Thinking about finally booking that golf lesson you’ve always wanted? Here’s our guide on what to expect.
As a whole golf lessons remove habit habits from your golf game, help you get a sweet connection on the ball as improve you swing. As well as teaching you how to put shape on your shots and lower your handicap.
If you’re not sure about the equipment you need, how to prepare, and what to look for when having a golf lesson, look no further.
In this guide, we’ll be answering all your burning questions about what to expect from your first golf lesson and how to get the most out of them. Let’s firstly tee off with what you should expect from your first golf lesson.
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What Should I Expect From My First Golf Lesson?
As a general rule, your first golf lesson will cover the basics. Your coach will go over the fundamentals of how to swing a golf club, focussing on the grip the posture, your weight distribution over the ball, and how you swing the club.
If you’ve played a lot of golf in the past, your first golf lessons will mostly be analysis-based. Your coach will ask you to hit a few shots with a mid-range club like a seven iron, and that will give them a good indication of your level as a golfer and what you need to improve on.
But don’t panic if this is the first time you’ve played before! If you’re a total beginner, coaches will ease you in slowly, focusing on some practice drills to get you started and used to the feel of a natural golf swing.
If we strip a golf swing down to its basics, we can see that it comprises three different parts; grip, posture, and the swing itself. During your first lesson as a beginner, you’ll spend a fair bit of time getting used to all three parts, starting tarting with your grip. The first thing your coach will teach you is not to hold the club too tight. It might be a good idea to check out our guide on golf club grips before you head off to your first lesson.
Once you understand how to hold the club, you’ll start to work on posture, and how to address the golf ball, and how to spread your weight over your legs. Normally, you should have the majority of your weight on your front leg. That will help you hit down onto the golf ball and create a better connection.
Lastly comes the swing. Coaches will gradually introduce basic swing mechanics in your first lessons. You will be taught how to keep your wrists locked out as you move the club while keeping your leading arm straight as you initiate your backswing and keep your head still and over the ball as you initiate your downswing.
If you have a little more experience playing golf, you’ll likely spend most of your first lesson striking shots so that your coach can analyze the issues in your game.
But be warned, even if you’re an experienced golfer, there are a few things you should note before going for your first golf lesson.
For a complete guide on everything you need to know about golf lessons please check out my helpful article.
Expect Things Not To Go Right The First Time
If you’re a beginner and are looking to get into golf, patience is crucial. Golf is perhaps one of the most frustratingly technical sports globally, and no golfer has ever mastered their technique after their first time at the range. As a golf swing is an alien movement for most people, chances are, you’re not going to hit the golf ball 350 yards like Tiger Woods during your first lesson.
That’s where patience and trust in your coach are needed. Sure, you’re paying them $50 per hour to help you hit the ball, sweet, so it’s understandable that you’ll want to see results in your game. But golf is a marathon, not a sprint, and for that reason, you should trust in the coach’s method and understand that these things don’t come straight away, it’s normal to feel frustrated for more info please see our post.
You Won’t Be Using Your Driver
Make sure to bring all of your clubs because I can guarantee, whatever type of lesson you have booked in, your coach will want to see you swing with your irons before they see you hit your driver. Even if you’re booked in for a session on improving your driving accuracy off the tee, make sure to bring your seven iron.
This is because iron play is the foundation of your game, and although your swing with your seven iron is different from your swing with your driver, a golf coach will want to see you hit the ball with each club before you work your way up to your driver.
Fundamentally, getting used to hitting the ball with your irons before your driver is key to playing better, and the more issues you can tease out of your game with your irons, the easier you’ll find it to hit your driver. For more information on what you need to bring to your lessons and club fitting sessions, please click here.
You’ll Have To Change Everything You Were Doing Before
Even for experienced golfers, a coach can ask you to change a lot of what you were doing before; I’ve heard many golfers giving up on lessons because a coach has told them their technique, which they’ve been using for many years, is fundamentally wrong. I get it; if it works, then don’t fix it. But if you’re going to lessons to become a better golfer, you need to take on the coach’s advice, as they know best.
That’s why it’s essential to take heed of their advice, listen to what the coach has to say, and incorporate their tips into your swing. Golfers who do this have found that their swing feels a lot different from what it did before, which is the hardest part for any golfer, and unfortunately, there’s no getting around that.
