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Have you tried to teach your wife (gf) to play golf?

Par5zN2

Par5zN2

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My GF has mentioned that she'd like to play golf with me so I've offered lessons, she's not interested. She says she'll play if I teach her. Well, from my past experience (trying to teach the ex-wife many years ago) trying to teach a significant other is a bad idea. Has anyone here been successful with this? Honestly, I'm afraid to try - Argh!
 
I will let you know in a few months. Going down this path in the next month or so.
 
Yup.

Key is to start VERY small. Tell her all about greenside play being the most important. Get her putting, and getting the feel for a club in the hands.

Then, have her chip with an 8 iron around the green with a putting stroke.

Then, move her out to 30 yards and hit half strokes with a pitching wedge.

After she has those three down, you can teach her a full stroke. Put an 8 iron and a 5 hybrid in her hand off of tee boxes, and she'll have plenty of shots to have fun with the game.
 
I tried the lessons route and it was a non starter basically. She just wants to go out and play. I would avoid getting all technical with her during an "instruction" though. The first thing I did was teach her the "rules of golf" and how to keep with the pace of play and ready golf etc.

Is she an athlete? Can she hit the ball decently even though she is new or is it a swing and miss type of stroke that needs a lot of practice?
 
One of the best pieces of advice I have received was from one of my buddies dads. He told me if your girlfriend or wife wants to take up the game, buy her lessons/instruction with a pro. He said no matter how you say it, teaching is about criticism at some level, and spending dedicated time doing that will likely not end well.

I took my wife to the range a couple times and if she would have shown more interest I would have got her lessons, but it never came to that for me (which I think is a good thing).
 
itsOpeningDay said:
Is she an athlete? Can she hit the ball decently even though she is new or is it a swing and miss type of stroke that needs a lot of practice?
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She's not an athlete but she is athletic, if that makes sense. I believe she'd pick it up fairly quickly, well enough to play anyway.
 
When my wife started playing golf we decided she should take lessons. She took about three lessons then we started to play. I give her pointers but if she is having problems she takes a lesson. It is easier this way for us so we can enjoy playing together. A lot better for the relationship too. Lol
 
mancest said:
One of the best pieces of advice I have received was from one of my buddies dads. He told me if your girlfriend or wife wants to take up the game, buy her lessons/instruction with a pro. He said no matter how you say it, teaching is about criticism at some level, and spending dedicated time doing that will likely not end well.

I took my wife to the range a couple times and if she would have shown more interest I would have got her lessons, but it never came to that for me (which I think is a good thing).
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I agree with both points...
The last time I went down this path all she heard was criticism and it did not end well. But the lesson path is out, I have offered lessons dozens of time over the past five years and she won't consider it. I even told her I'd buy them and gift them to her, she says she'd never use them. She just wants me to teach her - Ugh
 
khaos288 said:
Yup.

Key is to start VERY small. Tell her all about greenside play being the most important. Get her putting, and getting the feel for a club in the hands.

Then, have her chip with an 8 iron around the green with a putting stroke.

Then, move her out to 30 yards and hit half strokes with a pitching wedge.

After she has those three down, you can teach her a full stroke. Put an 8 iron and a 5 hybrid in her hand off of tee boxes, and she'll have plenty of shots to have fun with the game.
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If I do try to teach her this is very similar to the method I have planned on using.
 
My 1st date with my wife was teaching her the basics. She'll play a half dozen rounds a year with me. She's never wanted to work at the game or get good. She just wants to spend time with me every so often. I want to play as well as possible so her mindset doesn't compute to me but I give her a tip here or there to help her some. I'll let her choose to listen. She doesn't mind picking up after 7 or 8 shots or she'll drop with me to keep us moving. Just puts a frowny face on the scorecard instead of a number if she doesn't finish

I'm obviously not a pro and I know I do her a disservice giving her lessons but she's always been okay. What was said about criticism is somewhat true. Always try to put positive connotations with everything and it generally goes well. Reminder her it's not meant to be easy so it's okay to get frustrated
 
In our days without kids, my wife said she wanted to play one day. She is a natural athlete so the swing was there but before we got to #9 she asked to leave because she was sweating: That was our last time in a cart together and I haven’t made an attempt since then.


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my wife started to ask to go to the range last summer, it was fun, she struggle, got frustrated but still did pretty well. we then went and play a scramble with her parents, it was more of a social round, lots of fun was had. around 15 or 16 she got tired and just followed in the cart.

she won't be playing every week, but she enjoyed it enough to talk about going again next year.
 
JimBetts said:
I agree with both points...
The last time I went down this path all she heard was criticism and it did not end well. But the lesson path is out, I have offered lessons dozens of time over the past five years and she won't consider it. I even told her I'd buy them and gift them to her, she says she'd never use them. She just wants me to teach her - Ugh
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That is brutal. Any chance there is a female instructor? Or possibly a coach that would work with both of you in a group setting? That way it becomes something for the two of you to do together (which I am kind of guessing why she wants to play and have you teach her)?

