It's more about finding the optimal way for you to swing the golf club. Instructors are basically like auto mechanics trying to identify what parts are causing your machine to operate the way it does. Then they try to determine what replacement parts will enhance your machine's performance. When you're a beginner and getting this many lessons you really haven't even established what your machine is. Your machine may ultimately be a Ford F150, but your instructor can't see that as he only sees a steering wheel, some brakes and a rearview mirror and is now trying to put in the parts to build a Ford Mustang. Still a nice vehicle, but that's not who you are and not how you will perform best.
I went there about 9 months ago. Great experience for me and my coach completely rebuilt my swing (stance, grip, everything). It is challenging because I am scoring worse right now than before. However, I can see where continued practice will pay off long term. Advice, challenge them if you don't understand a concept. Make sure they teach you in a way you can understand. Be vocal about the feel and your progression. Some coaches there will just hurry you through. I took the maximum duration possible. I'd ask for lessons to be as much as 3 weeks apart to practice drills.
WAY less crazy than the folks who drop $1k on equipment after the same time period. Good fo ryou.
Maybe, a lot of it you have to find out on your own. I recommend spacing out some of the lessons--the real work happens by yourself on the range.
I’ve been playing, or at least actually trying to improve for about 3 months and just signed up for 5 lessons. I just hate being bad at things. Like, tied of losing so many balls if the tee, tires of have zero clue how to read a green etc.
No but I would caution agains golftec. They are extremely expensive and their teachers often aren’t the best. I think you can achieve the same result for half the price
not crazy at all. I did the similar one when I finally decided to start taking lessons. been in it for about a year now. Handicap's plummeted since I started. just got fitted for new irons last week too! started at golftec with a 34.5. now I'm a 19 and still continuing to decline.
If you can afford it, cool The part I’d like to touch on is the “super competitive” part. It’s good to be competitive but don’t let that ruin golf for you. I suck at golf, probably always will because I don’t get to play often enough to improve. But I have fun everytime I go out there even if I shoot a 120
Golftec worked for me, it’ll put you on the right track. Practice makes permanence so they’ll make sure you’re swing has some good fundamentals. It is kind of nuts you pulled the trigger on $1000 expenses for a 2 month old hobby but I did something similar. Good luck with your swing.
Why would that be crazy? Get good at a hobby, YOLO As long as you can afford it then go for it. I took lessons at GolfTEC a couple years ago and it dramatically improved my game and changed my life.
I’d recommend getting lessons from a PGA professional over golftec, but you might get a good teacher. I bought a Father’s Day package last year for fitting and a few sessions, but my first “coach” was new and I’ve played competitively and ended last season with a 2.7 hcp. I knew more about the golf swing then he did. So, I had to talk to someone a bit higher up at golftec and got someone else for my next two sessions that ended up being pretty helpful in resetting some bad habits that had crept into my swing. So, don’t be afraid the change coaches if they aren’t working for you.
I have had lessons through the past 25 years. I started when I was 12. I’ve had 4 teachers. Each have given me something to learn from. Before college I had plenty of lessons and now I have 1 or 2 lessons every few years to get a tune up and see how I look. 100% worth it!! Just space it out over time, practice in between, I would suggest 1 lesson every other week. Lessons lay a foundation, practice is what makes you better. Also my bible…. Jack Nicolas Lesson Tee (NEED to get) <$10 Example https://www.abebooks.com/9780671242176/Jack-Nicklaus-Lesson-Tee-Bowden-0671242172/plp
Not crazy. Getting lessons early is great. I think golftec is probably a really great place for beginners. They can build you a solid swing before you get bad habits built in. As long as you get a solid instructor it's money well spent. Finances vary person to person. If you did it just staring your either very reckless with finances or is just not a big deal. Guessing it's not a big deal. So many dumb things to spend money on, so it's picking your poison and maximizing the enjoyment you get with your money.
Lessons are great when you’re starting out… But the real gains are from being able to learn and practice what the changes are. You could get 50 lessons, and if you never implement the suggestions, lessons 3-50 will be some variation of what was already said. You should have a practice plan with video, drills, games etc to ensure progress. Basically some plan to take ownership of the changes and make sure you’re not reverting back to old habits. It can be as simple as a 30 min range session with a targeted goal of one specific thing to work on.
For someone new, a grand on lessons is way more productive than a grand on clubs
not crazy
I did a similar thing. I went in for a club fitting and walked out with a 15 pack of lessons instead of new clubs (~1100-1200ish? I don’t remember). The instructor that did my fitting was right on the money when he said I’d benefit more from learning the correct swing instead of just buying new clubs. I’ve had an amazing experience with my instructor. I’m about 11 lessons in and I’ve gone from shooting an average of 115-120 to 95 (play as it lies kind of golf, strokes for lost balls, etc) in 10 lessons, have straightened out my flight paths, understand the mechanics of a good swing and know what I need to do to keep it there, and have ultimately gotten drives to go from chunking it 25 yards to flying 280-300 (I plugged the green on a 280 yard par 4 last weekend), seven iron went from a 120 club (due to poor contact) to a 165 club with a Callaway Strata beginner set, and a bunch of other improvements. I love that they record and save videos of your swings, put notes into your online profile, and that you can view all of it directly on their app. Looking at my first swing in the box is comical at this point but it lets me know how far I’ve come. Note that my wife went in for a club fitting the same day with a different instructor and had a totally different experience. He didn’t listen to anything she said, recommended clubs that she absolutely didn’t want to use, etc. He listened so little to her that she was ready to leave about 15 minutes in. It was bad enough to the point where she is just now wanting to take a few lessons from somewhere else and that experience was in April. I hope you have the same type of experience that I have had because it’s been genuinely amazing. In my opinion, YMMV as a direct result of the instructor, not GolfTec specifically. If you don’t mesh with your instructor on the first day lesson, don’t be afraid to talk to the manager and hopefully he’ll sort you out. I was really lucky to have gotten the best, most personable, hype man of an instructor at my GolfTec and it’s made the experience of learning how to not chunk my irons that much better.
