Played my first round of golf today.. (advice needed)

[NewFish]

Hi,

Like the title say's, I played my first round of gold today with 2 friends who both play on a semi-regular basis, I really enjoyed it however found it quite difficult to get the hang of, and being quite a naturally sporty kind of guy this was new thing to me as normally most sports I play i find pretty easy to pick up. (except this one bad experience on ice skates but we wont get into that

 

[brendy]

video jug and search for rickard strongert. The most important tip I can give it to hit the ball easy, anyone can lash at the ball but once you master the 75% swing, its easier to ramp up the pace for those long wide par 4/5's.
Practice your putting and chipping more also.
You hit 10-12 drives a round but you will be chipping and putting on virtually every hole, this is where you will make or break your rounds.
Wecome aboard and hope you enjoy getting out foro the exercise, its a hell of a frustrating game (I was -1 gross after 8 holes today 7 pars and 1 birdie, then took a 6 and continued on at +1 until I lost a ball at the 14th then it was all down hill from there! haha.

 

[medwayjon]

Lessons, I went from being unanble to hit a ball to where I am now in less that a year. The reason, because I had lessons from the moment I started, this prevented self-learned and fatal flaws becoming natural habits in my swing/set-up so I got off on the right foot.

Where u from? I may be able to recommend a good pro.

 

[golfwoman]

lessons lessons lessons

I am also a new golfer - but I realised pretty quickly (just watch the hundreds of golfers on ranges with strange swings) that to play golf well I have to know what I am attempting to achieve with the swing

lets face it you can swing at a golf ball with 100 different methods - but you can only achieve stability and predictability in a swing by knowing the real way to swing

as the pro said to me - people say golf is practice practice practice.........but if your practicing the wrong things then you will never achieve a predictable result from your swing

if your near glasgow I can recommend a great pro

or if not ask the advice of guys on here and pals on choosing a good pro to teach you

 

[AliB]

lessons lessons lessons

I'll drink to that! As a sporty guy you probably can already get the ball in the air, but it's all to easy to get into bad habits that will be hard to get out of. the golf swing isn't really intuitive, but if you're reasonably young and fit you'll benefit hugely from a lesson or two and soon be on your way to htat win. Like brendy says, make sure you include the short game.

AliB

 

[RGuk]

Go for some lessons and get down the range!!

Once you get some confidence, start playing half rounds or short/easy courses.

Worse thing I ever did was just to chuck some clubs in the boot and go and play. Then I read a few books (about grip, posture and simple mechanics of the swing) hit about 10,000 balls at the range and got frustrated. Only after all this did I go for a lesson.

Start with a few lessons first. I'm sure a pro would rather start with as "blank a canvass" as possible.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Have to advocate lessons. Get the basics right from the start and you will have firm foundations for yoru golfing career. My suggestion would be two or three as soon as possible to work onthe fundamentals and get them bedded in down the range before you go out and play again. Try and work on the basics every time you go to the range and don't get into the habit of just hitting balls. Really think about each shot and imagine you are on the course where there are no second chances.

Try and get yourself a nice (and short) pre shot routine at the range which you can take onto the course. It will help get the basics correct before you play and having a routine that doesn't change will help on the course when you are under pressure. Personally, I take my grip, put the club behind the ball, build my stand and then take one last look at the target and release and play the shot.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

 

[Marko77]

I am going to go against the grain here. Don't plow money into lessons just yet. If today was your first ever game, get to the range, get out on the course a few more times and see where your natural ability (if any) lies. You may find that after getting used to the swing and working some things out for yourself you A) don't require lessons to enjoy the game or beat your mates or B) can speak to Professionals knowing specific things you are looking to work on.

lessons lessons lessons = doesn't work for everyone.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Sorry marko have to disagree

If you want to play on an infrequent basis and don't care how many balls you lose or what you score then fine just go to the range and out on the course. You will reach a certain level of proficiency but will the plateau out. I would even argue that the skill level will be quite low.

