There are very few of us who naturally pick up a golf club for the first time and hit it miles down the fairway! Golf like any other pursuit takes a little bit of time and patience. If you think back to when you started learning how to drive a car you probably didn’t drive like you do today! I’m sure you stalled it a few times and crunched the gears more than once! I have listed five quick tips to get you started off in golf on the right track.
I definitely recommend getting some golf lessons from your local pro. Your grip, stance, posture and swing basics can all be installed within a few lessons with a good pro. Lessons aren’t as expensive as people think and they may be cheaper if you do a deal to pay for five or six lessons in advance for example.
Try not to be to self conscious about how bad you think you are, everyone is the same at the beginning. Starting off on the right foot and getting the basics right are far more important if you want to stick at playing golf in the long term. Correcting swing faults or flaws in the future is much harder to do.
Apply what you are learning from your pro at the range. However, don’t just go down to the range and pound out 100 balls with a driver as quickly as you can. If you think about it you will probably only use your driver 14 times in a round (assuming there are roughly four par 3’s per golf course).
Simulate a round of golf at the range, start with your driver, then use a mid iron for your next shot and a wedge for your next shot. Try to alternate through all your clubs in your bag so you get comfortable with using all of them rather than just using the more lofted clubs. A lot of people tend to give up on the driver or shy away from the longer irons as they can be harder to use at the beginning.
What I hear a lot from parents who come into the shop is that they don’t want to spend a fortune on junior clubs as I’m not sure they will keep at it in a month’s time. This truism also applies to adults; you do not need to spend a fortune on golf clubs to get you started.
A lot of the club manufacturers have incorporated design elements into their package sets to make them more forgiving and suited towards beginners. As you develop and play more regularly you can start to upgrade your clubs to better suit your style of play.
Like all sports the only way you will improve is through practice (and a fair degree of patience thrown in). Some skills can be honed in the comfort of your own home such as putting. You can buy a simple putting cup and practice holing putts on your carpet from different lengths.
Again you should keep varying the distances you putt from as like the driving range you do not hit 20 putts from the same distance in a round. You can also practice chipping in your back garden with a simple chipping net. A good short game will shave lots of strokes from your score in the future.
Try to familiarise yourself with some of the basic rules and etiquette of golf. You do not need to know them all nor will you be expected to however you should respect your fellow golfers when you are out on the course.
For example don’t spend an eternity looking for a lost golf ball when other golfers are behind you waiting to play. Remember to rake the bunkers after you have finished with them and repair any pitch marks on the greens put back the flags into the holes when you are finished.
These are just some basic tips to get you started, more importantly enjoy yourself.
By Dan Cole
Cole Golf - Irish Owned - Celebrating Over 10 Years Online (2011-2021)