Advice you wish you had when you first started?

[albatross2]

Some sound advice. I'd add in that bogey can be your friend at times and better to walk off a hole with a five than run up an eight. If you get a shot and its a bogey net par, then no damage down anyway. Play within limitations and if you get in trouble, get out the easiest way possible and leave yourself in a good position for the next shot

I totally agree about bogey being your friend. Along the lines of your recommendation I would add that getting into the habit of intentionally hitting to a consistent distance from the green can be incredibly powerful. For example, I am extremely comfortable at 85 yards. Any time I am laying up outside about 15 yards from the green, I will specifically play to that 85 yard shot. I practice it on the range and I play it a LOT on the course. As a result, my confidence has grown and my performance has improved. That can magically turn double into bogey at worst and par when I execute it well.

 

[AMcC]

Advice I wish I had earlier is. That body rotation is what is required for a better swing

 

[Oddsocks]

Any, I set off with no lessons for the first 10 years of my golfing career and and I’m still fighting the swing faults from 95/96 no matter how many lessons have , drills I try and buckets of balls I hit.

So much so that 2019 will be my first year as a nomad in 12 years

 

[Oldham92]

Not been playing long myself but one thing I learnt the hard way is to go for what feels best rather than looking for particular brands. I was looking at TM, Callaway, Ping and Titleist because they were what I recognised as the big brands, found a set of Wilson Staff irons that suited me much more. Could have saved myself a bit of money if I'd have gone off feel to start with.

 

[williamalex1]

Don't post anything on the forum when you're pissed , hic lol

 

[SocketRocket]

I wish someone had explained to me how our brain knows exactly how to control our body movements as long as we are focusing on the correct task.

As long as a golfer understands that its the loft on the club that gets the ball in the air and not the golf swing the rest is quite natural. The image of the club having no loft and you are driving a nail through the ball at the appropriate angle for the club in hand tends to eliminate most swing faults.

 

[Fabia999]

Just used which thread on a different thread so i thought i would update.

Found the lessons very beneficial. One of the things I picked up on quickly was try before you buy. I bought a club online which was not suited to me at all went into a shop and trailled a few second hand clubs and found one which was perfect for me, that i did not expect.

 

[Scozzy]

Bad day at golf better than a good day at work

 

[LGC2019]

I wish I'd had some lessons when I first started. When I had my first lesson a couple of years ago I was amazed at how much difference small tweaks to a golf swing can make. Since then I've enjoyed studying my own golf swing a bit more and seeing good results on the course.

 

[Dogma]

Once you start making progress, go and get fit for clubs.

I recently had a fitting and found out my clubs were totally inappropriate for me.

I've been playing with them for 2 years

 

[Grant85]

I'll repeat the point well made, but lessons are an absolute must if you want to progress and enjoy the game.

At the beginning you think you will just improve from regular playing, but in reality you are almost certainly doing something wrong and for all but the most naturally gifted, that is going to result in very slow progress.

Golf is one of the very few sports where people place a disproportionate reliance on equipment. Yes, there is a huge amount of stuff out there and companies are very good at convincing us that their equipment is better, but if you can't strike the ball consistently with a repeatable swing you are going to find it very hard to make a score regardless of what clubs you have.

This year I am going to try and think about two things on the course;
* commit to the shot I'm playing
* concentrate on strike above everything else (i.e. club bath, ball flight etc). Get the ball in the air in the general direction of the target with a good solid strike.

Without being reckless, I want to approach the game that making a birdie, 2 pars and a bogey is better than making 4 pars.
Ok, so it's not but if I can start making 1 or 2 birdies per round, then my good days are going to get so much better.
Standing on a tee thinking 'lets not bogey this one' is probably not going to end well.

 

[Britishshooting]

*Play for yourself you have nothing to prove to others.*

This isn't so relevant nowadays but for any young aspiring golfers I think it's important to re-iterate to them, along with them understanding golf toughness and having a positive mental approach.


I was in both the scratch and junior team at 16 for my golf club. I played great all season and didn't lose a single match for either team (granted I was never first out in the scratch format which helped).

In the same year I was junior captain and we got to the regional finals, first time we had even got out of the group stage in over 5 years so it became a big deal. Everybody's family, friends etc. turned up including my own parents. the professional and many members came to watch also.