After you’ve changed your swing to incorporate your coach’s advice, it will feel awkward and alien to you at first. But don’t panic; most golfers have this issue! You’ll firstly struggle to hit the ball, and if you try to revert to your old swing, you’ll struggle even more to hit the ball, which means your only option is to push through until things start to feel normal and you hit the ball better.
Although that sounds contrary to a lot of what we’ve been discussing in this guide, the tips your coach is giving you won’t change your game overnight; they require a lot of practice to implement. So don’t stress if things feel awkward at first; these things take time to correct, implement and are put in place to help you hit the golf ball better in the long run.
If you have kids, it may be wise to get them practicing from a young age. That’ll help them iron out these tips while they’re still young because, as all adult golfers know, it’s harder to learn a new technique after you’ve been playing for so long. On that basis, check out our guide on what age children should start playing golf.
How do you prepare for a golf lesson?
As a whole, have an idea of what you want to achieve in golf, the standard you want to play at, and how often you want to play. It is crucial you practice and warm up before your lesson and wear the right loose-fitting clothes to walk and swing comfortably
Establish Your Golf Aims
Before you head off to your lesson, you need to think about what you’re looking to achieve in golf. Do you want to play socially? Do you want to compete? Are you looking to improve your short game?
These are all questions you should ask yourself before you start taking your lessons. It’s important to visualize what you want to achieve while also figuring out what problems you have in your game yourself before seeing your golf coach.
That will be the first thing they’ll inevitably ask you, and if you’re able to tell them, you think you might have an issue in a specific area that will allow them to get stuck right in and help you correct your swing. Here are eleven other ways a golf lesson can and will improve your game.
Bring The Correct Golf Equipment
It’s important to bring the right equipment with you when you go to your first lesson. You never know what your coach might want you to do during the session, whether that’s hit a seven iron off a tee or a driver off the deck. Coaches often get annoyed when golfers bring one club to the range, thinking they will be working purely on driving the golf ball or chip a golf ball. Do not make that mistake!
Most of the work you’ll do during your early lessons will be done with your shorter irons and wedges. That’s where coaches can identify the problems and issues in your swing and give you answers on how to correct them.
The same goes for what you’re wearing. Depending on where you’re playing, you’ll always need to dress appropriately for the club’s dress code and the weather. Players will usually give beginners a bit of leeway on what they can and can’t wear to a lesson for beginners.
Generally, it’s okay to dress a little more casually to a session on the range, but if you’re playing the course, be sure to get the dress code right. Check out our guide for more information on what to bring with you to a golf-fitting session.
Always Warm Up Before A Golf Lesson
It’s good always to warm up anytime before you play golf. That doesn’t just mean having a good stretch, but actually getting to the range early and hitting a few shots,this helps you get into a groove, loosen and warm up your muscles, and will also give you some brownie points if your teacher sees you taking things seriously.
Do you want to get stronger for golf? Learn the 6 muscles used in the golf swing and how to swing stronger in our article.
What Should I Look For In Golf Lessons?
As a general rule, a beginner should find a golf coach who can introduce the basics of the game, for more experienced players you need a coach who can help to improve course management.
Golf lessons can be expensive, so it’s good to know what you’re looking for before you take them up. Beginner golfers should look to develop a good understanding of how the game is played and how to comfortably strike a golf ball so that they can get around an intermediate 9-hole golf course.
It gets harder for more experienced players. Understanding what to look for in golf lessons requires you to analyze and look critically at your own game to understand better what you’re looking to improve on.
Once you’ve established that, you’ll need to find the best coach for your needs, which can be tricky. It might even take you going for lessons with multiple coaches to determine which one can provide you with the greatest benefit.
It’s also good to understand what you want to do in your lessons. Do you want to get help from someone more experienced on how to play a course, or are you looking to improve your shot striking? To see what mistakes you could be making with your driving, please see our guide.
Once a golf coach understands what you’re looking to gain from your lessons, they can tailor your sessions with various drills and even take you out on the course to help you improve your course management.
It’s a difficult question to answer, but above all, you should look to have fun and enjoy your lessons, and with that in mind, look to find a golf coach you can have fun with and enjoy playing golf with.
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