Having read lots of books and golf instructions that I found in various Internet pages, you might think that I would not need any lessons. Think again. I have just come back from a lesson with my favorite pro, and am stunned by the feeling that no one had told me earlier what he told me today. I had to look it up in my favorite "learn how to play golf", and as a matter of fact the hints he gave me were there. Somehow I had missed them.

I want to get ready for a tournament that I shall participate in, and have decided to take lessons. Actually I have not been doing too bad lately, but although I felt that my shots were almost straight, I did not think they were long enough. Now, a couple of weeks of practice later, I have a lot of other problems. The shots are long, but it turned out that I had been doing all the wrong things. My pro is showing me how I can turn both in the backswing and the foreswing. The length is there, but so are also the slices and hooks. One thing at a time. I am focusing on single things that he is telling me, I am straining my muscles, the body is turning and now and then the shots are both long and straight.

While I thought that I mostly had problems with the long irons (and woods), after some time trying to hit the ball a long distance I find that a round on the golf course tells me that I somehow have forgotten the short play and have no idea how to get out of a bunker. Back to the driving range and the pitching green for more practice. Maybe one day my body will remember it all and be able to keep what I already knew even though I am training something else.

I heard someone say in the clubhouse that you should have a lesson with your pro for every X hour on the golf course. I cannot remember what X was, but it was not too big number. I guess it is up to each of us to decide when it is time to correct all the mistakes that we pick up on our own.