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Golf Beginner

Get lessons. If you want to try and teach yourself Hank Haney has a good book on the swing. Also, do not neglect the short game.

You do not need expensive clubs, but a set of used older Burner's, Callaway Big Bertha's, Ping G5's etc. will be better than cheap new clubs. Do not just grab whatever club you find cheap as you may end up with a blade that is extremely difficult to hit. Or a club poorly constructed.

Good luck.
 
wartknight said:
I'm kind of surprised at how many are suggesting you go out and buy clubs first.
I'd say find a friend or 2 that golfs and head out with him (or her) and use their clubs the first time on the range. Agree with going to a range first as well. Start with 9 or 8 iron and work your way up to the wood eventually.
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I would love to do this... but being a lefty it is more difficult than I expected.
 
ThatllDoCy said:
Get lessons. If you want to try and teach yourself Hank Haney has a good book on the swing. Also, do not neglect the short game.

You do not need expensive clubs, but a set of used older Burner's, Callaway Big Bertha's, Ping G5's etc. will be better than cheap new clubs. Do not just grab whatever club you find cheap as you may end up with a blade that is extremely difficult to hit. Or a club poorly constructed.

Good luck.
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This.

When I started out I went with the "buy a cheap set" advice. I bought a complete set of Golden Bear clubs for $300. Not only were they poorly constructed, but they were at least 3 inches too short for me. They were quite frankly unusable - I was lucky if I ever made solid contact with the ball and more often than not "topped" it because I couldn't maintain that bent over at the waist position to use the club and would stand up in the middle of my swing. Quite frankly, the Callaway Big Bertha 460cc driver was the best club in my bag for the simple reason it was the one club that didn't belong to that Golden Bear set, but usually I was too frustrated and/or my back was way too sore from using those crappy irons that I couldn't even use that well.

Then two summers ago I bought a set of TaylorMade Tour Burners that were on the market for several years and thus were priced under $400. Made all the difference in the world. I'm not saying I'm this great golfer all of a sudden, because I'm not, and I could certainly benefit from some lessons (especially with my short game). I'm just saying I can at least hit with my irons now. And I really can't wait until I finally get pull the final two Golden Bear clubs (my 3 and 5 woods) from my bag with a pair of TaylorMade RocketBallz 3W and 5W this month. I'll also be replacing that Callaway Big Bertha with an RBZ driver. I'll actually be sad to pull that club, as it was the best in my bag for so long, but I've had that club for longer than I've been married and it's just time.

So yeah, you can go the route of just going to Wal-Mart or a discount sporting goods store and buying a cheap off brand set, and it may very well serve you well until you decide that you want to sink more money into your game. But you also run the risk of running into my situation where you buy absolute crap clubs and end up hating the game when in reality the crap equipment you bought is contributing to your poor play.

My advice would be to go to a golf specialty store and have them help you put together a used set of clubs for probably slightly more money than what could end up being a crap beginner's set. Alternatively, if you have a little bit more money to spend, you can have them help you put together a set of new, late-model clubs for around $800 ($350 for 3-9+PW irons, 3W and 5W for $100 a piece, driver for $150, putter for $50, and bag for $50).
 
city rec depts. usually have beginner lessons. or try the pro at a local course and see if you can get an intro lesson for an hour or so. then after the lesson see if you can use or rent loaner clubs on the range. if you like what you are doing, get more lessons, see if they have clubs to fit what you want to spend.
 
The first and really the only thing I would suggest is to make sure you learn how to grip the club correctly. A solid neutral grip on the club is the foundation of the whole golf swing. One can spend their entire golfing life trying to overcome an incorrect grip.
 
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I wouldn't get lessons. I am assuming they are expensive and you don't want to throw a ton of money at something you might not even like.

Just go out with a buddy and have him help you out. You just need practice with golf. Repitition is the key.
 
farminclone said:
I wouldn't get lessons. I am assuming they are expensive and you don't want to throw a ton of money at something you might not even like.

Just go out with a buddy and have him help you out. You just need practice with golf. Repitition is the key.
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No necessarily. You could practice your whole life and still shank or slice the ball, when only a couple of minor adjustments would fix everything. Those adjustments will likely be corrected by a golf pro watching your swing and telling you what you're doing wrong.

Also, if your repetitions are being practice in the wrong way you are just training your muscles and brain in the wrong way. In turn, it will take that much longer to properly correct your swing, because you've engrained the incorrect way into your brain and muscles.

I would highly suggest having somebody at least teach you the correct swing and grip. From there you can practice and get better the correct way.
 
farminclone said:
I wouldn't get lessons. I am assuming they are expensive and you don't want to throw a ton of money at something you might not even like.

