(October 2008)
As the year turned to Autumn my constant practice bore fruit, I broke 100, 98 to be exact. It was time to get a handicap.
On winter tee's a month or so later I played with the handicap secretary for my third card, none of the cards troubled the 100 mark and I was dully returned with a 28.0 handicap.
That was pretty much it for the year, with temp tee's, temp greens and fair way mats, I found out that I was a fair weather golfer and as the nights drew in, I forgot about golf and went back to playing crap computer games for the winter. Never a thought as to practicing my short game, hell who needed a short game if you can't hit the damn ball straight?
Looking back on the year I had some great moments.
Top of the list was actually playing Seaton Carew with a group from the Golf Magic forum, the wind was like nothing I had experienced, it was links golf, it was hard! I lost more balls than I scored stable ford points but it was a great day out.
First birdie and breaking 100, key moments.
Getting rid of my G2 driver for a Taylor-Made R7 draw with regular shaft and 10.5 loft (loved that club).
But also looking back I wasted most of that years time on the range bashing in-effective balls with poor technique after sabotaging my lessons with self help.
My original naive thoughts of reaching single figures or even scratch in a couple of years was beginning to break against the rock of reality. But hey I was a proper golf hacker and life was good. I paid my subs for another years golf at the club.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Lesson 4
July 2008
I had a objective for lesson 4, get rid of my slice. Now before we begin I should say mine was not a classic slice that started left and swerved away right. Mine was a push slice. It started either straight or slightly right and swerved further right. It was noticeable in my 6 iron and up, and I still could not hit any iron further than my 6 iron and so seldom tried longer irons. By this time I had a second hand hybrid, and this was particularly bad for slicing.
Anyway, Pete the pro got me working on releasing the club.
This was undoubtedly the correct thing to teach me, unfortunately for me, not for the first time I miss understood the lesson. We were working on rolling the arms, specifically rolling the right wrist across the left wrist.
Now a lot of golfers will tell you that's wrong, they say you should never manipulate the hands and wrists in the release. These golfers are usually more experienced golfers who naturally release the club correctly as a part of their good swings they don't have a slice and for them it's true manipulating the hands sends the ball out with hook spin and is bad.
but..
For a guy who does not close the club face, releasing the club is a key area to learn, even if it has to be unlearned later.
Unfortunately I interpreted this lesson as that I needed to flip the club through the ball while rolling my wrists. This mistake on my part was to cost me 6 months of painful crapness.
As always when a pro watches over you you hit great shots, something to do with the attention you slow down and get it right, after he leaves you speed up and it goes to s**t again.
That was me.
A week after the lesson nothing had changed and I was beginning to doubt the pro, which in hindsight was wrong, it was not him, the problem was all me and my internet self help.
I had one more lesson with Pete before the year was out, and again he had me swinging with feet together trying to give me more time to get a good strike, and as with the last time I hit it great till he went home. Nothing changed it was a waste of both our time.
On the plus side the sheer amount of balls I struck that summer did eventually make a difference, when I look back now I can see that for an over the top flipper I had some pretty good results :D
I had a objective for lesson 4, get rid of my slice. Now before we begin I should say mine was not a classic slice that started left and swerved away right. Mine was a push slice. It started either straight or slightly right and swerved further right. It was noticeable in my 6 iron and up, and I still could not hit any iron further than my 6 iron and so seldom tried longer irons. By this time I had a second hand hybrid, and this was particularly bad for slicing.
Anyway, Pete the pro got me working on releasing the club.
This was undoubtedly the correct thing to teach me, unfortunately for me, not for the first time I miss understood the lesson. We were working on rolling the arms, specifically rolling the right wrist across the left wrist.
Now a lot of golfers will tell you that's wrong, they say you should never manipulate the hands and wrists in the release. These golfers are usually more experienced golfers who naturally release the club correctly as a part of their good swings they don't have a slice and for them it's true manipulating the hands sends the ball out with hook spin and is bad.
but..
For a guy who does not close the club face, releasing the club is a key area to learn, even if it has to be unlearned later.
Unfortunately I interpreted this lesson as that I needed to flip the club through the ball while rolling my wrists. This mistake on my part was to cost me 6 months of painful crapness.
As always when a pro watches over you you hit great shots, something to do with the attention you slow down and get it right, after he leaves you speed up and it goes to s**t again.
That was me.
