How do people ever get good at golf?

[Anonymous]

I’m mid 40s and picked up golf with a few lessons last summer. I found it so frustrating that I almost quit. Decided to give it another go this summer and have taken a few more lessons and go to the driving range several times a week. I am horrible and don’t know if I’ll ever get to a point where I can play on a course. I just can’t hit two consistent shots in a row and can’t hit my driver and woods at all. I see plenty of people at the range who hit the ball consistently, so have they just been playing for years or does the game just come so much easier for some people than it has for me? I so want to get to a place where I can enjoy the game into my later years but it’s just to frustrating right now. I need some words of encouragement.

[Anonymous]

So you just picked up reading/math/writing and all the rest of your skills with very little practice, too? If you play an instrument well, you didn't practice that either, to any great degree? If you're a surgeon, no practice either?

It takes hundreds, if not many thousands of hours of rigorous instruction and diligent practice, to be good at something. Read The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle.

[Anonymous]

Where are you learning and practicing on the range now?

[Anonymous]

Op here. I go to Needwood and Fallsroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m mid 40s and picked up golf with a few lessons last summer. I found it so frustrating that I almost quit. Decided to give it another go this summer and have taken a few more lessons and go to the driving range several times a week. I am horrible and don’t know if I’ll ever get to a point where I can play on a course. I just can’t hit two consistent shots in a row and can’t hit my driver and woods at all. I see plenty of people at the range who hit the ball consistently, so have they just been playing for years or does the game just come so much easier for some people than it has for me? I so want to get to a place where I can enjoy the game into my later years but it’s just to frustrating right now. I need some words of encouragement.

Focus first on chipping and pitching. Don't use the longer clubs. Watch YouTube videos to pick up pointers. Film yourself now and then to see what your swing looks like. Often, it feels like you are making a particular move, when in fact your body is doing something else.

To save time, instead of going to the driving range just go to a field near your house. Take 20 balls with you. Hit them, then pick them up and repeat.

Yes, it is frustrating, but you will get better if you just keep it up.

[Anonymous]

A good part of it is natural, rest is practice. Are you otherwise athletic with good hand eye coordination? If not it will take more practice. You should also get some basic instruction at the start so you are not practicing the wrong things and developing bad habits. Like many things it’s definitely easier to pick up when you are young but still possible. The biggest problem I see with new players is thinking too much. Just get up there and swing! At most focus on one swing thought at a time. Good luck and have fun.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever played a sport that involved hand-eye coordination? I started playing with three other female co-workers for fun at a 9 hole pitch and putt course (so you only needed a pitching wedge and putter). We would go to the driving range and then play for fun. The two of us who played another sport growing up that involved hand-eye coordination (tennis for me, softball for one friend) easily picked up golf. Not that we are good, but can easily play and not embarrass ourselves. We took lessons and now can play on a regular course. The two who never played a sport with a ball are in great shape (one swam as a kid, one did gymnastics) really struggled to learn to play and still can't play on a regular course.

Go to a 9 hole golf course that is a pitch and putt course (so all par 3) and practice.

[Anonymous]

would agree with the poster above.

If you cant hit the driver, don't hit it. Develop the shorter clubs. Go to the range and taking a wedge and a nine iron. Start with a target that is maybe 50 yards - an area the size of a king size bed and try to hit it 4/5 or not 7/10, then move the target 20 yards, then back, then up, then back, then up

Shorten the swing to do this and focus on trying to swing the same way every time, be precise.

It will get better but the worst thing you can do for your swing is go out and bang a bunch of drivers into the woods. Imagine shooting a basketball. You wouldn't go out and try to shot NBA 3 pointers, you would start with layups and slowly work into longer shots. Same factors at work here. Keep it simple.

[Anonymous]

Op here, thanks for the advice.

[Anonymous]

Watch some YouTube videos on chipping and then go to a range with a couple of clubs and hit a bucket or two of balls just chipping from 30-40 yards. Repeat a few days later until you get the timing down. Then watch videos on hitting wedges from 50-100 yards and head to the range for a couple of sessions. You will be taking “longer swings” but not swinging hard. Golf is all about tempo so watch some videos on that. Take easy swings, don’t try to kill it.

[Anonymous]

The two most important things to know are keep your eye on the ball until after you hit it and follow through.

If you play on a course you must know the rules and etiquette of golf and don’t hold up play.

I get paired with beginners on my local 9 hole course frequently and if they do the above it doesn’t matter how bad they are it’s still fun.

Keep practicing and go ahead and play, you’ll get better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So you just picked up reading/math/writing and all the rest of your skills with very little practice, too? If you play an instrument well, you didn't practice that either, to any great degree? If you're a surgeon, no practice either?

It takes hundreds, if not many thousands of hours of rigorous instruction and diligent practice, to be good at something. Read The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle.

OP probably wants to know how much effort is required to "not suck horribly" at golf, not to be good at it.

[Anonymous]

It's like anything. Improvement is not linear. Start small and master small thinks and there will be large steps along the way.

It's much much easier to get from no ability, to shooting 100 than it is to go from 100 to 90 or 90 to 80 because when you start from scratch you can find improvement everywhere.


OP, I would continue to go out, hit balls, work on the shorter clubs and then when you can make contact and get the ball in the air it's time for real instruction and then you can make some gains. I have played with people who have been playing for less than 3 years who can shoot in the 80s and I play with people who have been playing for 30 years that can't. In order to play golf you have to really focus on the idea of repeating the same action precisely over and over with little to no variation and that is the challenge.

Have a goal. Hit five balls in a row in the air, hit five balls in a 20 square yard area, hit a ball 100 yards and then do it twice in a row. The more you can turn practice into a series of challenges the better off you will be. It's a great game, don't quit.

[Anonymous]

My husband is a businessman and he with his co-workers play golf on weekends. So that their wives don't get bored, they suggested that we create our own women's golf team. We agreed, and now we play golf together. But I didn't succeed immediately. At first, we didn't become friends with golf and I thought about giving it up. And thanks to a good golf coach, I was able to do it and I was successful in it. By the way, to make the game more exciting, I ordered for myself beautiful clubs and an electric cart that is controlled by a remote (you can watch MGIGOLF). This is very convenient and allows me to save the forces that I need for a good hit.

[Anonymous]

Don't get discouraged OP. I don't play golf any more, but when I used to play I quickly realized there are a lot of really bad golfers out there. It's a hard game. Sure, it comes more naturally to some, but most, including myself, are terrible.

If you want to stick with it, leave the driver and 3 wood at home. These are the hardest clubs to hit. When I used to play, I got laughed at because I was hitting a five wood off the tee of a par 5. Sure, I was a lot shorter than most- a good five wood for me is about 200 -225 yards. While I was shorter, I was also more accurate. Same thing with the irons, these are much easier to hit and will make your round much more enjoyable. I can crush a driver, but more times than not it's crushed into the woods or sliced onto the adjacent fairway.

Golf's a humbling game. As soon as you think you can play it, you'll have a crap game and shoot over a 100. There were a lot of reasons I stopped playing- cost too much money, took too much time, got into other activities that I enjoy more, but one of the deciding factors was that I couldn't come to grips with how inconsistent my game was and as somebody who's competitive by nature, it made the game less fun.