I've had two coaching lessons on grip and stance (one at a driving range and one at golftown); if that counts. If not, then I guess you've met two.

?

Why you hatin'?

Little backgroud: I first started playing with a co-worker of mine that was a pretty good golfer. After witnessing my awkward shanks within 20 yards, he taught me the basics of the short game first, and I became obsessed with it. I grabbed some Cleveland wedges and focused on chipping, pitching, putting and even punching out of awkward lies.

After that, once you get the driving down (easier said than done), you will naturally see a pretty smooth and very drastic improvement in your game, ime.

I haven't gotten a lesson either, started playing in 2011. I'm consistently shooting low 80's high 70's. I just need to keep improving my own swing. I'm learning more and more each day. I also have flexible schedule, an 8th month old girl, supportive wife. Fun stuff eh?

LAP:

I'm just curious why you're proud of not having a lesson. Is that what you'll teach your kids? Don't get help from experts? Show the world what a natural you are?

It's interesting how many people I've met that are proud of their golf talent after one year, as well as how many boast about not having lessons. To me, it's just a bit of an egotistical/ immature thing to brag about.

I once met a guy that was a 25 handicap, but didn't want to take a lesson... I guess he didn't want to fix what wasn't broken?

How many women that play the game get the assistance of a pro first?

There's one player on tour I know of that brags about not having lessons. Every other player, including the GOAT, takes lessons.

I took ten lessons from a pro, and it made a HUGE difference in my game. I put in a ton of time after each lesson trying to fix what he helped me with. It was a great experience. I wish I still had the time to take lessons and work on my game.

Forum studs, Ship__This and Stadler both have coaches as well.

I just find it strange how many people are willing to throw down $300 for the newest driver, or $100 for a round, but won't spend $50, and an hour of their time for a lesson from someone trained to improve their game.

Another aspect too, is that the sooner you take a lesson, the longer you benefit from it.

Thoughts on lesson pricing? How do these compare, thinking of getting my first lessons here

http://www.cnygolfacademy.com/rates.php

OUCH!!!

Now couple that with not having any great or even good instructors in the area and you have an idea why people don't get lessons.

I was on the range the other day hitting balls, only one there. I was there for like 10-15 minutes and another guy shows up and sets up to my left. I can hear his balls hitting the trees down the left side of the fairway. After another 10-15 minutes of this he stops and comes over and starts telling me what I'm doing wrong. I looked up at him and said "Hey if I want a swing coach I'll hire one". He said "Excuse me" and went back to hitting his balls down the left side into the trees. The point of this is finding an instructor is easy, finding one that will do you good and that you can afford not so easy.

Agreed.

I have been to 3 people and the guy who has done the best for me charges $40 an hour, and just asks that I refer him to other people. He isn't going to get me to be a scratch golfer, but he teaches me the basic fundamentals of each club, shot, situation etc.

Damn I also started in 2011, have a supportive wife, an 11-month old boy (not sure what this has to do with it lol) and...still haven't broke 90

Though I do feel like it's just around the corner.

When ARC said something about putting the ball up in your stance for left to right putts I tried that. Wow that works. Been having trouble on really long distance putts however. Coming up way short, any tips on that? I had heard to lean putter forward, but can't get a long putt anywhere close to the hold.

Are you talking about long distance in general, or long distance on L-R putts?

I come up short a lot on long distance side slope putts just because the more side break you play, the harder you gotta hit the putt to get up the first half of the slope. The worst is when you play too much break on a side slope but hit it weakly you are left with a downhill putt with sideslope. If you hit the right line but just come up short you are probably left an uphill 2nd putt or at worst probably a more or less level 2nd putt. Sometimes if the sideslope is severe enough I won't even go for the hole, but try to leave myself under the hole (well left or right of it) and leave myself a fairly straight uphiller coming back.

Long distance in general. If it is a straight putt over 20 feet, I have a hard time hitting it hard enough to get it to roll the distance.

soooooo, just shot a 91, highest round of the year. here are some reasons why golf is such a bitch of a sport:

-- i started off tap-in par/birdie. feeling great, 2 perfect drives, 2 perfect approaches. next hole: triple bogey 7.

-- twice I went birdie/triple. WTF. 3 total birdies, 3 total triples.

-- on 14 and 15 I hit my drive on a dead straight line, probably carried 295 and ended up 315ish. that's mashed for me.

so on 16, it's a wide open par 4. swung about as hard as any human has ever swung aaaand....literally chunked my drive. yes, it was on a tee, yes I took a divot.

gets better (golf is a bitch)..so now I'm 228 to the middle of the green, pull a 5-wood and...knock it stiff to inside 2 feet. LOL close enough that my dad's buddy flipped it over to me as I was walking up, I said, "please don't ever toss me a tap-in birdie kthx". (upon reflection, that was probably my second best shot ever. I one hopped a 7-iron from 155 for eagle two years ago. can't really picture anything besides that being prettier than a dead straight 228 yard 5-wood that checked up a foot behind the ball mark)

-- the drive on 14...par 4 320 yards straight ahead. drive was just killed. literally might have been my best drive of the summer in terms of both length and accuracy.

takes a semi-big bounce and my dad goes, "I hope that didn't go in the water".

WAT

"I would have told you about the little pond on the right of the green but I didn't think you could get there"

WAT

ball in the murky, bull****, slimy-green **** ass water.

from where I dropped I could even putt. up and down for par. with a penalty. which leads me to...

-- had 4 (FOUR!) penalty shots. on 18 holes. I hate golf.

just a stupid round. going birdie/triple TWICE in a round just about sums up my game right now. go 4 holes at -1 then go +6 the next 2. ugh

finally, attention old guys:

listen, I've gotten used to hitting from the white while you guys all go to the gold (and yes, I do purposely call them red. I can see what color they are, I'm calling them red anyway).

