darthweasel
Well-known member
I learned golf in a very ad hoc way. Borrow one of Dad or mom’s clubs, usually a 5i, go to the corner ball park, hit back and forth from baseball field at one end to other. Borrow their by now ancient set of clubs (persimmon woods…yeah.) and go to the local 9 hole course, hack my way around having great time, determining if I had a good round or a bad round by did I come back with more golf balls than I left with (hint: almost always yes. My favorite club was probably a ball retriever). Always walk the course because the money for a cart was more than the cost of the round I was playing.
Play 2-5 times a year maybe with people about the same. Go to golf show, buy "frequency matched shafts", working a job where I actually played like 10 or 15 times one year. I slice, so of course I stand wide open, creating a bigger slice but since I play for it, I usually get away with it…unless of course there is a house there and I hit it straight that one time…
Get a better job, work with people more serious about golf. Get fitted for clubs, take lessons, keep unofficial handicap. Read up on golf, research the short game, course management, learn how to play out of sand, how to chip, how to hit a flop shot, hot to get the ball to check up. Become respectable, I assume I was an average-ish golfer (16.8 handicap at that time.)
If I had it to do over again, and had all the patience in the world, knowing what I know now, I would learn the game completely different.
Start out putting from 1’ until it was automatic. Back up to 2’. 3’. Etc until I was putting at scratch golfer level from 10’ and lagging close outside there.
Move to putting from the fringe, then chip shot. Play the "2 shot" drill until I was good from 10 yards off the green. Learn how to use a wedge to get over that greenside bunker and stay on the green.
Back up, learn a quarter swing wedge. Half swing wedge. ¾ swing wedge. Full swing wedge. Bump and run.
By now I am money from 150 in. I am putting the little white pellet in its home in 3 attempts or less from 150. Now the trick is to get to or inside 150. And I have no fear of needing to hit to a number, I have the skill to get close from anywhere. Course management will indicate where I want to hit the ball to in order to avoid trouble.
Learn short irons, mid irons, long irons, hybrids, woods, driver in turn. Now I am a complete golfer, tee to green. The scoring stroke is always the one that drops it in the cup. My job is to figure out how to get into that range as efficiently as possible and I have all the tools to do so.
I wish I could go back and learn that way. Instead, I have to remember to do this to keep from re-swinging with that bad habit. I have had to unlearn and relearn everything from grip to address to ball position and old bad habits creep in at the worst time. I wish I was young enough to unlearn and relearn, but the old saw, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, while false, has elements of truth…under pressure I might revert to that outside in swing or that over the top cast or that hesitation on the delicate chip.
I would love to see the player who learned from the scoring stroke out to hole start instead of the way I did.
How should people learn? I keep trying to convince my wife to. I send her beauty shots from the course, pics of wildlife. She indicates interest...I think starting with putting, seeing the ball drop in the cup and experiencing success might help more than the other way. I don't know. thoughts?
Play 2-5 times a year maybe with people about the same. Go to golf show, buy "frequency matched shafts", working a job where I actually played like 10 or 15 times one year. I slice, so of course I stand wide open, creating a bigger slice but since I play for it, I usually get away with it…unless of course there is a house there and I hit it straight that one time…
Get a better job, work with people more serious about golf. Get fitted for clubs, take lessons, keep unofficial handicap. Read up on golf, research the short game, course management, learn how to play out of sand, how to chip, how to hit a flop shot, hot to get the ball to check up. Become respectable, I assume I was an average-ish golfer (16.8 handicap at that time.)
If I had it to do over again, and had all the patience in the world, knowing what I know now, I would learn the game completely different.
Start out putting from 1’ until it was automatic. Back up to 2’. 3’. Etc until I was putting at scratch golfer level from 10’ and lagging close outside there.
Move to putting from the fringe, then chip shot. Play the "2 shot" drill until I was good from 10 yards off the green. Learn how to use a wedge to get over that greenside bunker and stay on the green.
Back up, learn a quarter swing wedge. Half swing wedge. ¾ swing wedge. Full swing wedge. Bump and run.
By now I am money from 150 in. I am putting the little white pellet in its home in 3 attempts or less from 150. Now the trick is to get to or inside 150. And I have no fear of needing to hit to a number, I have the skill to get close from anywhere. Course management will indicate where I want to hit the ball to in order to avoid trouble.
Learn short irons, mid irons, long irons, hybrids, woods, driver in turn. Now I am a complete golfer, tee to green. The scoring stroke is always the one that drops it in the cup. My job is to figure out how to get into that range as efficiently as possible and I have all the tools to do so.
I wish I could go back and learn that way. Instead, I have to remember to do this to keep from re-swinging with that bad habit. I have had to unlearn and relearn everything from grip to address to ball position and old bad habits creep in at the worst time. I wish I was young enough to unlearn and relearn, but the old saw, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, while false, has elements of truth…under pressure I might revert to that outside in swing or that over the top cast or that hesitation on the delicate chip.
I would love to see the player who learned from the scoring stroke out to hole start instead of the way I did.
How should people learn? I keep trying to convince my wife to. I send her beauty shots from the course, pics of wildlife. She indicates interest...I think starting with putting, seeing the ball drop in the cup and experiencing success might help more than the other way. I don't know. thoughts?