Should a golfer get help and have lessons?

There are many points to consider when answering this question. Firstly we should look at the positives of having lessons. If you decide that lessons are for you the first thing to do is find a person to provide them. Ideally this should be a golf professional. If you were to go to your local golf course there is often a registered PGA professional who is based there. It is then a simple case of arranging a time and a place for the lessons to begin.Lessons that are provided by a professional will in most cases be of a high quality nature in terms of the tuition provided. The lessons will be of a concentrated nature and very specific. The reason most people visit a professional for lessons is of course to help them improve their golf game or to be taught how to swing the club in order to play golf. A professional can help with a players swing, their stance or their putting. For someone who has been playing golf for lets say a number of years their visit to a professional will usually be because they want to improve their current ability or because they have got into bad habits and require guidance in order to return to their previous standard of play. For a beginner golf lessons will be extremely helpful. They have not developed bad habits and so in a sense they are a blank canvas. Throughout a series of lessons a professional will be able to build their swing and ensure that things like their grip, stance and posture are correct. In a way you could look at this as installing a set of "good habits" that are repeatable when playing on the course. Of course there are negative factors in having golf lessons. The most obvious is the cost. A local course professional will charge for their time and facilities. In England a one hour lesson can be between £20 and £40 depending on the professionals ability and experience. You would expect a pro who has played on the Professional golf tour before to charge more than say a golfer who has no handicap but little experience of tournament golf. If you need to have a series of lessons which is usually the case then as you can imagine the cost will total several hundred pounds possibly even more. There is then the time aspect to consider. A couple of hours a week is not much time to have to give up in order to attend lessons but then it is quite possible that you will be told to practice certain drills and routines outside of the lesson in order to reinforce what you have been taught. In this instance it may well be a case of if you want to improve or learn the game then you must make an effort. Some people argue that by going for the option of golf lessons then there is a possibility that any natural talent for the game of golf in beginners will be surpressed by the regimented almost robotic swing taught by a golf professional. This is however very difficult to quantify and at the end of the day who is best to teach you how to do something than an expert in that field. There are decent arguments for both sides to the question posed and numerous factors to take into consideration. What is not debated is that if a golfer does decide to seek help and receive training then this should be done through a golf professional if they want to see a real improvement in their game. If an individual decides that they cannot take this option due to the cost then help and advice from other golfers and other hints and tips from various sources may be the manner in which they find improvement in their game but this route does not provide any guarantees.