Just go out with a buddy and have him help you out. You just need practice with golf. Repitition is the key.
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Wrong wrong wrong..
If you are constantly slicing let's say.. you don't want to repeat doing the wrong thing over and over again.

I went to a pro once.. that's it one time and helped me a lot with everything. I highly recommend it! Like others have said.
My handicap is roughy a 5--7 anywhere in there im sure if i go back...it could improve. Also if Iowa State offers a golf class take that! Most of those teachers are golf coaches or.former ones
 
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Get a golfing buddy that is a good golfer. They can tell you what you are doing wrong and help your game. The best time to learn to golf is week days, not as much course traffic, you can take your time. I wouldnt buy cheap *** clubs. I never knew how much a set of decent clubs can help your game until I played with a set of good clubs one day. Makes me want to throw away my clubs. Oh good golfers golf a few times a week, so make time. Dont be like most of us and golf twice a year and wonder why our game sucks.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
There is NOTHING that makes you worse at one or the other. They are two completely different actions. The weight shift, the hip rotation, why is that messing with the other? It doesn't. If you can't do both, then you probably aren't good at either. But that doesn't mean it messes with either one. It's a completely different swing. They have no affect on one-another.
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You can believe that if you want, but there are a lot of similarities between the two swings. I'm not saying you can't do both well, but if the high-level baseball swing and high-level golf swing have a lot of similarities. I'm just trying to educate here.
 
CloneFan65 said:
You can believe that if you want, but there are a lot of similarities between the two swings. I'm not saying you can't do both well, but if the high-level baseball swing and high-level golf swing have a lot of similarities. I'm just trying to educate here.
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Similarities? Ok. How do they affect each other? You are swinging at a moving object and a still object. They have NOTHING to do with each other. That's like saying my basketball shot is offset by my pitching motion. Who cares? It's a completely different motion with a completely different skill set. It's a ridiculous argument. I can brush my teeth and still jack off just fine, is that sorta the same?
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
Similarities? Ok. How do they affect each other? You are swinging at a moving object and a still object. They have NOTHING to do with each other. That's like saying my basketball shot is offset by my pitching motion. Who cares? It's a completely different motion with a completely different skill set. It's a ridiculous argument. I can brush my teeth and still jack off just fine, is that sorta the same?
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlpCEk_oyn4]Baseball or Golf? - YouTube[/ame]

Video: Similarities Between Golf & Baseball | eHow.com

Robert Garrigus Golf Swing compared to Baseball Swing

FYI, I wasn't able to find any information on how the bio-mechanics of brushing teeth and whacking off are similar.
 
CloneFan65 said:
Baseball or Golf? - YouTube

Video: Similarities Between Golf & Baseball | eHow.com

Robert Garrigus Golf Swing compared to Baseball Swing

FYI, I wasn't able to find any information on how the bio-mechanics of brushing teeth and whacking off are similar.
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Like I said, you are showing me similarities, yet nothing that says one messes with the other. Albeit awful, awful, links, they do show that the swings go in the same motion. WOW. The guy in the first one said you have your right shoulder higher when golfing????? What??????????? You should actually be slightly turning your right should down to a degree when driving. I still have no idea how one could **** up the other.

I'll try to find a link to fapping = brushing teeth.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
Like I said, you are showing me similarities, yet nothing that says one messes with the other. Albeit awful, awful, links, they do show that the swings go in the same motion. WOW. The guy in the first one said you have your right shoulder higher when golfing????? What??????????? You should actually be slightly turning your right should down to a degree when driving. I still have no idea how one could **** up the other.

I'll try to find a link to fapping = brushing teeth.
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I never said they mess each other up. I was just explaining that your claim that they are "two completely different actions" is false. They are very similar.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
There is NOTHING that makes you worse at one or the other. They are two completely different actions. The weight shift, the hip rotation, why is that messing with the other? It doesn't. If you can't do both, then you probably aren't good at either. But that doesn't mean it messes with either one. It's a completely different swing. They have no affect on one-another.
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I've found otherwise, in my experience. I didn't dip my shoulder, but I did develop a tendency to drop my hands at the plate if I was also playing golf at the same time. Dropping your hands is a flaw that can easily carry over from golf, especially if you also bar your arm (I didn't have this issue, but a lot of high school hitters do). I mean, what do you do with your golf swing? Your "guide" arm is basically straight, and then you bring your hands down. Big no-no for baseball.

Once I ditched golf in high school, I improved greatly in baseball. I admit I was never the most athletic guy on earth. I was a self-made athlete, not exceptionally gifted. And I could always do well at one if I focused on it, but wouldn't do very well at either if I was doing them at the same time. I chose baseball in high school, now that I'm no longer a player, I focus on golf.
 
Here was my baseball swing, to compare.

1701animated-gif-crazy-bat-swing.gif
 
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