New to Golf!

[DakotaDarkhorse]

Been a while since I've joined a new forum but have always enjoyed using forums for my other hobbies. So here I am! Like the title says, I played my first round of golf last summer at 38. I always thought it was boring and not a "real" sport as a younger guy. I'm crazy about it now even though I'm terrible at it! I can't hit consistently at all and my driver in particular is 99% of the time a wicked slice. It does go far when I hit it either. I've had no lessons YET, and been trying to teach myself how to swing properly  via the handful of times I got on the course last year and watching hundreds of videos on YouTube. Looking forward to this up coming season to play more and learn. Replaced my Wilson Profile box set with Cobra Air X box set and got a membership at my local course for this next year!

[DakotaDarkhorse]

I forgot to mention, I'm from South Dakota, US!

[Vinsk]

Hello and welcome to TST! South Dakota? Wow! It must be frustrating to love golf and only have a three month golf season.😃 You can get top notch advice here on your swing. You can create a ‘My Swing’ thread and post videos ( use YouTube) and some wonderfully intelligent golf heads will get you on your way! Cheers!

[DakotaDarkhorse]

Thank you! It's not quite that bad lol. We played in October yet but it was pretty chilly. It was unfortunate that my first time out on an actual course playing which started the love of the game.... was in late summer. I so wished I had played earlier in spring so I could have gotten more rounds in. Well really if I'm honest, I wish I'd have tried golf years and years ago!

As for the swing video I saw that section and it peaked my interest for sure. Could be pretty embarrassing to share my video but it is what it is!

[dennyjones]

Welcome to TST.   🏌️‍♀️

[Nave]

Welcome to TST!

You’re not terrible at golf 🙂, it is how almost everyone starts the journey to this fun and addictive game.

[DakotaDarkhorse]

Thanks. Maybe not terrible, but certainly untrained and don't know what I'm doing yet!

It certainly is addictive. I'm hooked already!

Edited February 18, 2023 by DakotaDarkhorse

[pganapathy]

Welcome to the forum.  You will enjoy it and can learn a lot here.

If time and money permit it, I would suggest getting professional lessons.  Yes, being self taught does help in certain cases, but a lot of the time you are ingraining bad habits

[ChetlovesMer]

10 hours ago, DakotaDarkhorse said:

As for the swing video I saw that section and it peaked my interest for sure. Could be pretty embarrassing to share my video but it is what it is!

Naw, don't worry about it. 

I'm 52 and been playing golf for around 30 years and I've gone through streaks where I can't break 100. I've also had streaks where I regularly break 80. (I've never shot par or better.) I'm a fan of having a lot of video of your swing. Video when you're hitting well AND video when you are hitting it poorly. 

The good thing about having video when you're hitting it well is you can use it as a reference.
The good thing about video when you're hitting it poorly is often there's a lot of low hanging fruit to grab and correct. 

While sometimes there's some light-hearted banter, nobody on this forum will openly mock your swing. Plus, the simple act of taking the video and posting it will help your swing. You'll likely be surprised at what jumps out at you as areas to fix. 

[DakotaDarkhorse]

5 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Naw, don't worry about it. 

I'm 52 and been playing golf for around 30 years and I've gone through streaks where I can't break 100. I've also had streaks where I regularly break 80. (I've never shot par or better.) I'm a fan of having a lot of video of your swing. Video when you're hitting well AND video when you are hitting it poorly. 

The good thing about having video when you're hitting it well is you can use it as a reference.
The good thing about video when you're hitting it poorly is often there's a lot of low hanging fruit to grab and correct. 

While sometimes there's some light-hearted banter, nobody on this forum will openly mock your swing. Plus, the simple act of taking the video and posting it will help your swing. You'll likely be surprised at what jumps out at you as areas to fix. 

I was more so meaning because I haven't had any real instruction on how to properly swing so I feel like it may be too early to even post a video until I can swing consistently. Sounds like maybe that's not the case though. Just how I feel. Doesn't make me right though! Lol

You make some good points about recording your swing though! Never thought about once I can get to a point of swinging well that I could use it as a reference if the swing starts to fall off a bit.

As far as the light-hearted banter. I can handle that. I've always been a person who surrounds himself with people who if they aren't giving you crap regularly... I start to wonder if they're even really my friends! Lol Everyone I've golfed with here locally has been kind and not been too harsh when I whiff on the ball, top it, or put it far right. Thankfully there has been some improvement so that helps!

[boogielicious]

@DakotaDarkhorse, our site owner, @iacas created the practice plan below during the first couple of months of the pandemic lockdown. It is a great place to start to really learn about the golf swing and short game. The contain easy drills. Check it out.

 

[DakotaDarkhorse]

Will do! Thank you for pointing me in that direction.