Struggling with coach and just overall swing frustration

[Boise59]

Can you post a caddie view video of your swing ?

[ahelix]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:51 PM, ahelix said:

After directly messaging some of you, I tried out Monte's No Turn Cast and it was a total gamechanger! 

 

That fact alone is strongly in favor of those of you above who said to try out a different coach (no excuse because of the great online options). I was reluctant to change because I thought I'd been going to the best guy locally, and who knows, maybe he is... but holy crap he's nowhere near as good as someone like Monte (and probably many of the others who are recommended on these forums).

 

Sadly the magic of Monte's NTC didn't last unfortunately...

 

However, I had another lesson with same coach and we finally decided to try a midsize grip instead of standard (because I kept squeezing the club shut with strong grip pressure--and I just couldn't ease up on that). That definitely seems to have been a gamechanger in the right direction! No longer hitting wild duck hooks OB. Working great with driver already, too which is great because I kept struggling with OB off the tee before.

[North Butte]

FWIW...

 

In the first six months or so after I took up the game I'd probably had about the same total amount of practice as you have in your golf life so far, a similar amount of lesson time and about 10x as much playing golf.

 

I had not broken 100 by that point. So if you got an honest handicap under 20 with basically never having played full (18 hole) rounds of golf on any kind of regular basis you obviously have a knack for it. A bit of not being so hard on yourself is in order, perhaps. 

[mikpga]

Congratulations getting your handicap down to 14ish in 4 years!  You’re under bogey golf!  
 

What are your scoring goals?  Or do your ball flight goals trump your scoring goals?

 

You’ve made some nice gains teaming up with a coach, you can always see how things progress over a two year span without one?  
 

 

[DaveMc82]

My 10 cents. 
 

Not every coach can communicate effectively with YOU. They may be a great instructor for others but they might not have the right skill set to compliment your learning style. 
 

I nearly quit the game thanks to the most highly rated instructor within a good 100 miles of me. What I realised was that I was being made to feel that his inability to communicate with me was somehow my fault. 
 

The block release is one of my recurrent issues and it is extremely hard to kick out of your game. When a coach doesn’t get what it’s like to suffer with it, they struggle to communicate past ‘just release the club, it’s simple’. The only way I’ve got to where I’m at is with my current coach who gets you away from hitting golf shots. He tricks me into ingraining subconscious release patterns via exercises and drills that remove target based anxiety. 
 

I wish you all the best in getting towards enjoying golf as that’s what it’s supposed to be. The implied judgement from others around technique and results can unfortunately ruin this when you hit hurdles like this. 

[naval2006]

I believe a coach must teach a golfer the proper technique but the player also needs to get their own independence to learn how to play.  There are things like swinging through the ball easy and fast that has to be achieved on your own, same with the necessary instinct to play, being aware of the elements sorrounding you, dealing with pressure and anger. 

 

When a player gets too fixated with technique they can't perform.  And sometimes teachers don't know how to move on, especially when there's an issue hanging over and over.  This is a time to revise the relationship and reset priorities or look for someone else. 

[crucible]

2 hours ago, DaveMc82 said:

My 10 cents. 
 

Not every coach can communicate effectively with YOU. They may be a great instructor for others but they might not have the right skill set to compliment your learning style. 
 

I nearly quit the game thanks to the most highly rated instructor within a good 100 miles of me. What I realised was that I was being made to feel that his inability to communicate with me was somehow my fault. 
 

The block release is one of my recurrent issues and it is extremely hard to kick out of your game. When a coach doesn’t get what it’s like to suffer with it, they struggle to communicate past ‘just release the club, it’s simple’. The only way I’ve got to where I’m at is with my current coach who gets you away from hitting golf shots. He tricks me into ingraining subconscious release patterns via exercises and drills that remove target based anxiety. 
 

I wish you all the best in getting towards enjoying golf as that’s what it’s supposed to be. The implied judgement from others around technique and results can unfortunately ruin this when you hit hurdles like this. 

I too went through what you described in your first paragraph.  Over a period of six months my game deteriorated so dramatically and emotionally that the only recourse was to divorce myself from playing with my friends. And before someone writes that I didn't give it enough time or effort....wrong. I don't have any advice other than to keep searching and don't accept anyone telling you that this is an absolute in the golf swing.  

