Just booked our 1st tee time

[larmen]

Hi everyone,

A few month ago my girlfriend and I took a weekend starter course, and we have been to the range plenty since. We finally took the plunge and booked a time for Sunday, the pro giving our group course said that we are more than ready to go out and play.

Well, while we can swing a club, pitch, chip and put a ball, we don't really know yet how to put it all together.


We are going to play our local 9 hole par 3 course. So my aim is to leave the woods which I can't control as well in the car, going out with 5i as the longest. And there is where the question start.

Having played with range balls so far we got Srixon Soft Feel balls. I guess all our ranges are going to be out. Currently I have a reasonable swing but it feels like most of my shots independent of club go 110 - 135 yards, just with a different curve. Does anyone know how much further I can expect a proper ball to fly? I heard it should be 15% and therefore it would go 130 - 155 yard?

For the 1st whole which is 135y I would expect to have a good go with my 8 iron then (lot's of 110 just right now)? Would you just play an iron of the turf, or would you actually tee it up in the box? On the range I am as comfortable to play it of the matt as I am of the short tee. On pitch exercises I was fine with doing jot of the turf as well.

What after the shot? Looking at youtube videos of vLogs I see people picking up broken tees, so I guess it i spook after your litter. But people don't seem to care about divots, and divot videos are mostly US based where they fill them with a grass growing mix.
I guess we pick up an replace divots, seems the right thing to do. Pitch marks we are fine with, exercised that on the chip and pitch day.

Putting is reasonable of total beginners. But it's not really about the score yet its about putting down a baseline to work from.


Is there anything we really must do or must not do?
When booking the guy said if it's busy we might be paired up. If so I hope they are patient and willing to explain the ground rules to us if we do something wrong, but we might be on our own.

Cheers

 

[IanG]

Don't over think things, have fun and enjoy it whatever happens. Be aware of what others are doing on the course and try to avoid interfering with them, just step aside and let them play through you if they are moving faster then you.

You'll soon figure out how far you hit a given club once you get started.te

Welcome to the asylum

 

[Fish]

:whoo: Have a great day, just give yourself as much help as possible at first, so on the par 3's have your ball on a red castle tee as that can offer you consistency and also use a same length tee for a drive, like a pink castle tee, but hey, just get out there and hit the bloody thing, find it and hit again and have fun :thup:

We all want a review of your day afterwards

 

[virtuocity]

1. Tell the starter you may be a little slower than some players
2. If you're holding people up, step to the side and wave people through
3. Hit golf balls towards the hole
4. Enjoy! Please stick around and let us know how you got on!

 

[Duckster]

If it's only a par 3 9 holer, there's a very good chance that you won't be the only ones new to the game there.

Don't worry about what to hit, in fact you'll very quickly find that you have a "favourite club". Just use that for a while, get used to hitting the ball in a specific direction.

It's going to take time. You'll have good shots, bad shots, really bad shots and oh lordy I'm never playing the game again shots. Just try to remember the good ones.

Above all, enjoy yourself.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Welcome to the asylum

and have fun :thup:

4. Enjoy! Please stick around and let us know how you got on!

Above all, enjoy yourself.

There you go, pretty much all the advice you need to get started :thup:

 

[Region3]

Most of all, have fun and don't get too stressed out about it. It gets harder when you have to play the result of a bad shot instead of just hitting another ball from the same place.

I took my daughter on the course for the first time this year and it made me realise all the things golfers do and take for granted that new players wouldn't think about.

The main ones are think about your next shot before its your turn to play so you're ready when the time comes, and leave your bag on the side of the green that you'll be walking off on the way to the next tee.

I look forward to hearing how you both got on.

 

[larmen]

Thanks guys. When reading magazines the letters there seem to be mostly of people complaining about slow play and etiquette, but the replies here seem a lot more welcoming to newbies.

We should eventually get the ball into the hole. I just don't want to be the guy who rips the ball in front of the club house for 180y on a 130y hole.

 

[Region3]

You can buy range balls that go various percentages of real distances so it's hard to say.
They also generally don't fly as well as proper balls.

With longer clubs especially, I don't think there's much difference for me in range distances, ie 4,5 and 6 probably are within 10yds of each other at most for me on the range. On the course it's 10yds per club.

8 iron sounds reasonable for 130yds. It'll be somewhere near the green even if it's the wrong club, you won't fly it by miles.
If it goes long or comes up short with a good hit just adjust for the next hole.
Once you've figured out what club goes how far, 10yds up and down per club should be there or thereabouts, with a little bit of a bigger gap between wedges depending on the lofts you have.

 

[virtuocity]

Thanks guys. When reading magazines the letters there seem to be mostly of people complaining about slow play and etiquette, but the replies here seem a lot more welcoming to newbies.

We should eventually get the ball into the hole. I just don't want to be the guy who rips the ball in front of the club house for 180y on a 130y hole.

Just get yourself some cheap golf insurance! Don't worry about it- at my last club I sliced a shot on the 18th which rebounded off the clubhouse back on to the green. Two putt for par

 

[BubbaP]

We should eventually get the ball into the hole. I just don't want to be the guy who rips the ball in front of the club house for 180y on a 130y hole.

Be that guy! Enjoy the rip.

It will probably all seem harder than you may be expecting. Enjoy the good bits, and next time will be easier.

 

[larmen]

Well, that turned out to be an interesting day. Arrived nice and early, giving ourself 20 minutes on the putting green. then managed to start about 10 minutes earlier trying to give ourselves a gap behind.

1st tee shot, took an 8i, and so mishit it, probably went for 40 yard and into the rough on the left. What we haven't done yet is playing out of wet rough. So that 2nd shot didn't really go anywhere, setting up a pattern from there. I managed to get onto the green in 4 shots, quit embarrassing, a 2 put for a 6 and a triple bogey.

