10 Steps To Take If You Want To Learn To Play Golf Right Now

There is more to playing golf than taking a club out of the bag and hitting that little white ball. It sounds very easy until you actually do it and find that even if you manage to avoid an air shot you top the ball along or ground or it shoots off in all directions. You need to understand the object of the game obvious as it might seem. You need to play 9 or 18 holes, starting each hole on the tee and finishing with the ball in the hole.

• If you do that you must understand how to score. A score is purely a number but you should understand the meaning of some golf terms. Par is the score that you should ideally be able to achieve on each hole. Birdie is one les, bogey one more and double, treble and so on applied to bogey for higher scores. As a novice you can expect a few of these. When you beat par the term is ‘birdie’ and even better ‘eagle’ for two below par.


• If you get to know the course you will improve gradually. That means understanding the hazards you face and trying to avoid them. Your aim should be to hit fairway and green without straying into trouble, whether water, sand or rough.


• You need to understand the clubs in your bag, woods including driver, your range of irons and when to use each and of course arguably the most important club in the bag, your putter; it is certainly the club you will use most frequently once you become proficient in the game.


• To become proficient you need to develop a consistent swing. That begins by learning a good balanced stance as you address the ball. That is something that a teaching professional will certainly help you with. Generally you need to be properly aligned creating straight angle in your back and with knees slightly bent you need to rotate well in order to strike the ball well.


• It is your body that does the work in your swing; your arms, hands and club follow your body rotation.


• Balance is crucial as you swing the club, taking it back to the high point before releasing it to hit the ball.


• You need to transfer your weight through your rotation, finishing with a follow through as long as the back swing.

When it actually comes to playing the game, the challenge starts on the first tee:

• Players will play in a defined order on the first tee and continue around the course in an order defined by what happened on the previous hole.


• The order of play on the hole itself is determined by distance from the pin.


• You follow the scorecard proceeding to the next tee when you have finished the previous one.

Golf is a great game. Certainly it is frustrating at times and if you are determined to improve then you will have to practise. Perhaps it is time to start?