If however you want to progress in the game and after all the aim is to shoot as low as possible, and given that newfish has already got that competitive golfing streak in him offering that challenge, then you need a professional to install the fundamentals. It is like any skilled job (car mechanic, builder, doctor etc) you got to those people to get the right person for the right job. In this case a golf pro will give newfish an understanding of grip stance and alignment, and a good pro will teach him a simple swing that he can learn and to some degree self fix when it goes wrong

 

[golfwoman]

gotta agree with homer

newbie to golf........set myself up to play in work comp

6 weeks never lifted a golf club

ex-gymnast ......so not bad

1 lesson with a good pro - and I have gone from 30% solid shots to 80% solid

god I am even hitting 140-150 yards with 7 iron (I spent 6 solid weeks trying to achieve that 4 times a week at range)

it's amazing feeling what happens when you get a good lesson

practice practice practice.........but whats the point in practice if you have no idea what to practice

pro who's teaching me £25 an hour and my lesson lasted hour and a half for nothing extra........just a pro who really loves to show you how to correct faults

think bout it

£200 for clubs
£50 for golf club membership (woman deal local club)
£60 shoes
£80 extras (well am a woman, had to get the outfit)

£25 lesson..........pricless

hey as a woman i actually took this guys advice.......that's gotta be a first.....a woman who actually listened to a man ;-)

it's well worth it........

 

[flandango]

Hi newfish,

I can hit the ball well and get round in a respectable score, however I do have areas where I lose shots which I need to work on. I still see a pro now and again to check up i'm still on the right track, and course managment lessons etc! Its an on going prosess. On your own you will do ok but with the help of a pro who can see what your swing looks like you'll do a lot better!

 

[viscount17]

go to a pro, most will offer packages (6 for 5 etc) though you may want just to get one lesson initially to see if you get on.

some things you can't learn on the range (eg course management)

I'm planning a winter campaign of short game lessons.

 

[Herbie]

I have to disagree with one or two comments.
Every person has a natural swing pattern, its what your body will allow and feels comfortable with.

Very young people can be moulded and adjusted to fit a particular style or method, its unhealthy to manipulate an older person unless that manipulation sits comfortable with them, often with a neww undertaking they themselves dont recognise what is comfortable or not for them.

Work with what you have got, a good pro will be able to recognise the way your body wants to work and teach you to play to your natural strengths.Pro lessons are not always available before you want to take your first round of golf and sometimes good pros are not available.

From a complete beginner point of view, take what you have got as your natural swing at a golf ball, halve it and use that until you get used to hitting a ball consistantly, swing easy as has been said, once you find something working for you commit that to memory.

If you can afford regular lessons and the pro knows what he/she is doing then do this before you even play, do not believe that because someone is a registered pro that they have any ability to teach as there are just as many that can ,as cant!

Getting a pro that doesnt recognise an individuals needs/physical restraints and natural movement can damage your body let alone your game.Something that shows effect 5/10/15 yrs from day one,lesson one.

 

[Marko77]

sorry homer, I hear you, but I play off 5 and have just had 2 or 3 basic lessons in my puff looking at certain things I had identified as weaknesses. I don't claim to be unique so dare say others can go as low if not lower with minimal supervision/coaching, call it what you will.

I would be loathe to pay someone to teach me what I'm capable of teaching/learning myself.

As I say, this guy might need lessons, he might not, all I said was to try the game out a few times first to see if he does take to it or whether he will need lessons lessons lessons...

 

[Marko77]

golfwoman, who says you wouldn't have achieved that without the guidance of lessons? your own ability to learn/develop and identify weaknesses may have also achieved the same results?

I'm assuming you read GM - excellent guides in there monthly to read and give thought to regarding golfing techniques and also websites as identified by brendy are available to those to self learn.

I'm not dissing the value of lessons, although would maybe argue priceless

NewFish - please enlighten us with the path you follow...

 

[NewFish]

Thanks for the advice lads and lasses, i think im going to try a lesson down at my local driving range to see how i go, even if its just a couple i suppose I can learn the basics and improve my own game from there, they also have a begginers par 3 course down there so i can work on my short game aswell.

Another thing i was wondering - Do any of you wear glasses while playing? if so does it cause you a problem? I do not normally wear my glasses outside the house but i found the other day on the course i was losing the ball in the air as i have a problem with my long site (at the age of 20, terrible i know)

 

[viscount17]

I wear glasses all the time, never tried contacts.
I normally wear varifocals but these can cause problems for me with focus shifts so I have had a pair made just for golf.
These are single vision, distance prescription with a light blue tint, which makes white stand out better. (Take lots of lens wipes with you!)
Main thing is that they should fit correctly and stay in place as if they slip you'll find that your head position will alter. This usually results in tucking your chin onto your chest - not good for the swing as it leaves no room to get through.
Then there is the rain . . .