Start Playing Golf – Your First Practice Routines
People often ask me what are the first things they should do
to start to learn to play golf and my response is always the
same.
Beg, borrow or buy a cheap putter and a pitching wedge for
around $12-$15 each. Get 20-25 golf balls from your friends,
a local golf club or a cheap sports goods outlet. That's all
you need - one putter, one club and a bag of balls.
Go to your local or municipal golf course where there should
be a practice putting green. This will usually be free or
very low cost. To begin with just learn to putt from all
parts of the green - uphill shots and downhill ones; short
ones and longer ones, straight ones and 'curved' ones. Spend
several hours learning to putt.
When you feel you have the hang of putting, learn to chip
shots from between 5-12 feet from the green towards the
flag. This is much more difficult than it seems, and it is
where many shots are dropped in a round of golf.
The main problem inexperienced golfers have with the chip
shot is how far back to take the club and accelerating
through the ball. This requires practice and many, many chip
shots.
The common mistakes that golfers make playing this shot are
'grounding' (hitting the ground first) the club before
striking the ball or 'topping' the ball - striking it too
high.
Chipping requires you to adopt a much more upright stance -
that is with your feet almost together and no more than 2-3
inches apart. Your hands should be 'ahead' of the ball,
meaning that they are at a slight angle in front of the ball
as you strike it.
You only need to take the club back a short distance to
strike the ball - probably no more than 12-24 inches
depending on how far you want the ball to travel. Make sure
that you make good, clean contact and ensure that you strike
the ball in the centre of the club. This is crucial.
All you want to do is lift the ball a little up in the air
to clear the fringe around the putting green and land the
ball on the green to run towards the hole.
To help you develop your chipping technique, watch how the
professionals do it and note their stance, how they address
the ball, the extent of the backlift and accelerating
through the ball as they strike it. Memorise these
techniques and practice, practice and practice doing this
yourself around the green.
Chipping is a much neglected part of the game for amateurs,
and I can assure you, as a new golfer you will have to play
a lot of chip shots. Even good golfers do, but they practice
them often.
You have to keep your eye on the ball and make sure you
strike it in the right place at the right speed to avoid
these mistakes.
These two simple practice techniques will get you prepared
for learning other parts of the game. You probably need to
put in about 50-60 hours just learning to putt and a similar
amount of time on chipping and, of course, the practice
needs to be continued if you want to become a good golfer.
Remember - Tiger Woods, Anikka Sorenstam, David Beckham and
Roger Federer did not become the great sportsmen/women they
are without first learning some basic techniques and you
won't enjoy your game so much without learning how to do it
properly.
Charlie Wallace is a former lecturer and trainer and now
works as a consultant and internet marketer. He has been
playing golf for over 5 years and is a golf fanatic. Sign up
for his free newsletter and free golf ebook -
http://www.start2playgolf.com and visit his blog at
http://www.start2playgolf.com/blog
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