Cutting, fattening, and even the occasional leg! You just aren’t playing golf to your full ability, even though you know you can. So, it’s time to schedule a lesson. In 30 to 60 minutes, all your playing wishes will come true.

You will walk into that training bay as a normal person and leave as a golfing rock star. This evening, Matthew I’ll be (put the name of your favorite player here). The simple truth is that no amount of smoke, mirrors, or even ITV’s makeup and wig department will be able to change your swing and game that fast. 

So, dear reader, as a PGA pro with years of teaching experience, my gift to you is to help you set realistic goals for what you can get out of lessons and some reasons why you might not be making the most of your valuable lesson time.

1. You’re looking for a quick fix

If you’re not taking golf classes at Hogwarts, don’t think that a pro will be able to fix your problem quickly with magic. Yes, making small changes to your stance and ball position can help you hit the ball better, but if you have a fundamental flaw in your swing, it will take a lot of practice on and off the ball to make and keep the changes that are suggested.

2. It’s Me, Not You…

Good news: maybe it’s not all your fault! You might not be able to get along with your pro. Even though all PGA pros go through the same training, our teaching styles and views are very different when it comes to giving lessons. If you don’t get along with a pro, you’ll make a lot less progress.

Find a pro who listens to your goals and works in a way that feels right to you. That way, even the hardest lessons will feel manageable, and you’ll form a true relationship that will keep you motivated and on track.

3. Don’t do the work back to you

You learn your lesson and leave feeling refreshed and ready to put the changes you were told to make into action, but then… life gets in the way. It seems that going to work to make money for food and a place to live is more important than putting in the time to finally get rid of those shoulders starting the downswing sequence.

It’s irritating because you know that if you had more time, you could make a lot of progress, but that’s just how life is. The key is to accept that success might take longer because of other things that are more important. On the bright side, it’s good to remember that golf practice doesn’t have to be hours of hitting balls. It can be as simple as spending five minutes here and there in the garden practicing swing moves. Even if it seems slow, progress is still progress.

4. You know a lot about YouTube

So, the pro you paid good money to see may have thousands of real-world teaching hours under their belt, but you’ve spent hundreds of hours watching the best golf videos on YouTube. Doesn’t that make you a sort of expert? No, unfortunately, because watching doesn’t mean doing.

You may have some good ideas about what you’re doing wrong or what you need to work on, but just like you need a mirror to brush your hair, you need a professional to show you how to make changes that are right for you. Talk about what you’ve liked to watch and how you think it could be useful, but make sure to leave enough time for the professional you’ve paid for to give you advice.

5. You don’t have goals or a purpose

Peter Drucker said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” This saying is usually used in business, but it applies just as well to golf. If you start a lesson without knowing what you want to learn or how you want to spend your time, you are losing your time.

The more you can tell about your sporting past, where you are now, and what you want to do, the better. Setting goals doesn’t have to be about winning the next club championship or making your drive 20 yards longer. It could be as easy as wanting to know why a good pre-shot routine is important or how to practice putting well. It’s much better to set small, detailed goals that help you get closer to a bigger goal.

6. You’re too used to things

You took a lesson, and the pro made the crazy idea that you change your grip just a little bit. It feels awful and gross, and you don’t want to do it, so you’ll just keep doing it the way you’ve always done it, thank you very much. Grip change is one of the hardest kinds of change. Change goes against our nature as humans, but if you want to get better, you have to accept the pain. True growth comes from trying things that are just a little bit outside of our present abilities.

7. All I need to work on is…

I’m going to cut you off right there because no one in the history of the sport has ever only needed to work on one area. This game never stops, which is both a blessing and a curse. You never stop working on any of it and trying to get better at it. It’s easy to think, “I don’t three-putt too often, so I don’t need to work on that anymore.” But you do, to keep going!

It can be overwhelming to know that you need to keep working on everything, but a good pro who cares about your growth will help you figure out where you are now in each area and how you can move the needle to make sure you keep getting better.

Do you do any of these things? If you do, this could be a sign that you need to change. Now that you know some of the most common mistakes people make when they’re thinking about taking golf lessons, you’ll be able to accept your current level of skill, explain where you want to go with your golf, and find a pro who works well with the way you learn. Who knows, your golf lessons might even turn out to be fun, which is how they should be.