My Girlfriend's First Lesson

Today my girlfriend/fiancée/whatever-she-is (in a good way) had her first group golf lesson. But let me first go back in time a little bit...

When I was still living in Florida, but planning to move back to PA to be with her, we talked about things we could do together. Carey's not one to have too many hobbies, so I offered to loan her some of mine. Golf was one of 'em. She played a round on a par-3 course and shot something like 54 on nine holes.

I came up a month or so later and we got the works: some Square 2 clubs (with hybrid 3I/4Is), a putter, a bag... some pink balls. Even some headcovers, putter headcover, towel (with a pink ribbon for breast cancer on it).

We went to a driving range and hit some balls. I didn't try to show her too much - just tried to get her to swing through the ball and to hinge her wrists on her backswing (she was keeping everything - wrists, elbows - locked). She did well, missed the ball a few times, etc.

We played the front nine at a local course, Green Meadows Golf Course , and we didn't count her misses but we counted everything else. She four-putted just about everything, but nearly made a birdie on a 160-yard downhill par 3 - her chip hit the stick and bounced away. She shot 73 - I figured that was pretty impressive for someone playing for the first time. Par 36.

She hit solid shots, and the good ones went over 150. All of them were pretty much dead straight. On eight, she hit a gorgeous shot with a touch of draw at the end. It sounds corny, but I knew at that moment we'd have a good long life golfing together. The shot was almost as beautiful as she is.

We went to the local Golf Dome another time or two to hit balls indoors. Then we played a very difficult course - very hilly and long - on a horrible day: 50 degrees at best, rainy, windy - and she shot an honest 80. I wasn't really trying to correct much - just give her some swing thoughts like "brush the top of the grass" and whatnot. I was happy to enjoy her company and let her, hopefully, enjoy mine. I played well and barely broke 45 - the weather was just horrible.

At this point, she started joking with me about how I was pushing her a little - she knows I'm sensitive to it, so she likes to egg me on. She was getting frustrated though - I'd tell her she was doing well, and most beginners would be happy to be hitting the ball as solidly and straight as she has at times. She thought I was just being nice...

I knew it'd probably be relationship suicide (or at leat not a happy thing) to continue to teach her myself. I have a knack for it, but there's something to be said for seeking professional help, after all. Part of her birthday present was a series of four one-hour group lessons at the dome.

So today (well, yesterday I guess) was her first lesson. She showed up and a mother and her two daughters (say, 50 and 25-ish, 22-ish) showed up. I babysat and tried my hardest not to watch the lesson, per her request.

Her recap: first the instructor/pro/dude showed the ladies how to grip the club (one of two ways), and how moving the grip to the right can make shots go left, and vice versa. Then he told them "most people's first swing looks like this" and then made an ugly swing and said "but that's OK, because everyone has to start somewhere."

He then said "okay, you try" and Carey was up with her 7-iron. The dome is about 110 yards long or so, and she stepped up and belted one right to the edge. The pro said "wow, uhhh, you've only played twice? That was pretty good" and then gave her a bit of information about keeping her left foot down on the backswing (she was lifting it a little).

The other ladies all hit and, according to Carey, couldn't really swing around their, uhhhh, breasts well enough to hit the ball. The pro had captured all of their swings, and showed them all their videos. Carey said she was impressed that her swing didn't look as funny as she felt it looked, and the pro used Carey's swing as the basis for all of the others. Her head stayed right inside the little square (he was using V1 I think) and whatnot. She was pretty consistently hitting her 7I (off the fake grass, not the rubber tee) out to the wall.

The pro telling her she was doing really well and the other women saying "two times? yeah right?!?!" seem to have bolstered her confidence, and now she's quite happy. Before going she said she actually felt somewhat sick over it - she was afraid she'd look silly or bad. So I'm glad the other women were a lot worse - it eased her mind quite a bit.

So, I'm pretty happy. And she is too, which is more important here. After all, I already like golf.