Man I am going to be worthless this week

Vegas Golf School

Color me very jealous.

70 hours left

Is that you in the pink shorts or are you the one that looks like Dennis Franchione?

Wish I could do that!

3 hours of actual work left

23 hours!

I must convince my wife I need this for my birthday next year!

We are in the middle of day 3, I'll recap the week upon my return but it is awesome

Can't wait to hear about this. I have a 30th birthday coming up soon, so I'm trying to find out what big gift I should shoot for.

I looked into this more today after clicking the link you provided; I am definitely doing this! Can't wait to read the write-up as well.

tell us about it now

Just returned from the 5-day PGA Golf Experience, and we loved it. The only thing I would change would be to take a shorter class. The 3-day or perhaps even 4 day would have been better. By day 4 of the class you are pretty burned out on golf after approximately 10 hours a day of striking golf balls. Not to mention pretty sore.

Each day we would report to the range around 8:30 and strike a few balls and work on things we had discussed the day before while waiting for the Pro to arrive. Then we would have 4 or 5 "lessons" each lasting about an hour or an hour and a half each. These lessons were impact drills, full swing, putting, green side bunkers, fairway bunkers, putting, chipping, and various other shots in golf.

They recorded our swings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to show our changes throughout the week and emailed the video files to us so we could reference them whenever we needed them.

Our class consisted of 3 guys, my friend, myself and another guy who was only there for 3 days. We had one pro for all of us and had a lot of one-on-one time with him. Thursday and Friday it was just my buddy and I with the pro and had even more individual time with him.

Each day around 3 or 3:30 they would talk to the starter and get us on the course for a round of golf. The Pro joined us on two of our rounds in order to give us some on course instruction would we loved. Told us how to walk-through a shot and which shot would be best in each situation.

We were given a PGA Tour manual, which list everything we were taught in order to look back if we forget some things. We also took pictures of any specific training aides Alex set up for us so we could recreate them on the range back in Texas. I already have used a lot of what we did in Vegas back on the range yesterday.

I think this gave us the tools to get better in the long run if you follow the things they tell you.

I would recommend this to someone who loves golf and has the drive to get better. The 5 day course is a lot of work (especially when you are staying out on the Vegas Strip until 3am) so if someone just wants a quick lesson, perhaps the 3 day would be best so not to burn them out.

Let me know if you want any other information.

Thanks,
E

Sweet.... So each afternoon you get to play one round that's already paid for? Was it at the same course every day? How was the course?

Also what is your handicap prior to going? And did you notice any improvement just from the instruction? Was there immediate improvement with how you played on the course?

[This message has been edited by watty (edited 5/18/2009 9:29a).]

Yes, you always play TPC Las Vegas (Canyons) and it is included in the price of the package. The course is in great shape a challenging. If you are not in the short grass or first cut of rough in are in the desert. A few holes have canyons running along the hole and it is about a 50ft drop so there is no getting your ball back.

I am a high single digit 8.6 index, and I think most people will get worse before getting better. You have a few swing thoughts in your head while playing. I hit a few shots thin as I was trying to put what I learned into my swing. Once I finally get it down, I will have a more consistent, repeatable swing, which is why I went.

Would it be good for a 30 handicap?

I am sure it would be. They will identify what you are doing wrong and tell you how to fix it. We talked to the pro a lot and he said they have women come who have never swung a club before. For us, we were a bit "advanced" so he sharded more specific drills to work on one area, i.e downturn for me and impact for my buddy.

I am sure they will get you on plane and in better position to hit the ball.

here was our insructor

quote:

---

Our Head Instructor: Alex Fisher

Alex Fisher is the Head Instructor for the Tour Academy at the TPC Las Vegas. Since graduating from Lincoln University, England in 2001 with a Professional Golf Management Degree, Alex pursued his passion for teaching the game beginning in Naples, Florida and includes stops in Arizona, and now
in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alex has also traveled to Mexico, Hawaii, New York, and Washington DC to teach the game of golf.

Alex, is originally from Nottingham, England where he had a successful playing career. He captained his golf team in Regional and National Events during High School and played Mini Tour events in Great Britain as well as played in Europe. His faviorte golf course is in Athens, Greece.

Over the years Alex has worked along side and learned from nationally recognized instructors including Ji Kim and Donald Crawley.

In 2007, Alex became a full member of the PGA and has a donated a lot of time to giving back the game. Alex is very passionate about developing the new generation of golfers through the programs that he oversees at the Tour Academy in Las Vegas.

---

It looks like I might be going to this in October. Thanks for the info Eric.

One other question- do you regularly take lessons now, and if so, how much of what you were taught at the school was new info vs same info you had already been given?

I will get a lesson here and there, but nothing on a regular basis. Everyone teaches things differently, but they teach about the same thing as Hank Haney. I have been to GolfTec and they base everything off of hip turn, shoulder turn, ect and want the club to be pointing at the target line on top where as PGA teaches to lay the club off a bit.

check your PM's

Yeah my only fear is that things would contradict what my current teacher has been teaching me. I've had a couple lessons (with a couple more upcoming) from the same guy, and I just don't know if it would be good to switch around too much. I've already taken about 10 strokes off my game in the last couple months and am close to another breakthrough I think.

Maybe I should just do a short game school. What did you observe or hear about those?

the 3-4-5 day schools are all the same. The guy who was doing the 3 day school had the exact same schedule as we did.

I didn't see a short game school, but we did work a lot on greenside bunkers and chipping.

watty, if you want to see what they are teaching I can give you a link to what they changed in my swing and you see if it is close you what you are getting.

Yeah, I'd love to see that. Appreciate all the info.

email me

[This message has been edited by Aggie_Eric98 (edited 5/18/2009 3:30p).]