A week after the lesson nothing had changed and I was beginning to doubt the pro, which in hindsight was wrong, it was not him, the problem was all me and my internet self help.
I had one more lesson with Pete before the year was out, and again he had me swinging with feet together trying to give me more time to get a good strike, and as with the last time I hit it great till he went home. Nothing changed it was a waste of both our time.
On the plus side the sheer amount of balls I struck that summer did eventually make a difference, when I look back now I can see that for an over the top flipper I had some pretty good results :D
Club golfer
In June 2008 I joined my local park land golf club paying reduced sub's for the part year remaining. It's 5 minuets from my door and the pro I had lessons with is based there, that was the clincher really. It's a good course, probably short by modern standards, but with lots of elevation and verity laid out long ago by a distinguished course designer, it's mature with many hazards in the form of trees, water, doglegs and the dreaded out of bounds stakes. Par is 70 comp css is often 69. If you keep it in play it's quite straight forward, if your off line then your gonna find it hard, so it's ideal as a learning ground.
It's down sides are lack of quality practice facilities, old poorly drained greens and it gets very wet in prolonged bad weather.
Still I really enjoy playing the course and with no better course near by it will probably be my home for a long while.
My first round was with my brother who played really well, I on the other hand was just glad to be out there if memory serves I think I may have scored 120 ish.
I soon found that on an evening it was quite deserted and I could go around as a single and just enjoy golf without any pressure.
My memories of that time are of visiting the right of the course a lot and just being frustrated at my inconsistent golf, but enjoying things all the same.
Any way now I was a member the time had come for another lesson. I was determined to be able to break 100 before I entered any competitions, in fact before I even put in for a handicap.
I had to get rid of my slice.
It's down sides are lack of quality practice facilities, old poorly drained greens and it gets very wet in prolonged bad weather.
Still I really enjoy playing the course and with no better course near by it will probably be my home for a long while.
My first round was with my brother who played really well, I on the other hand was just glad to be out there if memory serves I think I may have scored 120 ish.
I soon found that on an evening it was quite deserted and I could go around as a single and just enjoy golf without any pressure.
My memories of that time are of visiting the right of the course a lot and just being frustrated at my inconsistent golf, but enjoying things all the same.
Any way now I was a member the time had come for another lesson. I was determined to be able to break 100 before I entered any competitions, in fact before I even put in for a handicap.
I had to get rid of my slice.
The big dog and my first 18
(May 2008)
I mean looking back it makes me laugh, the first driver I brought on eBay was a tailor-Made R5 9.5 degrees, stiff shaft for £10. I could not hit it, go figure...
I determined that it was too small a head and so brought a 460c Ping G2 10 degree with adilla Voodoo stiff shaft for £60 off eBay. I could hit that one, well I could hit worm burning slices anyway.
I then got a Ping G2 three wood, you guessed it stiff shaft off eBay.
So I was tooled up with totally the wrong clubs, but I knew no better, even though I should have.
Onto the golf course, well my brothers golf course, my first 18 holes was magical and enjoyed every one of the 150 odd shots I took to get around it. In common with most noobs I remember the one shot that was a stunner, caught a drive on the sweet spot and it went arrow straight found the ball in the green side bunker 260 yards away. Man that felt good! Mind you the three shots getting out of the bunker sucked a bit.
After this I set my first goal, break 100.
I also decided to join my local club even though I did not know anyone there very well.
I mean looking back it makes me laugh, the first driver I brought on eBay was a tailor-Made R5 9.5 degrees, stiff shaft for £10. I could not hit it, go figure...
I determined that it was too small a head and so brought a 460c Ping G2 10 degree with adilla Voodoo stiff shaft for £60 off eBay. I could hit that one, well I could hit worm burning slices anyway.
I then got a Ping G2 three wood, you guessed it stiff shaft off eBay.
So I was tooled up with totally the wrong clubs, but I knew no better, even though I should have.
Onto the golf course, well my brothers golf course, my first 18 holes was magical and enjoyed every one of the 150 odd shots I took to get around it. In common with most noobs I remember the one shot that was a stunner, caught a drive on the sweet spot and it went arrow straight found the ball in the green side bunker 260 yards away. Man that felt good! Mind you the three shots getting out of the bunker sucked a bit.
After this I set my first goal, break 100.
I also decided to join my local club even though I did not know anyone there very well.
Lesson 3
My next lesson with the pro was in hindsight the best lesson I ever had but at the time it felt sadly like a waste of money as little changed.