It was probably the first time my dad and any friends / family had ever come to watch me play in a competitive situation and all my mind kept thinking was 'make them proud' 'pull this shot off your dad will be impressed' 'all these people have come you need to win' etc.

Needless to say I Absolutely crumbled, I couldn't play my own game I was like a completely different person and as each hole went on I was fighting a mental battle over something which in retrospect was very unimportant.

My old man pulled me aside as I was visibly upset as i'd lost 3 consecutive holes and it was getting to me, i felt a bit helpless.

He told me to play for myself, enjoy the experience and the result was merely a bonus as we'd already achieved a great amount to reach where we were.

I played much better golf from there on but halved 18 to lose the match 1 down in the end. I just wish he'd have given me that advice a couple of holes earlier and I might have been ok .

My loss decided the result as we had 2 big wins and 2 big losses in other matches, so we crashed out. Destroyed my golf thereafter as I had so much doubt in my mind from previously having so much confidence and almost no fear.

I ended up turning down a job with the head professional and decided I didn't have the mental fortitude to pursue professional golf afterwards. Ended up taking on an apprenticeship instead and golf slowly went on the back burner.

 

[Roops]

For me, these......

The golf swing is more natural than people think. We have been bombarded with looking like so and so, get in this position etc etc. If you throw a ball you just take your arm back, shift your weight, then release the arm and shift your weight back through. Trying to get that kind of freedom into your swing will probably bear more fruit than trying to emulate some great or obsessing with positions.

Impact is everything, and working on your swing from impact back is more effective than working on takeaway, top of the backswing, transition, down swing and hoping that you have got all of those sorted so that you eventually hit the ball.

 

[Swinglowandslow]

This business of having lessons is something of a lottery. Not all pros give good and appropriate lessons. If you get a good one, then it's worth it,however..".......
When I was young, there was only lessons from a pro in order to see exactly what I was doing when I made a shot.
Now you can film yourself in slow motion even. Use things like swing caddies to measure ball speed etc. Combined with many explanations and examples on YouTube, you should finish up knowing about the basics and possible alternatives to try at the range.(the range- something else not available years ago)
So you ought to be able to make a reasonable go of your shotmaking after studying that lot. Of course, you should be mindful that you can confuse yourself, but you should be able to work out whether something you try makes things better or worse 😀
Paying a lot of money to someone who may not be advising YOU right would be galling.
Unless money no object, I know which route I would take first.

 

[Britishshooting]

This business of having lessons is something of a lottery. Not all pros give good and appropriate lessons. If you get a good one, then it's worth it,however..".......
When I was young, there was only lessons from a pro in order to see exactly what I was doing when I made a shot.
Now you can film yourself in slow motion even. Use things like swing caddies to measure ball speed etc. Combined with many explanations and examples on YouTube, you should finish up knowing about the basics and possible alternatives to try at the range.(the range- something else not available years ago)
So you ought to be able to make a reasonable go of your shotmaking after studying that lot. Of course, you should be mindful that you can confuse yourself, but you should be able to work out whether something you try makes things better or worse 😀
Paying a lot of money to someone who may not be advising YOU right would be galling.
Unless money no object, I know which route I would take first.

Each to their own, some people are naturals and just need to find and embrace their swing, I found my swing naturally really however now have lessons to just tweak and tune my swing which has seen good results for me personally however I do travel to meet this pro as i've had poor experiences with others. I found if I tried to analyse my swing I'd inadvertently fix one problem and introduce another but thats just me.

HOWEVER

Look at Bubba Watson, claims to have never had a lesson and he's not done so bad as a result. Granted he can be WILD at times but he just has his swing and enjoys it. He's obviously an anomaly on tour where 99% of players have swing coaches for good reason in my opinion.

 

[jusme]

Hard to argue with most of the points on here. For me, what advice do I wish I got early or listened to more....

1) Do get lessons early. Takes ten times as long to iron out bad habits than it does to ingrain good ones. Only this will make the best of whatever ability you have.
2) Do get fitted as again poorly fitted clubs will only result in you adopting bad swing habits to suit the wrong clubs.

Most importantly, to me anyhow is have fun ALL the time. It's just a game and a wonderful one at that. Learn to expect bad shots and bad days and learn to laugh at them. An ill tempered and an over expecting golfer is not nice company. Be nice company to your fellow golfers.