I think coaching will make your path to improvement A LOT EASIER.
I wish that I had enough money to afford coaching at a young age. But I came to know about chess at the age of 12 and it was already too late. Kids become GMs at 13 and 14 and I just discovered "CHESS" at that time . So I chose academics over chess. That's my chess story but I still continue to play chess as a hobby only.
I don't think that chess can be taught. You have to learn the basic concepts,ideas, principles etc. A teacher can just teach the main stuff (that's like 20%), the rest you have to learn and practice.All those patterns and positions should be ingrained in your skull. All these stuff should be in your subconscious. When things are in subconscious, it goes autopilot. So it becomes very easy for you then. So this is what you must aim to do. Move stuff to your subconscious.😀
Here is a brief background to this question.
I am more or less a self taught player. Learnt what I could from exp. of play, or watching some videos online and reading stuff. I started playing regularly online about nov last year.
I recently entered a FIDE Rated tournament and currently I have 3 points from 8. All three points are from wins.
This tournament has really wanted me to want to push on with chess learning. All the players have been taking coaching for years and I figured if I could beat 3 of these players, then perhaps I could do much better after coaching.
So in short the question I want to ask is not whether I should take coaching or not. It is more fundamental. Can chess be taught? Can a coach really teach you chess and improve your game? Or is it that you learn chess only by playing?