[Double Mocha Man]

6 minutes ago, crucible said:

I too went through what you described in your first paragraph.  Over a period of six months my game deteriorated so dramatically and emotionally that the only recourse was to divorce myself from playing with my friends. And before someone writes that I didn't give it enough time or effort....wrong. I don't have any advice other than to keep searching and don't accept anyone telling you that this is an absolute in the golf swing.  

Some questions to ask yourself:  Did you tinker with your swing over those 6 months... is it possible to go back to your baseline?  Did you suffer some injury that affected your swing?  Did you experience a life event or medical event that might have caused a change in your swing?  Has your mental state of mind changed?  Did you accept and implement too many tips from your friends?

[crucible]

30 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Some questions to ask yourself:  Did you tinker with your swing over those 6 months... is it possible to go back to your baseline?  Did you suffer some injury that affected your swing?  Did you experience a life event or medical event that might have caused a change in your swing?  Has your mental state of mind changed?  Did you accept and implement too many tips from your friends?

I was taking lesson from a well regarded instructor that I liked. I felt that the lessons were rushed at times and that questions were at first well received.  Later on there was no visible progress and ball striking just sucked. No, I accepted the bad results as a rite of passage that went on for months and I tried to follow his lead no matter how bad that it felt.  One day at another range I asked and older instructor actually of my age if he could take a look.  He said "I don't know where you got this swing and I don't want to know who influenced you but no one can play from there". In 15 min. he had me hitting the ball great once again.  I had wasted an entire summer not to mention a goodly amount of money.

[Double Mocha Man]

12 minutes ago, crucible said:

He said "I don't know where you got this swing and I don't want to know who influenced you but no one can play from there". In 15 min. he had me hitting the ball great once again.  I had wasted an entire summer not to mention a goodly amount of money.

 

😄😄😄

[Santiago Golf]

On 9/28/2022 at 1:56 PM, ahelix said:

I could prob get that up to 18 once a week at the very best.

 

I find it hard to believe someone can’t get to a 10 HCP with good lessons and smart practice while playing no more than 18 once a week. At least that’s what I’m banking on!

 

The issue is you started playing the game later in life ... didn't grow up playing golf

 

You could play 9 holes a week and keep a single diget handicap ... but most of those players have the skills be around scratch they just don't play a ton or practice, so its not possible

 

I absolutely love pickelball and I grew up playing racquet sports but I only pickelball about 4 times a year 

 

It usually takes 3 or 4 games to get into a swing of things before I'm even close to winning a game

Same idea ... its tough to get average 

[chisag]

3 hours ago, DaveMc82 said:

Not every coach can communicate effectively with YOU. They may be a great instructor for others but they might not have the right skill set to compliment your learning style. 
 

I nearly quit the game thanks to the most highly rated instructor within a good 100 miles of me. What I realised was that I was being made to feel that his inability to communicate with me was somehow my fault. 

 

 

... First thing a good instructor needs to do is communicate effectively. The amount of times I had a student say to me after a successful thought/move "why didn't you say that from the beginning?" to which I replied "I did. 10 different way. It just took the 11th different interpretation for it to click with you". My focus was on helping my students do what they were already doing ... just better. As much as many say they are willing to do a full swing change with practice and drills, they weren't. Considering it took Tiger a full year to implement a permanent change under the eye of a coach, it is a rare player that can do it on their own with some coaching.  I am not talking about real swing flaws that do need to be addressed, just idiosyncrasies that are hard to change. Lets say someone had an over the top move that resulted in a weak 10-20 slice, my goal was to turn that into a less over the top 5 yd power fade. 

... Some students are capable of a complete swing change, but they were rare in my experience. I did teach mostly high/mid index players so that is a factor. The few low index players I taught usually needed small tweaks and certainly not a swing overhaul. But I think the bottom line is hitting the ball solidly with a relatively consistent swing. If you can do that more often than not, I would not "change" anything, just get better at what you are already doing. 

