Newbie Golfer's Experiences

Hello.  I actually registered with this forum after reading Kapanda's Golfing Disasters (not too disasterous IMHO -- golf is hard) and wanting to comment.  He (she?  correct me if I'm wrong) suggested I start my own thread on this, so here goes...

My story:  I've been going on a guys' weekend golf / drinking outing for the past 5 years.  We are really drinkers who like to golf rather than golfers who like to drink, but some are better golfers than others and all are better than me.  Last year, I took a couple of golf lessons just so I could swing a club without looking totally pathetic, and I actually made a few good shots on that year's scramble.  This year, I started taking it seriously, and as a result have been bitten by the golf bug.  I started w/ a series of 5 lessons from a pro, and actually bought a set of TopFlite XL clubs for $199.  My pro said they'd be ideal for me and probably last 3-4 years, depending on how serious I got.

After taking a few lessons and going to the range 1-2 times a week, I started walking a local muni (Rockleigh in NJ).  I kept score on 1 round on the 9 hole red course, and put up a 65 on a par 32.  Not great, but I figured I wanted to have a starting point, seeing as I'd never played anything other than scramble matches.

Now, I've been walking the blue course there once a week, and while I don't always keep score (the blue course seems to have had some modifications made, and the Golfshot app doesn't have its current configuration), I have noticed that my shots have been improving.  On Saturday, I made my first par on a par 3 -- was inches away from my first GIR, and bogeyed a couple of other holes.

Perhaps this week I'll hit the red again and keep score to see if I've shaved a few strokes off my previous 65.

As an aside, I also got my wife a lesson with my pro so she could swing a club and join me at the range from time to time.  When I mentioned that I got my first par, she replied that she thought I routinely did that.  She has no idea how hard this game is!

Ahh, another victim!

Just remember, golf is an unending journey and process of discovery, and no one, NO ONE ever masters the game.

Enjoy your trip..

Hey NotPortly,

Great to see there are others in my situation. I started playing (or rather caring more about my score than how many drinks i've had) a month ago. I scored myself honestly for the first time this weekend and shot a very similar score on the 9 holes i played. I'm looking forward to getting some twilight rounds in at my local course (Dyker Beach in Brooklyn).

You mentioned you're using GolfShot - I've tried a bunch of apps and in my humble opinion the iphone oobgolf app is the best as far as stat tracking, the tradeoff is that there's no GPS to automatically gauge distance. For that I use the course explorer function on GolfGPS.

Well that rambled quite a bit huh? Just wanted to say welcome and encourage you to keep posting your experiences.

Welcome to the madness!  I'm also a newb, and have been playing for about six months.  I get to the range 2-3 times a week and have played four 9 hole rounds, carding a 58, a 50, a 60 and a 56 so far.  After a set of lessions, I'm finally getting better ball contact, but the

short game kills me.  Gotta keep at it.

I'm just slightly ahead of you guys.  I started playing regularly about a year ago.  My father-in-law in a single digit handicap, and he gave me his old tommy armour 845s silverscot clubs to use.  Two friends and I have pretty stressful jobs and have found a round or two of golf every weekend is very relaxing, and a good excuse to get outside, enjoy the outdoors, and have a little friendly competition with yourself and your group.  We have all improved at relatively the same rate, but each of us our games go up and down.  I suggest getting some friends to start with you (or your wife) so you are all learning together.  That way, breaking 60 or breaking 50 on 9 holes is a bigger deal in your group, and you can feel like 57 on 9 is a good round if you did a few strokes better than your buddies.  We mostly play 9 holes, and low 50s is a good score for me.  I will occasionally break 50 on a very good day, and will be over 60 on a bad day.  I have yet to break 100 on 18 holes.

Enjoy.

I'm glad I could get a few of us noobs together.  Nice to hear from people who aren't bitching about shooting an 80!

Made the mistake of hitting the range after a very frustrating day at work (people were just dropping the ball everywhere).  Took that rage to the range and had a bad session to show for it.  Apparently I was hitting the wrong round objects with a golf club!

Anyway, yeah, I want to get my wife into it, as well as a friend whose wife took up the game in earnest a year or 2 ago.

Yeah, if you aren't able to focus your energy properly heading to the range after a bad day will just make it worse... also you'll end up reinforcing whatever bad habits you may have. So much of the game is mental, gotta work that focus.

From someone who's been where you guys are a short time ago, it's awesome watching others progress! 5 years ago I was happy with a 110 and not losing 5 or more balls lol. Lots of practice and hard work I am now playing high 80ies. Looking forward to shooting sub 85 in the next month or two!

Good luck and have fun fellas! We're all rooting for your success.