The best lesson because he gave me a drill that is the best I ever came across and that it took me sadly two years to utilise fully.
The drill was to stand with my feet together and to hit the ball without falling over. Basically it was about balance and tempo and boy I needed it because my lash at the ball was out of control.
Fed by you tube video tips and advice from the internet I was trying a one plane swing and using body rotation and was literally trying my hardest to hit the ball further than I had before. Obviously this was a disaster, I could not understand why I hit a 3 iron the same distance as a 6 iron, I could not understand why I miss hit so many or why they faded so badly when I did hit one, although I was starting to understand and fear the beginners slice.
I was just way, way too fast. Fast in the back swing, fast and out of control in the transition, fast in my lash though the ball. it's hardly surprising that my ball striking was crap.
By slowing me down and getting me to balance and by showing me that I needed to have time and room to hit the ball Pete gave me one of golfs great lessons. It's just a shame I did not listen.
Because I did not improve after the lesson I did not take another one for a month. Instead I continued to try and find a swing through the internet. The good news though is I got out on a real golf course and I got me a driver!!
The best lesson because he gave me a drill that is the best I ever came across and that it took me sadly two years to utilise fully.
The drill was to stand with my feet together and to hit the ball without falling over. Basically it was about balance and tempo and boy I needed it because my lash at the ball was out of control.
Fed by you tube video tips and advice from the internet I was trying a one plane swing and using body rotation and was literally trying my hardest to hit the ball further than I had before. Obviously this was a disaster, I could not understand why I hit a 3 iron the same distance as a 6 iron, I could not understand why I miss hit so many or why they faded so badly when I did hit one, although I was starting to understand and fear the beginners slice.
I was just way, way too fast. Fast in the back swing, fast and out of control in the transition, fast in my lash though the ball. it's hardly surprising that my ball striking was crap.
By slowing me down and getting me to balance and by showing me that I needed to have time and room to hit the ball Pete gave me one of golfs great lessons. It's just a shame I did not listen.
Because I did not improve after the lesson I did not take another one for a month. Instead I continued to try and find a swing through the internet. The good news though is I got out on a real golf course and I got me a driver!!
t'Internet troubles
I believe this is the stage where I avidly started researching the golf swing on the internet, I watched hundreds of video clips, read articles by the score. Started to participate in internet forums asking questions on technique. In between this I kept whacking balls as often as I could often trying to teach myself from the clips I had watched, searching as ever for a better strike, some consistency and to reduce the duff shots that happened with all to a frustrating frequency.
This is when I became aware of different swing models, two plane, one plane, stack and tilt etc, etc. Without the knowledge to know the fundamentally differences this self tinkering did not produce the desired results and by the time of my next lesson with the pro I was a mess of confused swing thoughts.
Looking back it is near suicide to try and assimilate all the guff on you tube when you don't have a clue about the swing, but I guess its all too common and almost impossible not to. Strong minded indeed would be the person who trusts in the pro and does not try to self help via the internet and printed media.
This started a phase of me second guessing my lessons that was to prove wholly destructive to progress.
This is when I became aware of different swing models, two plane, one plane, stack and tilt etc, etc. Without the knowledge to know the fundamentally differences this self tinkering did not produce the desired results and by the time of my next lesson with the pro I was a mess of confused swing thoughts.
Looking back it is near suicide to try and assimilate all the guff on you tube when you don't have a clue about the swing, but I guess its all too common and almost impossible not to. Strong minded indeed would be the person who trusts in the pro and does not try to self help via the internet and printed media.
This started a phase of me second guessing my lessons that was to prove wholly destructive to progress.
Lesson 2
I had my first lesson with the head pro from the local golf club. the lesson was at the local range off the mats. He once again checked my grip explained the different grips, I settled on a baseball grip as the most comfortable. He explained about posture and standing correctly from the ball. He again put a club down for alignment and then watched me swing.
After 5-6 balls he asked me to hinge my wrists at the top of the back swing. He spent some time explaining the hinging and the pendulum effect releasing the hinge would make. guiding the club in my hands to let me feel the hinge and release.
There followed quite a few miss fires before I finally connected with one and it flew....
No I mean it really flew!
My distance with a 6 iron was normally 100 yards, with this hinge effect it was suddenly 140 yards, a massive difference. I was well chuffed.
Next the pro talked about turning my shoulders and getting into a good back swing position which he again demonstrated by moving me and the club so I could feel what he wanted me to do.