[DaveMc82]

22 minutes ago, crucible said:

I was taking lesson from a well regarded instructor that I liked. I felt that the lessons were rushed at times and that questions were at first well received.  Later on there was no visible progress and ball striking just sucked. No, I accepted the bad results as a rite of passage that went on for months and I tried to follow his lead no matter how bad that it felt.  One day at another range I asked and older instructor actually of my age if he could take a look.  He said "I don't know where you got this swing and I don't want to know who influenced you but no one can play from there". In 15 min. he had me hitting the ball great once again.  I had wasted an entire summer not to mention a goodly amount of money.

Sometimes I think the biggest problem with golf coaches is that they start off aspiring to be professional players and then begrudgingly have to accept that they’ll have to settle for being a professional coach.
 

The nuance of instruction and communication is lost on them as their heart is not in it. I’ve seen resentment of people who are ‘too stupid’ to understand what they’re being taught. Yet put them in the hands of the right coach and their technique/game takes off like they’re a different person. 

[DArnie]

16 hours ago, ahelix said:

 

Sadly the magic of Monte's NTC didn't last unfortunately...

 

However, I had another lesson with same coach and we finally decided to try a midsize grip instead of standard (because I kept squeezing the club shut with strong grip pressure--and I just couldn't ease up on that). That definitely seems to have been a gamechanger in the right direction! No longer hitting wild duck hooks OB. Working great with driver already, too which is great because I kept struggling with OB off the tee before.

Buy this! I am a teacher and this is the BEST aid I have ever found. Work on it yourself and your ball striking will improve. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/EyeLine-Golf-Speed-Trap-2-0/dp/B07M5B3KNS/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=dIDXd&content-id=amzn1.sym.8cf3b8ef-6a74-45dc-9f0d-6409eb523603&pf_rd_p=8cf3b8ef-6a74-45dc-9f0d-6409eb523603&pf_rd_r=X43KP543V7JZASHTXSS8&pd_rd_wg=nwWE5&pd_rd_r=f3418307-e0d5-441e-aacf-74f53424e0db&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mi

[me05501]

Learning a new skill is harder as an adult, especially if it involves unlearning old ones at the same time. It takes understanding, feeling, repetition, trial and error and a patient mind. 

 

It can also take a while for good coaching to sink in. Lately I've been tweaking my swing and a lot of the feels that are working best relate to things my last teaching pro emphasized. It just had to sink in I guess. 

[ahelix]

On 10/4/2022 at 4:26 PM, ggpro said:

Can you post a caddie view video of your swing ?

 

Here you go: 

 

[ahelix]

On 11/9/2022 at 9:43 AM, chisag said:

 

 

... First thing a good instructor needs to do is communicate effectively. The amount of times I had a student say to me after a successful thought/move "why didn't you say that from the beginning?" to which I replied "I did. 10 different way. It just took the 11th different interpretation for it to click with you". My focus was on helping my students do what they were already doing ... just better. As much as many say they are willing to do a full swing change with practice and drills, they weren't. Considering it took Tiger a full year to implement a permanent change under the eye of a coach, it is a rare player that can do it on their own with some coaching.  I am not talking about real swing flaws that do need to be addressed, just idiosyncrasies that are hard to change. Lets say someone had an over the top move that resulted in a weak 10-20 slice, my goal was to turn that into a less over the top 5 yd power fade. 

... Some students are capable of a complete swing change, but they were rare in my experience. I did teach mostly high/mid index players so that is a factor. The few low index players I taught usually needed small tweaks and certainly not a swing overhaul. But I think the bottom line is hitting the ball solidly with a relatively consistent swing. If you can do that more often than not, I would not "change" anything, just get better at what you are already doing. 

 

I got my first online lesson, and I think it's WAY better than my in-person coach. There are obviously pros and cons to online vs in-person, but if my in-person coach isn't helping me get better, then it's time to change it up!

 

I liked that the online coach identified ONE problem that will be relatively easy to fix and get me the most gains, and he gave me a clear drill to do that will let me know for sure whether I've fixed the problem or not.

 

If you're curious, it's basically this drill below:

 

 

[RoyalTroon]

Any professional not first telling you to come back when you're wearing better traction footwear is wasting your time while padding their bank account.