Do you struggle to beat your handicap every Saturday? Can’t remember the last time you enjoyed a round? Don’t have much money to go and see a local golf professional for lessons? If any of these sound like you then there’s a good chance you could really benefit from some golf lessons on line.
Golf instruction has really changed from the days of getting face to face lessons from your local pro.
Whilst these are still applicable and sometimes more effective, cost and location can make them less attractive meaning accessibility is a problem to find and see the best coaches.
Getting golf lessons online can be super effective and is available to you at just a fraction of the cost of a face to face lesson from your local PGA professional.
WHY ONLINE GOLF LESSONS ARE RIGHT FOR YOU?
Golf instruction has come a long way from the days of ringing up your local pro and scheduling in an hour long lesson to try and sort out your swing issues. Now with the help of some simple technology that’s probably sitting in your pocket right now, you could be seeing real improvement in your golf swing that you haven’t seen in years.
You see, more and more golf teachers are jumping on the on line golf lesson explosion.
Why?
It’s simple and easy.
Golfers, upload their swings to a site.
The professional reviews the swing. Uploads a voice-over with recommendations and emails back to the golfer.
The whole process can be done in as little as 24 hours and you can get access to some of the world’s best golf coaches regardless of where you live.
Just think, if you have a game tomorrow you could have the answers to fix your golf slice just in time for your 8:00am tee time!
HOW DOES THE PROCESS OF GETTING MY SWING REVIEW WORK?
First thing first, you need to get a video of your golf swing from 2 x different angles. Relax, if this sounds complex it’s easier than you think and I’ll cover this in the next section. You need to find a reputable golf instructor that will review your swing and give you the best advice leading to maximum improvement.
You’ll then need to submit your swing to the site following the online prompts.
Most sites make this process nice and easy and usually only takes a few clicks.
You should get asked to provide some information on ‘what you’re struggling with in your game’ and your typical bad shots and what you’re trying to improve on.
After that, it’s just submit and the videos are on their way.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The golf instructor should have some decent software that will review your swing in slow motion so he / she can identify what’s going wrong and right. They should look at your golf swing from two different angles which are 'down the line' and 'face on' (more covered on these below). They’ll send you a video of your golf swing doing a voice-over discussing your swing, the good and the bad and what needs to be fixed.
They’ll identify fixes and what you need to do to fix a certain type of shot you’re hitting.
They will probably draw lines on key spots on your swing such as plane lines, tush lines and neutral joint alignment.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand these lines, I’ll explain later.
They may even compare your golf swing on screen to a golf professional’s.
This is great to see key differences on what you might be doing wrong and give you a better insight on what needs to be changed in your swing.
HOW DO I BEST FILM MY SWING TO GET REVIEWED?
It’s important that you film your golf swing the right way to get the best review from your instructor when getting golf lessons online. And there are two key positions you need to film of your golf swing.
The good news is these can be done on a mobile / cell phone or basically any other camera.
They should be short and sweet and each no longer than 20 seconds.
The two key positions are down the line and face on.
Down the line is the view from behind your golf swing facing ‘down the line’ towards the target.
SEE PICTURE BELOW:
This view is best to demonstrate whether your swing is on plane, your takeaway is right and highlights issues such as coming over the top and early extension.
See the lines in the image below that highlight a couple of these key positions.
The other swing view is face on.
Face on is where the camera is facing directly at your face so it is looking at the side on view of your golf swing (see image further down page).
This view is best to demonstrate if you are losing lag, shifting weight correctly and getting into the right position at impact.
WHAT DO ALL THE LINES ON MY SWING MEAN AND HOW DO THEY HELP?
With all these lines used in golf instruction it’s easy to get confused. However, once you understand them and their purpose they’re relatively simple. The lines are used to identify key positions your body is in during the golf swing.
Have a look at the image above.
In the down the line view the key positions are the line against our backside and the plane line. There are a few others I could throw in there but these are the most common.
What they mean:
The line marks at address up against your backside. This line is all about maintaining good posture.
A good swing will see the golfer maintain the position of the butt against the line throughout the golf swing.
A poor golf swing will see the golfer pull their butt away from the line especially in the downswing.
The plane line is set from the set up position through the hands and through the elbow to the back of the body.
The correct golf swing plane will show the club-head trace along this line throughout the golf swing.
A poor golf swing will see the golfers club-head move away from the plane line at different stages of the swing.
FACE ON KEY POSITIONS
Face on shows key positions such as the head position at impact, neutral joint alignment and lag. At impact in a good golf swing set up the golf ball should be positioned in front of the left ear. In other words the golfer should be set up behind the ball.
Neutral joint alignment marks a line that runs through the lead ankle (left ankle for right hander), through the hips and finally through the left or lead shoulder.
A good golf swing will show this line piercing right through the middle of these areas at impact.
A poor golf swing will typically show the lead shoulder behind the line as they lean back in an effort to lift or ‘scoop’ the golf ball into the air.
The finally piece that a good instructor should go over is lag or lack there of for most golfers.
The lag angle is the angle between the left arm and the shaft of the club especially in the downswing.
In a good golf swing a golfer is able to maintain this lag longer and typically can get their hands to the rear thigh with the shaft of the club still parallel to the ground.
However in a poor golf swing this angle is not maintained and usually when the hands reach the rear thigh the shaft of the club has straightened and is sometimes in line with the arms.
Understanding these lines and lingo on your reviews will better prepare you to make the necessary changes your instructor advises to ensure you can achieve the best results from your golf lesson online.
Scott Currie-Golf offers On-Line Golf Lessons.Take a look while on my site.