Just got back into the game after a long layoff. When I played regularly, I was about ~20 handicapper - which was frustrating b/c I'd shoot a 42 on the front, and then 54 on the back b/c of a 3-hole collapse in the middle. Or visa-versa. Could never string together 18 good holes but overall played well.
Started playing again last month. Slicing all the big irons and woods. Even the small irons were pushed and sometimes sliced. No power or distance.
Took my first lesson at the local Golf Smith (included video analysis and he e-mailed me links to DL the video's which included his commentary and graphics he showed me while teaching) yesterday.
First: My stance was off. My legs were too stiff and my back was bent.
Second: Fixed my grip. I was not holding the club with my fingers but in the palm of my hand limiting my wrist flexibility. This also caused my left elbow to bend A LOT on the back swing.
Third: Take-away was way to far inside b/c I was using my arms/hands to pull the club back instead of my shoulders to start.
Fourth: Start downswing with the hips.
By the end of the lesson, I was striking the ball a lot better than at the beggining. That and it was going straight and not right all the time.
Now you tell me if I could have diagnosed all those faults on my own in 45-minutes?
I have 4-more lessons with the guy and I'm really looking forward to them. My swing sounds terrible from what I wrote above, but it was really not that bad. Just a lot of small issues that were compounding my play.
EDIT: To add to what Bagger said, My lesson was for 30-minutes. He said it would take a bit longer while we set everything up, discussed my concerns/thoughs, goals, etc.
It started at 5:25 and I left Golf Smith at 6:30. The guy spent some extra time with me beyond what I paid for. My dad has also taken lessons from him so a relationship was already started.
[This message has been edited by agracer (edited 4/16/2014 12:54p).]