Take a swing at some lessons

I know, I know, you’ve been thinking about taking a golf lesson or two but are afraid that trying to change your swing might actually make your game go south. It may be illogical reasoning, but when our games are in the tank, and all signs point to a much-needed lesson, the fear of getting worse seems to make perfect sense.

After all, in our mind’s eye, our off-balance, 12-part, misaligned golf swings look absolutely perfect. Why would anyone want to take a lesson and mess with that?

We truly believe that our not hitting the ball well must be an anomaly, attributable to one of the many excuses that pop into our heads before we can shout out a hearty “FORE!!!”

Although we typically eke out a few amazingly (and often surprisingly) great shots in every round we play, our best chance to achieve golf utopia, with consistent ball striking and better scoring, is with the guidance of a qualified instructor.

Not to discourage anyone, but let’s tell it like it is — most golf lessons begin with a rather embarrassing start, what some might describe as “The Big Reveal.” Sure, you get to keep your clothes on, but you’ll feel as exposed as a first-time visitor to a clothing-optional beach. Your teaching pro may ask you to take a few swings, or perhaps go through a series of long and short game challenges, to quickly assess the strengths and weaknesses of your game.

With full disclosure, as a golfer who has recently taken a lesson, my Pro did discover several swing strengths, which swelled my heart with pride. But my weaknesses —- oh, those weaknesses — were laid out in the bright sunlight of the practice range, while my ego was held in check in the darkness of my soul.

In very short order, my nerves were settled as we developed a plan for improvement of my game. Under the watchful eye of the pro, changes were undertaken, in a building-like fashion, beginning with fundamentals like pre-shot routine and setup position to establish a strong foundation and then moving on to tackle some of the game’s finer points.

The path to improvement isn’t always straight — my path took a circuitous route, similar to that of a Carolina Shag dancer intermixing steps, both forwards and backwards, but definitely finishing with lengthy forward strides.

As we all know, golf has many facets to master — long game, short game, specialty shots, putting and of course, the ever-challenging mental game. Ben Hogan is credited as saying “There isn’t enough daylight in any one day to practice all the shots you need.”

That may be fine for Ben Hogan who won 64 PGA tournaments, including 9 majors, and is considered one of the best ball strikers of all time. However, for those of us with goals ranging from getting the ball airborne to winning our club championship, we are very fortunate that outstanding teaching pros are available to provide quality golf instruction and offer the following suggestions to prospective students:

• Establish realistic goals and expectations - golf is a hard game.
• Be willing to accept change.
• Stay positive throughout the process.
• Your instructor wants to see you succeed - put the work in, commit to practice after each lesson.
• Be patient as swing changes are introduced - changing muscle memory requires repetition.
• Most importantly, have fun — enjoy the ride to better golf.

Rich Bernstein is a resident of Sun City - Hilton Head. Rich has been experiencing the joy, challenges and frustrations of golf since his selection as the 6th player on his 5-player high school golf team.