Before Buying Golf Lessons

If you are planning on taking golf lessons to improve your game, you may already be prepared for the expenses that may be involved. However, before you hire a professional instructor, you have to make sure that you are going to get the best for the money you are going to pay and the time and efforts you are going to put in. Here are some key points that you should consider before buying golf lessons.

1.    Golf lessons can be expensive. If they help you improve your game and enjoy it more, they are worth it. However, some are more heavily priced than others and you should understand why the differences in cost arise. Typically, the more expensive instructors are those that have more qualifications, more experience and are associated with fancier golf facilities. That however says nothing about their teaching styles. A less expensive professional may have a better and more effective way of teaching you. Set a budget for yourself and try to short-list those professionals whose services you will be able to afford.
2.    Just because you are taking golf lessons does not mean that your game will show dramatic improvement after just one or two sessions. Golf is a game where you get better with practice. Once your instructor shows you a way of improving your methods, make sure you take the time to practice it by yourself. Only then will you be able to derive maximum benefit from each session.
3.    While golf schools or academies are excellent ways of beginning golf or of improving one’s game, they always have the drawback of having to deal with a number of students. This means the instructor is not able to give too much one-on-one time for every student and is not able to assist each one to any length of time, to help improve his or her game. The alternative to joining a school is to go in for private lessons, in which a professional instructor will be able to devote all the time in the session helping you improve your game. However, private lessons can be enormously expensive and take many months to complete.
4.    Speak to other golfers to see if anyone has taken golf lessons from a particular school or instructor. See what their experience has been and if they can recommend some names to you.
5.    Once you have a short-list of candidates, you can go and speak to each one of them about their teaching methods. Do they use computer programs as teaching aids or instructional videos? How much of on-course training do they do? Do they charge extra for access to practice ranges? Clarify all your concerns in these meetings.
6.    Once you have all this information, you are ready to make your choice of instructor. It is very important that you get along well with your instructor and hence choose one with a personality that matches yours. Both of you have to be clear about the goals that are to be achieved in the sessions together, and show a commitment that matches those goals.