Beginner Golf Tips

91

By hunter1riley

Beginner Golf Tips #1 - Beginner Golf Clubs

Beginner golf tips begin with getting the right equipment. Playing golf will be more enjoyable if you have good equipment. A beginner will be able to strike the golf ball easier and with more accuracy. Unfortunately there are so many choices for a beginner to choose from. There are different golf club materials and designs, you can get overwhelmed at the various choices you will have when buying golf equipment.

Because you are just learning the game, you will want to have clubs that are more forgiving when you make bad shots. And yes you'll be making plenty of them. The first-time golfer should be looking for beginner golf clubs that are the most forgiving when the ball is struck off-center. Perimeter-weighted clubs place the most weight of the club around the edges, which prevents the club head from turning with a poorly hit shot. If you would like something that makes it very easy to get the ball in the air, you should look for irons that have more sole weighting. Sole weighting lowers the center of gravity by putting the weight under the ball, helping to get it in the air quicker.

Some of the best beginner golf clubs are Titanium. This material is stronger, denser and lighter than steel, thus the club head can be made larger with the same amount of material. A larger head also means the size of the sweet spot will be larger. Since off-center shots will make you lose distance, a larger sweet spot will be the most forgiving. It is also more expensive.

Some heads feature an "offset" design to prevent your shots spinning left-to-right and giving a straighter ball flight. The offset means the face is slightly behind the hostel of the club head. This gives you an extra split second in the swing to get the face back to the square position.

For your driver, the larger the head the more forgiving it will be. These are all going to have the largest face, producing the largest sweet spot. This is very important, since a beginner doesn't always hit the ball right in the middle of the clubface. Studies have shown you lose 10 yards for every 1/8" of an inch you miss the sweet spot.

For fairway woods, the lower profile woods make it easier to get the ball airborne, as the weight is mostly below the center of the ball.

Graphite shafts are the most forgiving shafts for poorly hit shots. They absorb the vibration like a shock absorber, allowing for a much better feeling shot. Graphite shafts are lighter weight, so you will pick up some swing speed which will give you more distance. For this reason graphite shafts are more popular than steel shafts in the metal woods when distance is your primary goal.

Steel shafts don't feel as soft, and they are heavier, but they are more accurate than graphite. For this reason, they are usually better for the irons, since you are less concerned with distance and more concerned with accuracy since you are hitting into greens and at the pin.

Golf Video Instruction

This does not appear to be a valid RSS feed.

Beginner Golf Tips #2 - Relax

Golf is a mental game. When beginner golf tips are taught, sometimes it is forgotten just what a mental challenge it really is. A lot is discussed about proper golf swing or what kind of iron to use on what shot. But the most important beginner golf tip is that you have to relax.

When you begin to address the golf ball and prepare for your swing, it's essential that you have a sense of relaxation. If you are tense when you swing your club, the chances of you hitting a bad shot are increased. However, you don't want to be TOO relaxed lest your grip isn't tight enough to hit the ball solidly.

Without relaxation, it is more difficult to maintain your tempo or rhythm from swing to swing and stay in good balance from start to finish. Because it is essential for the golf swing to function properly, Tension restricts movement. A quiet, relaxed mind and body allows you to swing more freely. Muscle groups rtend to espond more easily to a natural, balanced swing motion.

First, clear your mind. Pick whatever image that helps you relax, and then put your mind and senses in that personal place. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Allow your mind and body to come down so that you be relaxed before you hit th ball. Beginner golf tips tend to omit this important aspect of the game but being relxed and not tense will help make you a better player.

Beginner Golf Tips #3 - The Drive

Beginners love to pound the golf ball down the fairway, until they start seeingthe ball shanking left or right. It not as easy as just "grip it and rip it". Beginner golf tips always begins with the proper golf swing. Here are some things you can do to get more distance on your drives.

First off, relax. Loosen up before taking your backswing. Do not tighten up. Stay loose but maintian a firm grip on the club.

A simple beginner golf tips is to tee the ball higher which will aid in hitting the ball farther. Why? By teeing the ball higher, it will help achieve better launch angle and reduce backspin at impact. This will allow the ball to be hit on the up-swing which produces more carry and distance.

Take a wide stance in order to gain more stability in your backswing. If you're right handed, point your left toe more inline to the target. You'll need to swing harder and put more of your right hand into hitting the ball.

When you're at the top of your backswing, be sure to turn your shoulders a full 90 degrees. Your back should actually be facing the target.

Beginner Golf Tips #4 - Fairway

Beginner golf tips for hitting on the fairway is some of the most difficult. You have to be able to choose th right golf club. This is the most important beginner golf tips once you get off the tee box.

The lie of the ball in a fairway shot will dictate how you hit your next shot. Unless it's a friendly game you will have to play it as it lies.

