Instruction Review: 6 Week Golf Lesson

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When I was contacted by the folks at 6 Week Golf Lesson, I was intrigued by the idea.  The 6 Week Golf Lesson is a series of online golf lessons, designed to introduce players to proper swing fundamentals.  The internet is full of instruction.  There are tips hiding around every corner, like here, for instance.  There are tons of people selling swings, via DVD or other means.  But there aren’t many places that give beginners a cohesive, planned, simple introduction to the golf swing.

According to the website:

The 6 Week Golf Lesson provides a series of simple instructions that will help you to build up a solid golf swing with the correct fundamentals. The 6 Week Golf Lesson has been developed over the last 14 years with the aim of helping anyone who is keen on improving their swing or taking up golf for the first time.

All it requires for 5 – 10 minutes practice a day, following a simple tutorial each week for 6 weeks. Once you have completed the 6 Week Golf Lesson you will be aware of what you should be doing, and be in a position to help yourself.

The 6 Week Golf Lesson was created by a number of experts, including Michael Bannon, swing coach to young phenom Rory McIlroy.

The online lessons are presented as a series of steps using a 3-D animated golfer that demonstrates proper technique, accompanied by a voice narrator.  Each week builds a piece of swing foundation and the player is expected to practice for about ten minutes per day throughout the six weeks.

The Good

• The lessons are clear and concise.  There is nothing difficult to follow and the 3-D animations do a great job of showing a player what certain things mean, instead of letting him try to figure it out on his own.
• The 3-D animated golfer gives more detail than a series of still photos because the camera angle rotates around the player to show things in motion from multiple angles.
• I like the fact that the 6 Week Golf Lesson doesn’t have players going to the golf course, or even to the driving range during the six weeks.  Advanced players will realize that sometimes the best drills don’t involve a ball, and I believe the same holds true for trying to grasp the very basic fundamentals.  Gripping and swinging the club is made easier for the beginner without the pressure of having to hit a ball.  They’ll learn to just make the motion without worrying about the hit.
• The lessons are relatively brief to watch.  I went through the program myself and each one takes only a few minutes time to watch and digest.
• Completed lessons can be revisited easily at any time.
• The information in the lessons is very basic.  I almost put this in “The Bad” section, but I think it’s actually a plus.  It makes it less confusing and easier to learn, especially for a beginner.

The Bad

• The 6 Week Golf Lesson claims that it can even help experienced golfers.  While this certainly may be true, I would personally not recommend it to an experienced golfer, except maybe for a very high handicapper.  By the time a player has become experienced, he or she has ingrained a certain set of swing habits, good or bad.  Because players often don’t actually realize what they do during the swing, that’s where the one-on-one help that a pro gives becomes more valuable.  A very high handicapper who might not know the proper fundamentals who is willing to tear down his poor swing and rebuild it properly would probably get some benefit from the program.
• The program is a very good introduction to the basic golf swing, but not to the game.  There currently is no information about the short game, the rules, or etiquette.  From that perspective, while the 6 Week Golf Lesson has a place, it is simply an introduction to the swing, and in that sense, a starting point into the game.  After the six weeks (or however long it takes to absorb the material), the beginner will have pretty much outgrown it and will have to seek other means to continue advancing.

Conclusion

I spend a lot of time at the driving range.  It seems like there is a constant stream of well-meaning boyfriends, husbands, fathers, brothers, and friends willing to “teach” new players how to hit a golf ball.  I often cringe at the advice being given and especially at the way it is given.  The golf swing can be stated in very complex terms, and these guys like to stick right to that idea.

Despite my two criticisms, I think the 6 Week Golf Lesson solves that problem for the beginning golfer.  The instruction is very easy to understand and the practice required in between the lessons is minimal and easy to accomplish.

At the end of the six weeks, a new player is not going to go out and shoot in the 70′s.  But what he or she will have is a basic set of fundamentals beginning to be ingrained into muscle memory.  When a player begins to hit balls and to actually play rounds, he will have the building blocks to become a good player over time, whereas the new players I see at the range are virtually doomed to permanent frustration and may not even stick with the game.

The 6 Week Golf Lesson costs £29.00 (which at the time of this writing is about $43).  Given the comparable cost of 6 lessons with a pro, it’s a bargain.  This isn’t to say that lessons with a pro won’t be beneficial, especially down the road, but if money is tight, this is a more economical way for a new player to get off the ground.

I recommend the 6 Week Golf Lesson for beginners of any age.  I also recommend it for very high handicappers who may not have been playing for long but who are willing to sit down and follow the program to start learning proper fundamentals.  Experienced players will probably want to skip the 6 Week Golf Lesson, in favor of working with a pro one-on-one.

You can get more information about the 6 Week Golf Lesson here.