I also realize that it's a friendly game. that you all take care of each other and give each everything inside of 4 feet and if you happen to blow one past 5 feet you'll give each other that too...but three things, old guys:

1. don't assume I want a gimme on every 2-3 foot putt. I don't. I gamble on every match except when i'm with you and I need to make those.

2. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don't flip me back my 18" tap in bird that I stuck from 228 yards.

3. (and this is the important one) on everything I love, if you ever again mention to the cute girl in the clubhouse that you beat me by one when you a) hit from the gold tees, b) gave yourself or were given at least 6 putts that were 4 feet on longer, and c) gave yourself a mulligan off the tee and a mulligan from the fairway ON BOTH SIDES.

didn't speak up, just grumbled and left but was mad enough to call my dad before I even got out of the parking lot to bitch..

****ing golf.

/rant

and oh yeah, I HIT A HOUSE. lololol

trees on the right, had to punch out. not really any openings but **** going backwards right? smack into a tree to 10 yards behind me (**** going backwards right?).

so now hitting three with basically the same option, hit backwards into fairway laying 3 with 260 yards to go...naaah.

this punch shot clips a tree and heads straight right. I'm about 15 yards from a fence, an inground pool and what looks like a $270,000 home.

didn't see the angle of the ball but knew where it was headed and just waited for the sound.

vinyl siding is loud.

almost sprinted to the cart and get to my dad and his two buddies in the fairway and simultaneously pop and his one friend go, "did you just hit that house??!?" I go, "yeah, I'm taking a stroke penalty...okay if I drop here and GTFO??"

haha. so I guess I did take an illegal drop and my bitching about the gimmes is now moot.

People who own homes on golf courses expect to have their houses occasionally hit. They have home owners insurance. When I hit a house I go check it out. Sometimes they are there sometimes not. Sometimes they are not friendly but mostly they are.

I hit a house last summer. I'm walking up the fence line and see that the window on the side of the house is broken. Sigh. Old guy is standing out on the patio and asks what kind of ball I was playing. Throws it back and says have a great test of your round. I asked what I needed to do about the window and he says that it was broken last week and hasn't been replaced yet. My ball hit the siding - no harm done.

He said he was glad I came to check because most guys drive up the other side of the fairway like it wasn't them... Which is funny.

I've definitely played on courses where damaging anyone's property on the course was the player's responsibility.

Looking for insight: I've played golf a LONG time, but have never been good about identifying what is happening with my swing and how to fix it, even when I was playing to a ~6-7. Last five years my golf has been really sporadic and I seem to have a new swing every time I go out. Lately I've been pushing/blocking/slicing everything to the right (which is especially miserable since when I played consistently I had a really pretty draw). I tried strengthening my grip, but all that really seemed to do is keep 75% of my shots the same, and cause me to pull hook the other 25%.

Last night I went to the range and found a "fix," at least for about half a bucket of balls. Keeping a strong but not too strong grip, I lined up the ball on the extreme toe of the club. Ball still entirely within the club face, but right on the edge. For whatever reason, shots were straight and pure. Doubt going through the rest of my golf life lining up the ball on the toe is the right answer, but with that bit of information I was hoping maybe someone here would have some insight on what I was doing, and what the "correct" fix might be.

That's pretty much every course.

Maybe you stand too close to the ball. Maybe the feeling of swinging out "to" or "through" the ball made you change your angle of attack or swing plane some. Maybe there's a bunch of other stuff going on =P

If you can somehow manage to get a video, I'm sure there are people in this forum that can help out a bit. Hard to guess.

Haha, the course i play on is literally lined with houses. Not more than 10 yards off the fairway moat holes. Hit the siding of one once time and the guy came out screaming at me. Asked if i broke anything. He said no. Looked at him and told him to knock off the yelling and not to buy a house 10 yards off the course if he doesbt want to get hit

how in the world could they enforce me paying for a window or siding damage??

I mean, even if they actually saw me do it...gtfo. if it was a genuine mistake/mis-hit, I may be apologetic but there's no ****ing way I'm paying for that ****.

ESPECIALLY if like in the above spot where the owner came out screaming at me.

and that isn't to say I'm the type to not take responsibility for my own **** ups, I have and most likely will have to again in the future.

ftr, the rest of our foursome figured homeowners insurance would cover it.

ftr #2, they had a huge vinyl privacy fence around the pool, so I couldn't see where it hit on the house or even wander over there to find them if I was so inclined.

I wasnt inclined, just pointing out the fence.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...ng-with-others

Hehe..

Yeah I always make myself putt out (anything outside a ~foot which is an absolute slam dunk). I was playing with a stranger once (older guy of course) who picked up my ball and tossed it to me as I was walking to it. I kept walking to where it was and set the ball back down and, without saying anything, putted it out. He didn't say anything and it was probably awkward for him but he didn't touch my ball anymore.

Just started playing with my neighbor who is in his 50s a couple weeks ago. On the 2nd hole I was inside 3 feet and I told him "I putt everything out if that's OK - because I miss these sometimes." He was like "Yeah no problem". But I figured I should let him know since it's so standard for old fogeys to give eachother 8 footers.

I had no idea golfers were responsible for house damage. I guess I never put too much thought into it. There's a course I play that runs through a neighborhood and my miss is a big high slice. One day I hit it so damn far high and right that if it hit a house it would have hit their roof with like an 85 degree trajectory lol. If I lived on a course there's no way I would hold a golfer responsible unless their intent was deliberately to damage my house.

Did you take lessons? I know from your posts you watch a lot of golf stuff and I think you said your father in law was a + handicapper.