Golf for the Beginner – Lessons
So you went out to the local driving range or maybe even went to the local municipal course to see if you’d enjoy the game. I hope you enjoyed the experience as it will only get better. At this point, if you’re really serious about playing golf and getting the most out of it, the best advice I can give you is take a series of lessons. You have a couple of options here. Most driving ranges have certified teaching professionals that give lessons, and virutally all golf courses and clubs have teaching professionals that give group lessons. As a beginner, it’s more important that you take lessons from someone that is certified and qualified to teach.
Now, you may be thinking that you’re not all that serious about golf and lessons are not something you may be interested in. However, from personal experience I can tell you that not taking lessons very early in your golf life will do nothing but hurt you in the long run. Two things tend to happen when you’re just starting out: 1. Your golfing buddies (and even casual friends) will unknowingly give you really bad advice. They mean well (we all mean well when giving advice), but there’s a reason they hold a regular nine-to-five job and are not teaching the game. The second thing that happens is that you develop really bad habits with your grip, setup, swing, follow-through. These bad habits can very difficult to overcome the longer you play golf. The overwhelming tendency is to grip the club with a modified baseball grip and let it rip.
I’m as guilty as the next guy in both giving advice and taking advice from my golfing buddies and partners. But I’ll say it again, take some lessons. Now, assuming you’ve signed up for a set of beginner lessons and have one or two under your belt, you now have to practice what the pro is teaching you. It will get easier if you practice, I promise it will. Also, try and play/practice with people that are at or near your skill level. If your spouse has been playing for 20 years and wants to teach you, just say no thanks.
I’ve played all of the stick-and-ball sports (at least in the U.S.) there are and I can tell you golf is by far, the hardest game to play. Bar none. When you watch the pros on TV, it looks so effortless and easy, but its taken them years and beating thousands of golf balls everyday to reach their level of play. Obviously, you don’t have to hit that many golf balls to be consistent, but in the beginning try to play a couple of times a week if possible. Successful golf is about having a golf swing that repeats itself each and every time.