High school golf

Hello Awesomeeye,

Welcome to the game of golf. Before I retired a few years ago, I coached girls' golf and also have a daughter who lettered 4 years in high school. Here are some things I would recommend.

1) Understand that getting good at golf is a long process, and it will take time.

2) Get yourself a good teacher and get some lessons.

3) If your dad (or mom) is a golfer, ask them to take you to the range to hit balls, or to the course for 9 or 18 holes.

4) Find a friend from your school with similar interests and get them to play along with you.

5) Read golf books and magazines starting with. "Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella.

Best of luck and happy golfing.

Welcome to the site.  And did you come to the right place!  The best advice I can give you is to go to the MySwing folder, read the directions for videoing your swing, and start a swing thread.  You will get some of the finest golf instructional minds looking at your video and giving you their feedback and suggest ways to improve through focused practice.

Good luck and again, welcome to the site.

High school golf is a ton of fun, but the fastest way I found to improve while playing it was to become friends with the #1 player and play with them a lot. You'll see the things they do that you could also do to improve, as well as give yourself a benchmark to try and work towards and (eventually) beat. In addition, it's always more fun to practice and play with a friend or group of friends from the golf team.

Make a "My Swing" thread asap, you will get some really good advice for free.

Depending on your school, you may be able to make the team now.  My daughter is 15 and shoots around 45 for 9 holes with her best 9 being a 43.  She's only been playing for 18 months but just finished her first year on the high school team.  The way she improved was by practicing and playing.  First, get some lessons to help with your swing.  But the most important thing is to go out and play.  Also, try and find some local junior tournaments and go play in them.  Nothing beats the experience of playing in a competitive match.  My daughter played in several this summer and it helped her a great deal in learning how to deal with pressure.

If you are limited on your time, focus on your putting and short game and course management.  I see a lot of girls on my daughters team at the driving range just hitting their irons and woods.  I don't see them working on their wedges, chips, sand or putting.  My daughter works a lot on her short game and putting.

The other thing is to track your statistics when playing.  Find where you are loosing shots, this will help you know what you need to practice on.