By the end of this lesson my ball flight had changed fundamentally, no longer a pull hook, now it was a fade/slice. But I did not know the difference and was well happy because I was hitting it much, much further.
I paid my money over at the end well satisfied and asked for another lesson in a few weeks to give me time to practice.
And practice I did, ball after ball, day after day, thins, duff, miss hits, occasional solid contacts slicing away right, more miss hits, fats, skies everything possible. But this was all good to me, I was practicing! getting better, training my mussels to swing, it had to be done and I did it.
I guess this was around the time of the masters and watching that on TV just reinforced my desire for the game and I started to know that I had found something that would be with me for a long, long time.
After 5-6 balls he asked me to hinge my wrists at the top of the back swing. He spent some time explaining the hinging and the pendulum effect releasing the hinge would make. guiding the club in my hands to let me feel the hinge and release.
There followed quite a few miss fires before I finally connected with one and it flew....
No I mean it really flew!
My distance with a 6 iron was normally 100 yards, with this hinge effect it was suddenly 140 yards, a massive difference. I was well chuffed.
Next the pro talked about turning my shoulders and getting into a good back swing position which he again demonstrated by moving me and the club so I could feel what he wanted me to do.
By the end of this lesson my ball flight had changed fundamentally, no longer a pull hook, now it was a fade/slice. But I did not know the difference and was well happy because I was hitting it much, much further.
I paid my money over at the end well satisfied and asked for another lesson in a few weeks to give me time to practice.
And practice I did, ball after ball, day after day, thins, duff, miss hits, occasional solid contacts slicing away right, more miss hits, fats, skies everything possible. But this was all good to me, I was practicing! getting better, training my mussels to swing, it had to be done and I did it.
I guess this was around the time of the masters and watching that on TV just reinforced my desire for the game and I started to know that I had found something that would be with me for a long, long time.
Hindsight
Looking back over my beginnings what would I have done differently?
Well not much really. Perhaps I could have taken more time to get to know golf clubs, which clubs were best for a beginner and which brands were which in the grand scheme of things. But in the end by following good advice I got suitable clubs that while they may have been a touch more costly than if I had got them on eBay were the right clubs to start with and which still retain some trade in value to this day.
What I avoided happily, was rushing out and buying an all in one set of cheapo clubs + bag. Which I would have for sure had to replace anyway as I progressed, if not for the performance of them then for the fact that I have a hint of the brand snob about me and would have wanted better clubs sooner rather than later.
The fact is that I have replaced everything I first brought in less than two years, some times multiple times. But you can never be sure your going to stick with something for good, and even if I had brought a top brand right at the start I probably would have still got the wrong spec and had to change later. So buying second hand is the way to go in my opinion and a solid relationship with a good club pro is worth the extra cost of anything you buy from them which is above lowest internet prices.
Well not much really. Perhaps I could have taken more time to get to know golf clubs, which clubs were best for a beginner and which brands were which in the grand scheme of things. But in the end by following good advice I got suitable clubs that while they may have been a touch more costly than if I had got them on eBay were the right clubs to start with and which still retain some trade in value to this day.
What I avoided happily, was rushing out and buying an all in one set of cheapo clubs + bag. Which I would have for sure had to replace anyway as I progressed, if not for the performance of them then for the fact that I have a hint of the brand snob about me and would have wanted better clubs sooner rather than later.
The fact is that I have replaced everything I first brought in less than two years, some times multiple times. But you can never be sure your going to stick with something for good, and even if I had brought a top brand right at the start I probably would have still got the wrong spec and had to change later. So buying second hand is the way to go in my opinion and a solid relationship with a good club pro is worth the extra cost of anything you buy from them which is above lowest internet prices.
My first bats
(April 2008)
The week following my lesson saw me back at the local club pro shop and meeting with Peter the head pro for the first time. I have now known him since that day and can honestly say that a nicer more considerate and helpful pro is unlikely to be found within a hundred miles, in short he is a real gent.
He did not have clubs that day but told me to return in a few days when he would have a set of second hand beginners irons by Callaway for me to try out.
I duly returned a few days later and he gave me the choice of two second hand sets. The first was 3i-sw Callaway Big Bertha irons, regular flex, vintage year 2002 ish. In good condition with new grips. The second set was Yonex with graphite shafts. He leant me the 6 irons from each set so I could hit then at the driving range. So off I went with the two sticks to do my stuff.