Just thinking through some options that might keep you from hating this.
 
JimBetts said:
She's not an athlete but she is athletic, if that makes sense. I believe she'd pick it up fairly quickly, well enough to play anyway.
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That's good. I would just start with the basic range, chipping and putting. Keep it simple and the club selection simple too. I purchased a full set for my wife but I only kept the Driver, 6 Iron, PW and putter in the bag for the first few times so she can get a feel of the different types of clubs without the overload.

Let her have fun with it and have her ask you questions before you just go about telling her about her outside to inside swing path.... it won't make sense. The object is to advance the ball down the fairway. It doesn't matter how far so start small. I play golf with my wife more than anyone else now and it really has opened up a lot more time for golf for me personally because now on every trip we go, she looks for golf courses to play as well.
 
Nerfny loves it. I didn't pressure her at all. I used to play one of the Tiger Woods games on my PC back in college, and she started to do the same, and thought it was fun. One day she told me she wanted to try. So I found a dirt cheap iron set on ebay, and got some cheap woods, and we hit the range a few times a week, and then went out for ice cream. We didn't touch a course until she thought she was ready.
 
I took my wife out one time. She told me that this could be my thing because she doesn't like sports that she isn't good at... #GolfisHard
 
Absolutely and she was doing great until she hurt her left wrist in a none golf activity. She has had three surgeries on it since and I don't think she will ever play golf again. Sad!!! We had a ton of fun doing it!!
 
TheCrest4 said:
I took my wife out one time. She told me that this could be my thing because she doesn't like sports that she isn't good at... #GolfisHard
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yeah golf is a humbling game especially when you choke on 18
 
mancest said:
One of the best pieces of advice I have received was from one of my buddies dads. He told me if your girlfriend or wife wants to take up the game, buy her lessons/instruction with a pro. He said no matter how you say it, teaching is about criticism at some level, and spending dedicated time doing that will likely not end well.

I took my wife to the range a couple times and if she would have shown more interest I would have got her lessons, but it never came to that for me (which I think is a good thing).
Click to expand...

I concur with this. And my wife just wants to go to the course and skip practice but then doesn't understand when I'm asking her to pick up as we are playing way too slow.
 
mancest said:
That is brutal. Any chance there is a female instructor? Or possibly a coach that would work with both of you in a group setting? That way it becomes something for the two of you to do together (which I am kind of guessing why she wants to play and have you teach her)?

Just thinking through some options that might keep you from hating this.
Click to expand...
I tried the female instructor route as well, she didn't bite.

And you are right, she does want to play so we can spend more time together. I'm all for it, and she's mentioned she doesn't want to take me away from my regular playing partners either. So "if" I can make this work it's a Win-Win.
 
Grab her a woman's high lofted fairway wood. Something that is easy to hit and actually gets out there a bit. Go have fun on the range, laugh, grab her ass, say dirty things,,,, have fun.
If she can make contact and has fun it's a win win. But just make sure that first outing is about being together. Not golf.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
Popeye said:
Grab her a woman's high lofted fairway wood. Something that is easy to hit and actually gets out there a bit. Go have fun on the range, laugh, grab her ass, say dirty things,,,, have fun.
If she can make contact and has fun it's a win win. But just make sure that first outing is about being together. Not golf.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Great advice!!!!!
 
JimBetts said:
I tried the female instructor route as well, she didn't bite.

And you are right, she does want to play so we can spend more time together. I'm all for it, and she's mentioned she doesn't want to take me away from my regular playing partners either. So "if" I can make this work it's a Win-Win.
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Then I would see if you can find the instructor to work with both of you at the same time. Then you are both learning from someone, and you can help her if you go practice in between lessons. This was going to be the way I handled it because I just told my GF at the time I had no freaking clue on the swing and I would probably not help her and could use the instruction myself.

Good luck!
 
I'm hoping the addition of Top Golf in Columbus will get my wife to at least swing a club some. She's mentioned it before, that she may want to give it a shot and I'm hoping that the social atmosphere that Top Golf provides will be a step in that direction. Like others have said though I wouldn't begin to "teach" her other than a few pointers.
 
God no. I want to have sex again in this lifetime.

One thing we did way back when was take 'group' lessons as a couple. It made the lessons something that we did together. In some ways they were really her lessons and I was just there hitting golf balls. It worked.

BTW, the single best part of buying lessons for the wife occurs at that point where she's really frustrated and turns to you with the "What am I doing wrong" type question. You get to say (sincerely), "I don't know. I'm not a golf professional. What did your instructor tell you?"
 
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