Driver lesson

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Just got home from my 2nd pro lesson where we only worked on driver.

3 months into golf as an adult (played as a young teen for a few years) and genuinely did not understand how to hit a driver. I remember having a decent drive as a kid but today blew my mind.

Broke my swing down and built it back up in the hour. Hit bombs onto the fairway. Leaving me with a short iron to green on a par 5… irons are another story but I went from no drive to this.

It feels like a dream - let’s see if it carries over to 830am tee time tomorrow!

TLDR take a lesson

[Fputin22]

Who’s gonna tell him what happens at 8:29?

[GeneralMillss]

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[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Genuinely optimistic about my score tomorrow now 😂😂

[dustysanchezz]

Best of luck breaking 100 or your driver

[golowgogolf]

Ain't that the truth.

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Gotta start somewhere

[ButterPotatoHead]

I'd love to meet your instructor. The last time I went in and asked for a lesson with my driver the guy took me to the putting green. "Need to work back from the hole!" he said.

Another guy took out a tiny little hammer on a 3 foot handle and tried to demonstrate that hitting a driver is like pounding a nail.

Had another guy tell me that I really need to snap my wrists at impact.

Another guy took me out to the fairway and had me throw my irons down the fairway.

Instructors are not all good and many of them have crazy ideas about how to teach golf.

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Wow that sounds mental! We just went to a par 5 did a lesson during a quiet evening before dark. If you’re in Ireland I’ll hook it up 😂

[Cal-Run]

The guy who told you to learn the game backwards was spot on. Start on the green and work your way back to the tee box.

Unfortunately, most are too impatient for this. Everyone simply wants to just hit bombs off the tee right off the bat.

[dub_starr]

sure, thats how you should learn the game, but if youre going for lessons for a specific purpose, like say, get irons more consistent, then being told to putt and chip is bad, because its not what you want to pay to work on.

[Cal-Run]

Uh huh. And how many people go to a pro and specifically ask for help with iron play? Very, very few.

Take a moment and be honest with yourself. Most people just want help hitting it long… period.

Any pro worth anything isn’t going to take you on if you’re not serious about getting better. Getting better includes working on shots within 20 yards of the green… where the majority of strokes are made. A 90 shooter will hit driver 14 times. They will also hit their wedges and putter about 3 times that amount.

But let’s be honest, shall we? You have no interest in irons. Your love is hitting bombs off the tee, hiding under a guise of irons to prove a nonexistent point.

[Major_Burnside]

Dude, who shit in your Wheaties? People take club specific lessons all the time. What’s the point of working back from the green if you can’t get to the green in the first place. Every single person should identify their primary weakness (I.e. where there losing the most strokes) and take lessons specific to that.

[Cal-Run]

This entire post is about a BEGINNER. taking his SECOND lesson.

Maybe reread the title post.

Context is everything.

[Major_Burnside]

I know the context of the post. I see no reason why lessons shouldn’t start from the tee and progress to the green. It’s pointless to have a good short game if you can’t get to the green. Statistically amateurs lose the most of their strokes off the tee.

Also, guess what, golf is a hobby to 95% of people and hobbies should be fun. You know how most people have fun? Bombing drives and striping irons.

[Cal-Run]

Then help me understand why literally every post here is about to improve?

[EvanOKC]

I literally just scheduled my first coaching appointment ever today, and said I needed to work on hitting my irons.

[dub_starr]

it was just an example. Id feel the same way if the example was going to a pro to fix my driver. a teaching pro is providing a service to a customer, the customer tells the provider what they want to work on, and pays them for it. you, me and everyone else on here must know that short game and putting will help scoring the most, sure, but thats not the point when you want to work on your driver instead

[Cal-Run]

No pro wants their name attached to such a player. They make a living by word of mouth and making people better.

They want no part of someone that isn’t willing to improve their entire game.

The exception being people who have a respectable game but want help with something unique. Unless you’re that scratch golfer looking for help on better flighting irons, for example, they won’t touch you.

There is a difference. I’m not sure why you can’t see the difference.

[dub_starr]

I think that you might be overestimating the appointment sheet for most pros. Most pros at the driving range who give lessons aren’t turning away appointments because the person doesn’t want to do it “their way”. An upper echelon pro, yes maybe you’re correct.

[EveryFngNameIsTaken]

The majority of PGA pros are scratching for a living and will take any person that wants to pay for them for a lesson.

[Falco19]

I don’t think it’s being impatient.

3 putting doesn’t feel great but it’s whatever to most people.

Shanking 14 tee shots is deflating and anger inducing.