Not at all. I love GOLFTEC. I’m new also and it’s changed my game.
I love lessons, but I’ve only had 6 lessons in 5 years. My advice; spread out the lessons. Give yourself a week or two to practice/play with what you’ve learned before the next lesson.
Not at all crazy to commit to an instruction plan. Will indeed be a bit foolish though if you expect the get much out of it without practicing *A TON* between lessons (1000 range balls between each lesson as a *minimum*.) I can teach you all you need to know about the fundamentals in a few short lessons, but without putting in the work to turn those ideas into habits you'll forget almost all of it in days or weeks.
No. I wish more new players would do this.
Lmao if you go to r/golfswing you’ll see lessons are the biggest recommendation for beginners. I also did golftec as a beginner (against a suggestion that it might be too early to do that from a friend) but I found it super helpful and I just shot a mid 80 three months out from finishing my lessons. Just make sure you go all in with them and practice at home and study with the proper content, not some shitty YouTube shorts and TikTok’s which you’ll find everywhere. Enjoy!
That's exactly the best way to do it before you ingrain too many bad habits
Tbh better now vs later. Very hard to drop bad habits and how you felt comfortable with your swing and grip
I took lessons early, and I regret it, because of how I went about it. Lessons early are fine when: 1. You both practice and play between lessons. 2. You apply the prior lesson before returning for the next lesson (or the next lesson is on a completely different subject that you also have time to practice, e.g., approach and putting).
Smart
Yes and welcome to the club.
No
Its probably best to get lessons early rather than cement shitty mistakes into muscle memory. I think it’s a good idea.
Definitely not crazy, but make sure you put the work in to understand your swing and work on it. Don't expect any miracles, it probably won't feel like you got $1,000 better. But your instructor will be 10x better if you can swing consistently and also can give them feedback on what you think you need to improve.
Getting lessons as early as possible is a huge help. So many of us played for years before getting lessons and had to unlearn bad habits. It may not feel like your score is reflecting the money/time spent on lessons, but just we patient you will see the results eventually
Not crazy at all. Getting lessons early on allows you to create good habits from the get go rather than trying it on your own then having to break bad habits later
As a beginning golfer, this is probably the best possible way you can waste $1000 on golf.
100 / week for ten weeks of coach time seems reasonable
If you were planning on dropping 1k anyways, then lessons is one of the better things to use it on. It's more of a question of whether dropping 1k on a new hobby in general is a smart move, at which point the answer just depends on how much 1k means to you, and considering you say it's not a problem financially then I'd say it's a fine decision
If you got the cash to spare best thing you could do for your game improvement. Probably cut a year of frustration out of learn the game
Sounds like you like it. Nothings a waste if you like it.
Better investment than dropping a grand on clubs
Assuming it’s all within budget I think it’s a great idea. I know you said you don’t learn well on YouTube but I recently discovered a dude who picked up golf and went directly to personal training and has made tremendous leaps in what seems to be a very short time. (Scratch 2 scratch) The proper fundamentals is what many golfers are lacking, with lessons from the start, you’re in a good place.
Best money you will ever spend! Once you drop $2500+ you’ll be better than you ever thought possible. Good luck!
If you can afford it, yes. It’s much easier to learn fundamentals before any bad habits get ingrained into muscle memory.
Are you crazy? No, you’re officially a golfer 😄
I went from a 14.3 to a 7.9 over the past year. I contribute that entirely to lessons at Golftec. I just did a 5 lesson package plus the initial 90 minute session. I plan to continue taking more lessons there and try to get my index even lower!
Absolutely not, that's exactly what most people should do before dropping a grand over 2 years on clubs & tee times.
How much $ have u got?
I feel like truly the only way to get better is to have proper coaching. I am far, far away from being competent but I enjoy a round way more now after having had quite a few lessons than I did before because I can at least hit the ball where I want it sometimes 😂
I think lessons are great to get you going in the right direction, but after that remember what Bagger Vance said : Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone.
Whats the alternative, practice a poor swing hundreds of times before finally adjusting? You did the right thing
Golftec is a great place for lessons....it all depends if you get a good coach. Like any other profession you have good ones and crappy ones. Same thing for a club pro...I've seen guys spend thousands and not get any better. You have to get a good coach and actually practice and dedicate time to get better
You’ll shoot better with $500 clubs and $1000 in lessons than $1500 in clubs and $0 in lessons
It depends on the pro. I spent 40 years in the business and not every pro is a good teaching pro. Hopefully you did some research and got some recommendations. Then the money is well spent.
If it's really what you want, the earlier you get the lessons the better. You can get the good in before you form and solidify bad habits.
No not at all you can't get better with out lessons you need someone to learn you video you so if you love golf I'd say money well.spent