I am among the world's worst students for a golfer who took up the game at the end of my baseball "career" after high school and becoming reasonably good at it in a few short years.
The most unusual lessons I had were from Jack Grout around the time he was accredited for helping Ray Floyd. I spent close to $100 on each of two 45 minute lessons at Muirfield Village. That was a lot of money in the mid-70s, particularly for a self-supporting college student.
Among the first questions he asked during our first meeting was "what does your father do for a living?". That caught me by surprise and I am sure he felt awkward when I responded that he had been dead for over 20 years. We worked on the usual things he was known for- admonishing me for "swinging like a woman" and imploring me to turn my upper body and feel like my hands are reaching for the sky. He was big on restricting the hips going back and initiating the downswing with the lower body. Anyways, I practiced what he taught me and made some improvement for a couple of weeks before reverting to my old self.
I went back to see Mr. Grout about a month later and he watched me hit a few balls as he did the first time. This time, however, he cautions me against overswinging with my upper body, noting that I was a strong young man and didn't need to make such a big effort to hit the ball far. I asked Mr. Grout if he remembered me from our prior meeting and though he responded in the affirmative, I had my doubts. He commented that he knew I really loved the game and encouraged me to keep working and to see him again. Like before, I practiced what he told me, got better for awhile before, again, reverting to my previous self. I didn't return.
I've taken lessons from some 10-15 teachers in my 40 years with the game, most of them very qualified, and all of them interested in teaching me how to play better. The best two, J. R. Abels and Bobby Morris (deceased) worked with what I had to make me more consistent.
The two least successful are well-known in their world and tried to make large changes in my swing to make it consistent with their method. Both used drills and training devices to get the club in certain places. I have not recovered from trying to make the changes they proposed.
The funniest lesson I've seen was when I was being taped by one of Hank Haney's guys and Hank was with a student in another video stall telling the poor man that his swing was in so many different planes that he didn't know which one to look at. Pete and I nearly lost it.
The saddest has been at a local club over this year where an extremely nice, young, hard-working Korean girl is being closely tutored by her overbearing father. He regularly yells at her, goes into rages when she makes a mistake (I've seen him pick up and slam a golf bag into the ground, toss a folding chair, break a yardstick). One of the range boys says that he's watched him stand behing her, smacking her with one of those alignment sticks after she misses a shot. Why the club tolerates his behavior might be due to an attempt at cultural tolerance, but I find the whole thing so distasteful that I will typically set up at the opposite end of the range when they're there. I hope she can overcome the abuse and achieve the excellence she is striving for.