2nd tee shot out of view was much better. Went long and straight, just got caught in the bunker. Came out in one but long onto the green, needed a 3 put for a 5. Double bogey.

3rd we had already traffic behind us again and it did show in the play. OK shot but another bunker. Needed 2 to get out, and a 2 put for another 5.

4th, we let the double through and followed behind. Managed a shitty shot into the rough, and with a succession of shots from rough to rough I managed to get onto the green in 4, then 2 put again for another 6.

On the 5th we put a ball onto the fairway, then let the group behind play through. Put the 2nd into a bunker, out fairly nicely and another 2 put which was so close to a 1 put. So another 5.

The 6th is when it went wrong. It's the longest hole so I took a good swing at it and lost a ball into a tree. 2nd tee shot missed the tree as it didn't get that far. Overall i took me 5 to get onto the green, and then I was so on the wrong side and in tatters it took me 4 puts for a 9. A +6 is awful.

It got much better from the 7th. Sun came out and I took the jacket off. Maybe that was all there is to it. While I had another bad tee shot I hit the 2nd onto the green from about 80 out with a 2 put for a bogey. But that was quite a nice confidence builder.

8th was even better than that. Drove the 7i from 135 just left of the green, but also just left of the bunker. PW over it just off green but fairly close to flag. And a put from semi green into the hope for par. Well, that made the day worth it.

Full of confidence onto the 9th whole, 120y towards the club house. Ripped the 8i to the left, but the lake is right so happy with that. PW above the bunker but to the left of the green, chip onto it, then an unlucky 3 put for 6, but so close being another 4.

49 strokes, +22 for half a round. Mostly down to bad shots and no experience to play out of wet rough. And we didn't take enough time for putting. It went well on the test green but we let us get stressed on the course. But I am really happy with my pitching shots.

The girlfriend had a few more strokes, but she either had 5s when hitting the fairway, or 9+ when being stuck in the rough. Plus being stressed putting when the group behind us taking empty swings to stay lose. She got much better from whole 6 when she started to use her driver.

1:45 is possibly quite slow for a 1166y course, but we let 2 groups through, the 3rd guy didn't want to. He was playing by himself and was happy to keep pitching on the previous green while we coddled up the next fairway.


Overall a OK day. Good to have done it and we now know what we need to work on.
Went to the range for half a bucket each and suddenly the balls where flying like they usually do. It's the pressure of the course.

 

[Craigg]

Great read. Golf is a great leveler, and a tad annoying sometimes. As long as you feel you want to go back, then it was worth it. Your scores will come down in time. Pressure from behind can be a killer and you did right to let them through. I hate having the feeling of someone waiting behind me, and I will more often than not let a group through even if there is no clear hole in front, just so I'm not looking over my shoulder.

 

[Fish]

Yes a great read and hopefully you both enjoyed your first experience of being "on the course", you can be assured that it will only get better now as some of the apprehensions will be put to bed, but, can I use and adopt 1 of your expressions as I think it's fantastic, it was "the 2nd tee shot missed the tree as it didn't get that far", that's pure gold 😂

Keep it going, both get back out there ASAP and just keep enjoying it, good luck 👍

 

[Region3]

Glad you enjoyed it, and hopefully will be back for more.

It's amazing how different hitting balls on the course is to hitting balls on the range, but that's all part of golf's charm IMO.

The range is for learning to hit the ball.
The course is for learning to play golf.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Well done to you both. Golf is difficult...from your great little report on the round you were actually doing really well - even when you thought you were doing rubbish! And I do like the thought of you coddling up the fairway with your partner (was there anyone behind watching )

Onwards and upwards.

 

[delc]

From tiny acorns mighty oak trees grow! Glad you more or less enjoyed your first venture on to a real golf course. Every one on here had to start somewhere. I can still remember my first score for 9 holes, which was 54 (admittedly after taking lessons first). Keep practising and it will get better. :thup:

 

[jdpjamesp]

I had my first rounds this year. Very similar experience. There is so much you encounter on the course that you just don't/can't practise on the range/practise facility. You can't beat getting out on the course. Very brave of you to start playing at this time of year too. My experience so far with autumn is that it's a lot harder to motivate oneself and to actually play too when the weather is wet and cold. That will stand you in good stead come the spring I'm sure.

 

[garyinderry]

It took me years to hit the ball left. You are already ahead of where I was at your stage of golfing life.

Nice one. Keep at it over winter and you will reap the benefits in the summer with shorts on. X 10 more enjoyable.

 

[LincolnShep]

One of Peter Alliss' favourite quotes is "first you learn to hit the ball, then you learn to play golf" - he generally says it about once an hour! You're on to "level 2" now and you've set yourself a target for next time, better than +22 for the nine. You've also had a par - which I'd class as a proper result for your first time out.

Your original post mentioned divots and using tees on par three holes, so here's the lowdown...

• If you take a divot on the fairway or fringe, pick it up and replace it, even if it's in pieces - this is really important, it helps keep the course in good condition for everyone
• If you take a divot in the rough, I'd still try to pick it up and replace it if you can
• If you're on the tee box, it's up to you whether you use a tee or not, some do, some don't, it's up to you but...
• ... if you take a divot on the tee box most courses would say don't replace it, use the sand/seed mix instead (if there is some) - the reason for this is that other golfers will be able to see where the divots are so it's easier to avoid them - try to tee your ball just behind an existing divot, that will reduce the damage to the tee box

Here's my 4Rs of considerate golf (patent pending)...

• Replace divots
• Repair pitch marks
• Rake bunkers
• Ready to play

As almost everyone has said, have fun! If you get any stick from miserable old farts who are intolerant of newbies, just smile, apologise and then call them names when they're out of earshot!

Shep