I remember in those days a well struck six iron for me reached the 100 yard flag at the range. I distinctly remember being chuffed that I hit the flag with one shot from the yonex 6 iron. But in truth I could not tell any difference between them but I preferred the Yonex for some reason, probably because of the hit flag.
A call to my brother for advice and he came back with a definitive answer.
'Your 35 not 55, your a big bloke as you get better the graphite will be too soft for you, go with the Callaway's'
Not knowing better I took his advice which in hindsight was correct.
Back to the Pro shop and after say goodbye to £150 and arranging a lesson, I was finally a golfer, well finally a hacker anyway!
That weekend my Bro took me to a huge range and shop in a city close to where we live and after testing out the Callaway's on the range I went shopping and added a putter, some balls, tee's, shoes, a bag, pitch mark repairer and a glove to my collection of equipment. Not a cheap shopping trip, in fact golf is not a cheap sport to get start but I already knew that this was no passing fancy so the cost was coughed up without resentment.
Later in the day I got my first experience on the course as my brother smuggled me onto his home track for three holes in the rain. I hacked it around keeping my left arm straight and loved it despite hitting it half the distance of my brother. It also showed me that the game on a course is a lot more interesting than the game of whack it at the driving range.
It finally made up my mind that I would join my local club when I got past the embarrassing noob phase.
What I did not realise at the time is how long that phase would last!
The week following my lesson saw me back at the local club pro shop and meeting with Peter the head pro for the first time. I have now known him since that day and can honestly say that a nicer more considerate and helpful pro is unlikely to be found within a hundred miles, in short he is a real gent.
He did not have clubs that day but told me to return in a few days when he would have a set of second hand beginners irons by Callaway for me to try out.
I duly returned a few days later and he gave me the choice of two second hand sets. The first was 3i-sw Callaway Big Bertha irons, regular flex, vintage year 2002 ish. In good condition with new grips. The second set was Yonex with graphite shafts. He leant me the 6 irons from each set so I could hit then at the driving range. So off I went with the two sticks to do my stuff.
I remember in those days a well struck six iron for me reached the 100 yard flag at the range. I distinctly remember being chuffed that I hit the flag with one shot from the yonex 6 iron. But in truth I could not tell any difference between them but I preferred the Yonex for some reason, probably because of the hit flag.
A call to my brother for advice and he came back with a definitive answer.
'Your 35 not 55, your a big bloke as you get better the graphite will be too soft for you, go with the Callaway's'
Not knowing better I took his advice which in hindsight was correct.
Back to the Pro shop and after say goodbye to £150 and arranging a lesson, I was finally a golfer, well finally a hacker anyway!
That weekend my Bro took me to a huge range and shop in a city close to where we live and after testing out the Callaway's on the range I went shopping and added a putter, some balls, tee's, shoes, a bag, pitch mark repairer and a glove to my collection of equipment. Not a cheap shopping trip, in fact golf is not a cheap sport to get start but I already knew that this was no passing fancy so the cost was coughed up without resentment.
Later in the day I got my first experience on the course as my brother smuggled me onto his home track for three holes in the rain. I hacked it around keeping my left arm straight and loved it despite hitting it half the distance of my brother. It also showed me that the game on a course is a lot more interesting than the game of whack it at the driving range.
It finally made up my mind that I would join my local club when I got past the embarrassing noob phase.
What I did not realise at the time is how long that phase would last!
lesson 1
(April 2008)
A Tuesday evening saw my first ever lesson and third ever time at the range. The assistant pro had me waft at a few balls and then checked my grip. that was fine apparently, all good.
Next he said keep your left arm straight when you swing back, so I did.
Thwack... Joy I hit it and it actually went straight.
That was pretty much it, 15 minuets one or two pieces of advice and him watching me waft at the ball. £12.50 please and thanks very much!
In hindsight it was not the greatest first lesson but I was too happy to know that or care. One or two good looking shots had been the result of the lesson and I was further bitten by the golf bug.
Now I was itching to get my hands on some clubs.
A Tuesday evening saw my first ever lesson and third ever time at the range. The assistant pro had me waft at a few balls and then checked my grip. that was fine apparently, all good.
Next he said keep your left arm straight when you swing back, so I did.
Thwack... Joy I hit it and it actually went straight.
That was pretty much it, 15 minuets one or two pieces of advice and him watching me waft at the ball. £12.50 please and thanks very much!