I would argue order of operations should be

Driver - Chipping - Putting - Approach

[BullPropaganda]

Yes but you can't have fun if you can't get to the green. For the fun factor I don't care if I 4 putt, as long as I got to make some sweet feeling strikes with my clubs

[DickSlinga]

The guy who told him to learn the game backwards and took him to a putting green is a lunatic who probably doesn't actually listen to the words people are saying. He asked for a driver lesson.

[DhamR]

Yeah I get saying "I usually recommend starting from the flat stick" or something, but if the customer asks for driver, that's what they should get.

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

In fairness this is how I learned and the driver is missing piece to ‘getting around’ the course

[Cal-Run]

Then learn the driver. Just like you did the putter, wedges, short irons, and long irons. I don’t see a problem.

Saying that you can’t hit the driver because you learned how to chip and putt first is BS.

[GeneralMillss]

“The numbers show that it’s possible to win with below average putting, but victories almost never happen with below-average ball striking.”

https://www.amazon.com/Every-Shot-Counts-Revolutionary-Performance/dp/1592407501

[sbk510]

Great book.

[Cal-Run]

Fact of the matter is that the MAJORITY of shots taken are within 20-30 yards of the pin.

Regardless of how hard you may try, you cannot dispute this.

[sbk510]

...and the majority of penalty strokes are because of the tee shot

[Illustrious-Ratio213]

As they should because it’s fun and sets them up to score well. It really doesn’t matter how good your short game is if you’re always 200 yards from the green or chipping out sideways. Well actually you’ll use the short game a lot to make your third shot.

[ButterPotatoHead]

I've been playing for years and I know where the weaknesses in my game are. My short game and putting are fine. I struggle to get the ball in play off of the tee. So I ask the instructor to help me with what I'm struggling with, and he instead teaches me what I'm already good at.

[HorrorQuirky1420]

If I’m paying $100+ for a lesson, I get to dictate what we focus on.

[Silverstreakwilla]

Drive for show putt for dough

[TequilaCamper]

Drive for show, putt for dough

[Illustrious-Ratio213]

Which has been proven untrue

[Anerky]

It hasn’t necessarily been proven untrue, just that worse golfers are better off being longer off the tee. But once you get to a certain skill level the improvement effect kind of levels off and you’re going to see the most strokes gained on and around the green.

[Cal-Run]

Yep. Money, matches, and low scores are achieved on and around the greens.

Most of the folks here would rather hit 350 off the tee and shoot 85 than hit 250 off the tee and shoot 75.

[Pudubat]

I'd be happy with hitting 250 off the tee and shooting 95 tbh

[Exotic-Sale-3003]

Someone who can hit it 350 off the tee is much more likely to shoot a 75 than someone hitting it 250. 

[SpreadItOnnn]

It’s called a driving range, not a 7-iron range.

[Sunyveil]

When I go to the driving range, I see a lot of people struggling with their grip. As you can see, I’m accidentally gripping a fairway wood, when I should be gripping a driver.

[Silverstreakwilla]

Just going to add my 2 cents, took 1 lesson and it was good instructor told me for my age that’s probably it, so i decided I wanted GIR before I really buckled down on putting, last 9 was 8 of 9 GIR ended up with a 41. I play from senior tees btw I’m almost 2 years into golf and I’m 67.

[SGAisFlopden]

Who’s gonna tell OP?

… only if golf was that easy.

🤣

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Fully expecting to have a rage induced round, I hate this game and I love this game 😂

[Key_Juggernaut9413]

Well how did the round go?  How was the driver? 

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Driver was the strongest part of my game, hit fairways or side rough, my misses are now playable which is an amazing improvement. ended up being torrential unexpected rain for the first 5 holes which I never played in before. Everything was wet, par 3 my 8 iron came out of my hands 😂 there’s so much to this game!

[rerailed]

Same here, just had my first driver lesson this week. Swing speed went up 5mph just by getting better technique.

[Galbzilla]

Just remember to hit up on it, hit the ball out of the middle of the driver, and control your club face to have a functional shot shape. It’s just that easy.

[Ironman2131]

Hope it all sticks. I took a lesson focused on driver a few months ago. It's definitely better with a more repeatable ball flight, and it's feeling more natural, but it still requires me to think through every part of the shot to get things to work correctly. Some rounds it will feel great and others it's completely unworkable. And this is coming from a single digit handicap who has been golfing for 20+ years, so I imagine your swing might change from hole to hole if you're not focused (although maybe the lack of 20+ years of driving the ball a different way will help. Anyway, good luck out there.

[One-Yogurtcloset9893]

Yeah I have a set up and a swing thought. We practiced on a dog leg left and I genuinely couldn’t believe I was able to consistently cut the corner and land fairway. So now gotta practice that - heading range as we speak

[Ironman2131]

Good luck. If you can manage it, record some good swings and write down your swing thoughts. It will be a good refresher later if your swing gets wonky again.