Many beginner golfers are intimidated by the fairway shot. They will often baby their swing and not hit the ball fully. Beginner golf tips for choosing the right golf club is important so choose a club that matches your distance from the hole and then take a full swing.

Aim your left shoulder (the right one if you're swing left) at the flag. Your hands should be in front of the ball at impact. Keep the same swing motions as if you are driving the ball. To help square your clubface, try to touch your left forearm with your right forearm at impact.

If you are in deep grass, the main idea is to get the ball up in the air. That means you will want a club that has a lot of loft wihch would be 8 or 9 iron club. Your distrance will suffer with smaller smaller clubs though.

Your technique on deep grass shots should be geared toward minimizing the intervention of the grass. In other words, you want to hit the ball as cleanly as possible. To do that, you need to move the ball back in your stance.

This ball position should leave your hands slightly ahead of the clubface at address. From that setup you'll tend to swing the club up a bit more vertically on the backswing and return it a bit more steeply to the ball. With this steeper attack the clubface will come down on the ball rather than brush through the grass.

For really deep grass, the idea is to minimize the presence of the grass so you may have to play it two inches back instead of one, because you're going to have to go down after the ball.

Beginner Golf Tips #5 - Chipping

This is the part of golf that many beginner golfers have the most trouble with. Because chipping requires a bit of finesse, it's much easier to flub a shot or overshoot the hole. The beginner golf tips for chipping will help get the ball up on the green.

Since you are hitting the ball a shorter distance than with a full swing, you should choke up on the club, narrow your stance, and stand closer to the ball. The club should be swung with arms and shoulders, with some wrist break.

As with other golf shots, picking the right club is essential to an effective chip. Many of us have been taught over the years to get the ball on the green as soon as possible and let it roll to the hole.

The issue of concern, however, is when golfers go about playing different length of chips with an assortment of clubs. They hit a 9-iron if the flag is 20 feet away, 8-iron thirty feet, 7-iron forty feet, etc. You should really just choose ONE club to hit all of your "bump and runs" with, and adjust for the distance with the force of your swing. It can be a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, wedge, or sand wedge. It doesn't matter that much.

The art of chipping is hard enough without having to master four or five clubs. Practice with a couple at first. You should hit short "bump and runs" from the fringe and then longer "bump and runs" from in front of the green.

Beginner Golf Tips #6 - Putting and Reading the Green

Many golfers have trouble with their putting. Learning how to play the short game is yet another part of the beginner golf tips that must be learned to conquer the game. It's not simply enough to softly stroke the ball into the cup, but you must learn to read the green. That means looking at the trajectory your ball will travel and compensate for any dips, hills, or anything else that could cause your ball to move a specific way.

Good green reading comes with experience. With time you will learn the subtleties of reading the grass. If the green appears light, you know you're putting against the grain; if it's dark you're down grain. If the green is set on a high area of the course and you feel a breeze as you step onto it, you sense that the putt will be fast. Even if you don't look closely at the surrounding terrain, you are aware of any major slope in the land.

The most elusive aspect of green reading has to do with the grain. Grain refers to the direction in which the blades of grass grow. The light/dark appearance is one way to read it.

Another method you can use is to take your putter blade and scrape it across a patch of fringe. If the blades of grass brush up, you're scraping against the grain. If they mat down, you're scraping with it. (Incidentally, be sure to do this scraping on the fringe. On the greens, it's against Rule 35-1f.)

A third method is to take a look at the cup. Often, the blades of grass will grow over the edge of the cup in the direction in which the grain moves. Incidentally, grain usually grows toward water, especially toward the ocean, and in the East it's apt to lean toward the mountains. If you're not near any such topography, figure on the grain growing in the direction of the setting sun.

Golf Channel Headlines

This does not appear to be a valid RSS feed.

Comments

safetyfirst profile image

safetyfirst 4 years ago

Interesting and well designed Hub.

hunter1riley profile image

hunter1riley Hub Author 4 years ago

Thank you and thanks for reading.

Joe Santos 2 years ago

great tips

Sean Elliot  2 years ago

I like how you talk about relaxing the body in order to swing more freely. I think you are very right about this.

RyanKekoufski09 17 months ago

Good tips!

Adam Keller 14 months ago

great tips! As a beginner it's always interesting to see what tips different golfers have. My motto is you can never learn too much so thank you for sharing.

kevin.howell profile image

kevin.howell Level 1 Commenter 12 months ago

Some good tips, I'll read over and over.

golftrip 7 months ago

thanks for the tip. Every time I'm having a golf trip and ask for professionals the right golf practices, they teach me different styles. I hope this is the right one

SeanSPaul profile image

SeanSPaul 4 months ago

I like golf but I don't use to play a lot. I´ll keep into account the tips. thanks for sharing.

Submit a Comment
Members and Guests

Sign in or sign up and post using a hubpages account.



    • No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked
    • Comments are not for promoting your Hubs or other sites

    Please wait working