The frustration of beginning golfers comes from two sources. The first is that they don’t understand the course where they’re playing. The second is that because they don’t understand it, they are bad at it.
The problem with the course is not just that it’s hard to hit a ball straight — although that’s certainly true. The problem is that there are too many shots on the course and not enough time to play them all, or else too many shots not worth playing or else shots that can be played but shouldn’t be played because they waste time. There is also a general truth about golf: you can always find a way to play out of trouble, but in general you cannot play out of trouble without wasting time.
Here are six tips for the beginner golfer.
If you start out playing golf, you can’t beat the odds. You’re going to be compared to everyone else around you, which means that the really good players are going to get picked out. But if you’re lucky enough to be the best in your group, or the only one who takes lessons from the top-notch coach, you can rise above the pack. And within a matter of months or years you could be among the best players in the world.
The problem is, there are so many good golfers out there that it’s hard to know where to start. How do you find a good teacher? Which club should I buy? What’s my swing like?
I’m not sure how much advice I could give someone who is already a great player. But I do have some starting tips for those who want to become great.
Six Tips for Beginners: 1) Get started with a good teacher. 2) Buy a decent set of clubs and practice on real courses. 3) Buy some other things for your bag: balls, gloves, tees and a towel. 4) Ask someone who knows about golf what kind of club would suit your skill level best. 5) Always wear sunscreen and bug spray when you play outdoor golf courses
If you want to improve your golf game, there are six simple rules that help a lot. Follow those rules, and you’ll be playing like a pro in no time.
Here they are:
Rule
The best way to improve your golf game is to play golf. Very few people can make a living at it, but if you think seriously about what you’re trying to do and put the effort into it, you’ll get better, and you’ll end up playing more than you ever thought possible, and having a lot of fun in the process.
There are six basic rules for beginners:
1) Don’t buy a golf club unless you can afford to lose it. If you buy a lousy club on impulse or because it’s on sale and then don’t practice enough or have no hitting partners, it will do nothing for you except cost a lot of money.
2) Don’t try to improve your long-iron game without first developing your short-iron game. If you only hit the ball 10 yards (8m) down the fairway because that’s where all your long-irons go, then when you try to hit the ball farther on your long iron, your short iron will be so out of whack that it’s not going to help much.
3) Don’t start playing every day until after your muscles are warm and loose from doing something else all day. If you practice as though it matters before you’ve warmed up properly,
The skills that golfers need are:
Cushion. As you hit the ball, your clubhead will be moving at a speed of about 12 meters/second; if you hit the ball with an iron, it will move around 100 meters in an instant. This is enough to make a golf ball jump from its place on the tee to a point 30 m away.
Swing. To have good control of your golf ball, you must be able to swing your club through its full range of motion. This means swinging your back arm so that it moves in a straight line and your forearm moves in a circle whose radius is roughly the diameter of your forearm (about 17″). The bottom half of your swing is spent multiplying by two
Agents have to be able to speak their clients’ language, even if their clients don’t speak the agent’s language.
The second thing is that they have to use the right metaphor. In this case it is a golf game. Golf is a lot like other games. Most people play it badly because they don’t know how the game is played, and they’re not prepared to work at it as though it were any other kind of game.
This is wrong on both counts. Golf is a game of skill, but it has certain rules that are different than those of other games. That one difference makes golf interesting, but if you’re going to be good at golf you have to learn about those rules and keep them in mind constantly.
It may seem like an odd choice for an agent to make the metaphor this way rather than another, but he should ask himself “which metaphor would a golfer understand?”
1. Practice, practice, practice