For many years I would go to Phoenix Arizona between Christmas and New Years to visit some relatives and friends. Every year my friend Ray and I would play golf at least 3 times during my stay and every year it would be a contest to see who won the most games.

Over the years, I think we were about equally matched, we each had our good games and bad games, but over all I won more games then Ray did.

One year I won all three game of golf and I could tell that Ray was a little frustrated. The last night of our stay, we met back at Ray's house for supper and Ray said if he couldn't beat me at golf, he'll beat me at Chess. Well, I hadn't played Chess for years, but for some reason, I won all the games and Ray was even more frustrated, but we were still friends.

The following year, Ray called me at home right before I left for Phoenix. He told me our first golf game tee time was the number one spot, early the next morning. After driving to Phoenix, knowing I had to get up early, I made sure I had everything ready for the next morning.

The next morning I drove over to Ray's house and when I got there he was waiting for me and was real eager for us to get going to the golf course. He put his clubs in the car, got in the car and started putting on his golf shoes while I was driving. When we got to the course, he had me drop him off at the club house before I parked the car and said he would meet me at the driving range.

After parking my car I went to the club house, signed in, grabbed a cup of coffee, got my golf cart and drove to the driving range. By the time I got there, Ray had already gone through his worm up exercises and almost finished hitting most of his practice balls. He then told me to hurry up and put my golf shoes on and take a few practice shots that we had to get going. I ask him why he was in such a rush and he said he just wanted to get started playing.

Normally we would take our time, BS for awhile, joke around and just have fun. But this time was different, Ray was real anxious and focused on getting started and I couldn't help but wonder why. After taking about three practice shots and gulping down my coffee, we drove over to the first hole. Ray said he wanted to tee off first and I said okay because I still needed to stretch and wake up.

Well, I found out why Ray didn't say much and wanted to get started that morning. He teed up, took a couple of practice swings, stepped up to the ball, swung and hit the ball. I watched the ball take off and after it looked like it would level off, it kicked in the after burners and kept on going. It was one of the best shots I had ever seen, on or off television.

After Ray took his shot, I looked at him and ask, when did you learn how to do that. He looked at me with a big grin on his face and said, I have been taking lessons almost every day since you left last year. He said he was so frustrated at himself, that know matter how hard he tried to beat me, it just wasn't enough. So, he said he made himself a new years resolution, that know matter what it took, he was going to learn how to play golf better.

Needless to say, Ray was a lot better then he ever was and for me, well, Ray had to wait for me on almost every green until I got there. So, to answer the question, do golf lessons really help?

I had taken a few lessons, that's why I was able to beat Ray most of the time before.