The majority of golfers are aware that something is not quite right. However, they are often unaware of the moment when that feeling becomes a regular occurrence that can only be fixed by a professional.
You’re Performing Well on the Range But Falling Apart on the Course
If the time you spend at the driving range and practice green isn’t making you a better golfer, you’re not the problem. Those two-headed rakes for the practice bunker are a pain in the neck.
Kidding aside, though, honing your game is a deeply personal exercise. You need to work within your limitations to bring out your best golf. A two-hour training session that works wonders for someone else might not give you any improvement at all.
That’s where Local Golf Lessons with a verified coach come in. They’ll help you to set up a training strategy around the many-ever-hopeful golfer you are. It’s about accountability and motivating you.
Your Handicap Has Stopped Moving
The most frequent cause of a serious golfer booking a lesson, and the most frequently ignored. If your handicap has flatlined and has been solidly stuck within the same narrow range for a year or even two, you’re probably damaging your game with those well-meant extra practice sessions, not improving it.
It’s a function of muscle memory. An ever-attentive neuromuscular system that says ‘Oh, I see you’re asking for that movement pattern a lot. That must be the one you want. I’ll make it even easier for you to repeat it in future’. Muscle memory inflates the value of a bad swing just as effectively as a good one.
You’re Hitting Both a Slice and a Hook in the Same Round
Hitting slices and hooks in the same round signals that you no longer have control over your clubface.
When you slice every shot, your body is doing its absolute best to get the clubface back around to the ball and “save” the shot. The same is true when you hook every shot. You’re simply unable to open the face enough to get the ball started right, and everything feels like compensation.
Frustrating as it is, you’re likely only two or three range sessions away from straightening this out. All it will take is you committing to an understanding that feels completely alien at first. This is where you need the help of a good coach, and why the coaching “industry” will never be fully automated. It may be expert training from an app or video coach, but it’s still coaching.
You’re Dealing With Recurring Physical Pain
Your body wasn’t designed to swing a golf club. It was designed to run and jump and lift things and put things overhead. If you have tightness or soreness related to the game, it’s because of what you’re asking your body to do. Fix the cause and the symptoms disappear. If you’re frustrated with recurring aches, ask your coach to help you with your sequencing.
You’ve Accumulated Too Many Tips and Lost Your Swing Entirely
It’s actually more common than you’d think. One piece of advice from a friend, a tip you saw on YouTube, a couple of swing thoughts you read in an article, and you soon have four different things in your head and no clear, repeatable swing.Â
It’s not that any of the individual tips were bad. It’s that they were right in a vacuum. A coach provides one coherent, complete blueprint. They’re aware of what you’re focusing on, what you’re putting aside for now, and the appropriate sequence to incorporate all the elements. That level of understanding can’t be quantified against all the tips you’ve ever gathered.
When to Stop Diagnosing and Start Fixing
There is a golfer’s version who keeps looking, keeps watching, keeps tweaking; and never quite tries to get an actual coach. Mainly because getting a coach is what newbies do, not competitive players at the club.
Think about it this way. Professional athletes don’t stop coaching once they reach a certain level. They upgrade their coaching. A tune-up with a professional isn’t an admission that your swing is wrong. This is how serious golfers maintain their skills, and gain more skills when self-correction is no longer an option.