In hindsight it was not the greatest first lesson but I was too happy to know that or care. One or two good looking shots had been the result of the lesson and I was further bitten by the golf bug.
Now I was itching to get my hands on some clubs.
So how do you become a golfer?
(April 2008)
So how do you become a golfer?
I was not a member of a course and I knew that membership cost money. None of my friends played golf, I came from an climbing/biking background golf was alien to that. The only golfer I knew well was my brother so I sought his advice.
'Just get a cheap set of clubs, knock it around on the driving range and get a lesson or two and then I'll take you out on the course'
I also turned as I always do to the internet for knowledge, specifically internet forums, that where I found the Golf Magic forum which I was to lurk on for many hours in the beginning.
'just get a cheap set of clubs'
That seamed the obvious start as without clubs your not really a golfer are you!
So into research mode I went and quickly drowned in a sea of new information that made little sense. New brands about which I knew nothing of their relative market position, names and numbers for clubs that meant nothing to me, beginner irons, improver irons, blades, cavity backs, etc, etc. which numbers and names are for beginners clubs? Second hand, custom fit.
The learning curve was just too steep for my impatience, I needed guidance.
The next day saw me quite nervously approach the pro shop at our local golf course. A young assistant pro was behind the counter.
We had a chat, the pro was on vacation, he may be able to find me a second hand set of irons when he was back, in the mean time the assistant could give me a lesson using a demo 6 iron.
Result! the journey was on the move.
So how do you become a golfer?
I was not a member of a course and I knew that membership cost money. None of my friends played golf, I came from an climbing/biking background golf was alien to that. The only golfer I knew well was my brother so I sought his advice.
'Just get a cheap set of clubs, knock it around on the driving range and get a lesson or two and then I'll take you out on the course'
I also turned as I always do to the internet for knowledge, specifically internet forums, that where I found the Golf Magic forum which I was to lurk on for many hours in the beginning.
'just get a cheap set of clubs'
That seamed the obvious start as without clubs your not really a golfer are you!
So into research mode I went and quickly drowned in a sea of new information that made little sense. New brands about which I knew nothing of their relative market position, names and numbers for clubs that meant nothing to me, beginner irons, improver irons, blades, cavity backs, etc, etc. which numbers and names are for beginners clubs? Second hand, custom fit.
The learning curve was just too steep for my impatience, I needed guidance.
The next day saw me quite nervously approach the pro shop at our local golf course. A young assistant pro was behind the counter.
We had a chat, the pro was on vacation, he may be able to find me a second hand set of irons when he was back, in the mean time the assistant could give me a lesson using a demo 6 iron.
Result! the journey was on the move.
'You should get out more'
(March 2008)
'You should get out more'
That was the start of it all, those were my wife's words as yet another night past with me glued to the laptop screen shooting virtual solders in a virtual online world.
Sat on the couch, I was momentarily distracted and got shot by somebody playing the same game on the other side of the world, game over.
I would like to say I jumped up and immediately transformed my life after some revelation of the truth that I was wasting my life away. But that's not how it happened, it did however make me think for a minuet and I replied to my wife;
'Yes your right, maybe I should take up golf'
Unfortunately it took me nearly a year after first thinking it to actually doing anything about it. During the year I came across people that played the game and mentioned a few times that I was thinking of taking it up.
We even went to the local golf club on new years eve with friends and when I mentioned my plan to take up the game I was encouraged with lots of good advice.
The advice ran along the grounds of get some lessons from a pro it will stop you developing bad habits and get you started on the right track.
That seamed like common sense and the golf club seamed friendly enough. Actually that almost surprised me because as a young man I would have perceived it as a place of wealthy stuck up tossers and not gone near the place. In truth I had probably become one of them (well maybe not so much the wealthy bit) and no longer needed to feel antipathy towards middle class white guys of a certain age :D
Anyway after that good experience I decided to wait for the spring weather and figure out how to take some lessons.
A weekend in Mid March of 2008 and my brother phoned a bit out of the blue; 'So you want to go up to the driving range and hit a few balls?'
My brother played golf at a club and had all the equipment, as the weather was set fair, the time was right and in 30 minutes I was stood with a basket of golf balls in a little covered bay on a local driving range.
I teed up a ball at Martin's suggestion and taking an iron had a waft at it. Surprisingly it did not move, which rather put me out at the time. Cue more wafts until it did move, all I remember is lots of swinging and lots of duffs and a few hits which started off leftish and span right to left. My brother was hesitant to give out advise (which I praise him for now) all he did was put a club down for me along the target line and tell me to line up parallel to it.
