golfrewind.com

Hi,

I have liked watching golf for a while now and am currently sat at home watchng the Open. I am a total beginner at the game and wondered if anyone could give advice on how to start out and what steps ishould take to eventually go on the 18 ole courses.

I have a driving range, 18 hole course, pitch and putt and practice putting greens about 10 minutes away from me.

In my bag there is:

1, 3, 5 Woods
Putter
Sand Wedge
Pitch Wedge
3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Irons

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Stephen

I refused to go out on the course or range before I had some lessons. I took some local group classes 3 months ago to keep the cost lower and it was enough to get me started at the driving range and I've been on the course a couple of times now. On the course, I "loosely" kept score and hit a lot of provisional balls if I didn't make a satisfactory shot. I'm generally pleased with my high iron and wedge play but I can't hit a driver or wood very well and plan on taking some more group classes that deal specifically with those clubs. Whenever I'm at the range, I start by setting goals and keep slowly working at it till I make progress (last night I worked primarily with the 5-iron). Hope that helps, Jeff

After you have taken a few lessons and put in your work atthe practice areas don't be afraid to start playing the short courses and work your way up to the bigger one's once you are comfortable. A gut I work with has been taking lessons , going to the range and hitting in a backyard cage for months and is too chicken to go a short course. What's the worst that can happen- you might hit a bad shot? Humm no one has ever done that before.
Best of luck in your new passion and there are lots of folks here that will walk you thru your transition to this great pastime.

The one piece of advice I give to beginners is that they should keep up with the group in front of them. Obviously, it takes people who take more shots longer to play. From my experience, that doesn't mean beginners can't keep up. To do this:

1. Play ready golf. Always be prepared to hit your shot and when it's your turn, do so in a prompt fashion. You also get 5 minutes to look for a lost ball but I really don't think it's that good to do this repeatedly over a round. So don't play expensive balls that you can't bare to lose.

2. Focus on your shots from 100 yards and in. This really goes for all golfers but I think it's also important for beginners who usually spend most of their time on full shots. I play as a single often and when I'm paired up with beginners, I find the biggest waste of time comes when they approach the green. They'll hit a 50 yard shot over the green. Then chip it over the other way into the bunker. Then hit over the green again. That's where I think beginners keep their partners waiting the most.

Anyway, this is all my opinion but those are two areas I think beginning golfers should focus on.

The clubs in the 1st post are the ones that i have at my disposal. Can anyone tell me which ones i should carry and use as a beginner eg. i may not need a certain club when i start out. And also what situations i should use each club in eg. which types of shots, tee's?

The clubs you've mentioned in your first posting will suffice. But if I were your coach and friend, I would take the Driver, 3 wood, 5 wood out of the bag and leave them at home for a while. Find yourself a Executive Par-3 course. These courses dont have any long yardage holes on them, but there absolutely excellent at teaching you the most important part of the game of golf, the short game. Just some stats for your information, in a typical round of golf you will have your driver in your hands 16% of the time. You'll have your 5/6/7/8/9/PW in your hands 64% of the time, and your putter 20% of the time. So going by those stats its very important to get good with the irons and putter FIRST. Thats where the Par-3 come in. Typically the largest club you'll need on one of them would be a 7 iron. This is just my suggestion... Good Luck

Cheers for the advice,

But when would you use which irons off the tee and this may sound silly but do you only use the pitcher when the ball is of the tee?

Also when would you use certain irons on certain parts of the course ie. how far out, ground, wind etc.

Cheers,

Stephen

Hi Stephen. When you're out on the driving range, you'll want to watch the approximate distance you hit various clubs. This is how you know when to hit which club.

Here's some quick yardages for the short game....there subject to change seeing as we're all a little different, just take them as a reference.

5 iron - 160
6 iron - 150
7 iron - 140
8 iron - 130
9 iron - 120
PWedge - 110
Sand Wedge - 85

Use a tee only for you first shot from a given hole, tee's on a par-3 are used to keep the course from getting too beat up (divots).