I loved it. Swish, miss, swish duff, waft hit, swoosh miss... proper beginners golf... It was ace. I got the bug badly in less than an hour.
I was going to become a golfer!
'You should get out more'
That was the start of it all, those were my wife's words as yet another night past with me glued to the laptop screen shooting virtual solders in a virtual online world.
Sat on the couch, I was momentarily distracted and got shot by somebody playing the same game on the other side of the world, game over.
I would like to say I jumped up and immediately transformed my life after some revelation of the truth that I was wasting my life away. But that's not how it happened, it did however make me think for a minuet and I replied to my wife;
'Yes your right, maybe I should take up golf'
Unfortunately it took me nearly a year after first thinking it to actually doing anything about it. During the year I came across people that played the game and mentioned a few times that I was thinking of taking it up.
We even went to the local golf club on new years eve with friends and when I mentioned my plan to take up the game I was encouraged with lots of good advice.
The advice ran along the grounds of get some lessons from a pro it will stop you developing bad habits and get you started on the right track.
That seamed like common sense and the golf club seamed friendly enough. Actually that almost surprised me because as a young man I would have perceived it as a place of wealthy stuck up tossers and not gone near the place. In truth I had probably become one of them (well maybe not so much the wealthy bit) and no longer needed to feel antipathy towards middle class white guys of a certain age :D
Anyway after that good experience I decided to wait for the spring weather and figure out how to take some lessons.
A weekend in Mid March of 2008 and my brother phoned a bit out of the blue; 'So you want to go up to the driving range and hit a few balls?'
My brother played golf at a club and had all the equipment, as the weather was set fair, the time was right and in 30 minutes I was stood with a basket of golf balls in a little covered bay on a local driving range.
I teed up a ball at Martin's suggestion and taking an iron had a waft at it. Surprisingly it did not move, which rather put me out at the time. Cue more wafts until it did move, all I remember is lots of swinging and lots of duffs and a few hits which started off leftish and span right to left. My brother was hesitant to give out advise (which I praise him for now) all he did was put a club down for me along the target line and tell me to line up parallel to it.
I loved it. Swish, miss, swish duff, waft hit, swoosh miss... proper beginners golf... It was ace. I got the bug badly in less than an hour.
I was going to become a golfer!
Introduction
I started playing golf at the age of 35, very quickly got hooked on the game and on practicing at the driving range. Being in my opinion naturally above average athletically, I assumed that I would play golf to a high standard relatively quickly .
After all you hear these stories of people taking the game up and shooting sub 80 rounds within six months.
Alas it was not to be, I quickly found that golf for me is not as easy as it looks and that my journey to a low handicap would take some considerable time if it was even possible!
But although my beginners naivety is long past my ultimate goal remains to become a single figure handicap golfer with one caveat. I have to still enjoy the game.
In my few years of playing I have seen far too many players who although they are for sure addicted are also miserable at their performance or lack of progress. I want to enjoy myself in the good and the bad times. So if I ever get totally negative in this future blog please remind me of this goal and tell me to take a break or quit :D
Now I'm just into my third year as a golfer, but I have a good memory (for something's) and I remember my journey and lessons very well, so I will start this blog at the beginning and recount my golf journey from the start, in the hope that it may provide any new players with some nuggets of good advice and an awareness of potential pitfalls along the way.
Anyway, it will be fun for me to reminisce :p
After all you hear these stories of people taking the game up and shooting sub 80 rounds within six months.
Alas it was not to be, I quickly found that golf for me is not as easy as it looks and that my journey to a low handicap would take some considerable time if it was even possible!
But although my beginners naivety is long past my ultimate goal remains to become a single figure handicap golfer with one caveat. I have to still enjoy the game.
In my few years of playing I have seen far too many players who although they are for sure addicted are also miserable at their performance or lack of progress. I want to enjoy myself in the good and the bad times. So if I ever get totally negative in this future blog please remind me of this goal and tell me to take a break or quit :D
Now I'm just into my third year as a golfer, but I have a good memory (for something's) and I remember my journey and lessons very well, so I will start this blog at the beginning and recount my golf journey from the start, in the hope that it may provide any new players with some nuggets of good advice and an awareness of potential pitfalls along the way.
Anyway, it will be fun for me to reminisce :p
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