Playing my first round

[mdouet]

I will be playing my first round after a years worth of practice at the range. My main concern is I still don't hit all of my clubs well (can't hit my long irons, hybrids, and driver well). Should I just take these clubs out of my bag and just hit with my mid irons if I have a long shot off the tee, and hit my 3 wood on the tee (will take me longer to get to the green this way, but at least I'll be hitting a shot I'm confident with)?

Also, I don't really have a record of how far I hit each club, although I have a rough estimate for my wedges and 3 wood. What's the best way to determine what club to use for each shot if I don't know my distances yet, should I just take an educated guess, or do you recommend printing out a distance chart and going with the beginner distances to put me in the ball park?

[Dub]

First off....you are to be commended for taking the time to practice on the range and work on your game a good bit before taking it out to a course.

First thing I can say is to have fun playing. Best way to do this is to not spend so much on green fees that it makes it stressful. The difference in cost at the local course here is huge....premium course on a weekend can run you $50 more than a decent course on the weekdays. Keep that in mind...don't let the cost to play be a burden or source of stress.

Forget about keeping a score card....unless you want to keep up with the number of putts per hole/round.

Try to maintain the pace of play....this is critical. You may even have to pick up you ball at times if you are holding up a group behind.....another reason for playing at the "off times".


Take all your sticks....you'll need them all eventually. Don't overswing....stay balanced and swing with confidence....but stay balanced. Take practice swings when time permits prior to hitting a shot. Begin by hitting the clubs you are confident with. If that means teeing off with a 5 iron....then so be it.

Really focus on putting....here will be your big chance to shave strokes.

[goblue107501]

I won't add too much to what Dub said. Do take all of your clubs. You may find that you are doing better than expected and want to hit something you didn't think you would want to.

As for the yardages, just take an educated guess for the first few. After that you should be able to figure it out. My rule of thumb (just mine, not anything I have read or heard) is that each club is roughly 10-12 yard difference. So if on the first hole you have a 140 yard shot to the middle. You hit a 6-iron over the green so you can figure that your 6-iron goes about 150 -155. You can then get a rough estimate on how far each club might go. 6-155, 7-145, 8-135, etc. Like I said, just a rule of thumb, nothing exact. But it should get you a good idea after the first few well struck shots. If you don't think you can remember, just take a piece of paper and write it down. After you play a few times it will all come from memory.

[mdouet]

Good advice, thanks!

Forgot to mention but I do have a Golf GPS (Neo) that I plan to take with me that has a shot distance function, I plan on recording the distances of each of my shots so I can start learning my distances.

[Grogger31]

Forgot to mention but I do have a Golf GPS (Neo) that I plan to take with me that has a shot distance function, I plan on recording the distances of each of my shots so I can start learning my distances.

Can I just suggest that you keep the GPS in your bag for the first few rounds? IMHO, the first few times you get out there, it should really be to get a feel for playing on a real course, paying attention to your tendencies, and keeping up the pace of play.

I think the GPS will just be an unnecessary distraction at first.

[mdouet]

But I've really been itching to use it!

I see where you're coming from though, but I don't see how I'll ever learn my distances if I don't use it, I have absolutely no concept of distance (can't tell how far 10 yards is much less 130 yards).

[BillyG]

There should be some markers on the course that will give you an idea of your distances. It isn't just strictly guessing on the course.

[Smallville]

Forget about keeping a score card....unless you want to keep up with the number of putts per hole/round.

If he doesn't keep score, how will he know what he shot his first time out? I have never

NOT kept score. Ever. I think after a year of hitting on the range, he knows how to hit, if not knowing how far they go. But there is another thread on this subject. Good luck, have a great time, and like others said, keep up the pace. Use the GPS, especially if you have the time. Keep it in the short stuff.

[mad max]

You should try to keep score but don't worry about a bad score. The most enjoyable time in my golf career was when I first started, I would improve my score almost every time out. When I started playing I used the max 10 rule (I wouldn't take more than a 10 on any hole). I would also improve my lie whenever I felt like it and I would occasionally take the ball out of the trees and throw it into the fairway. I also wouldn't take more than 3 puts on any green to keep up the pace of play and also to not get frustrated.

[mdouet]

Well I'm back from my first round. Score-wise I did about as well as I expected, I shot a 50 on a 9 hole par 33 (+17, 2 pars, 1 quadruple bogey, 2 triple bogeys, 3 double bogeys, and 1 bogey), this is after taking a mulligan here and there for really errant shots.

My main frustration was I was absolutely unable to get the ball in the air whatsoever with my wedges or irons (got really lucky one shot where I hit a bouncer and it bounced right over a water hazard). I was hitting them beautifully (nice high draws) at the range the day before, so this was quite disappointing and frustrating not being able to correct it after 9 holes. I haven't hit the ball this poorly in over 6 months, and the only explaintion I can come up with is first time gitters, I defintely felt anxious over each shot and just didn't have any feel in my swing. I'm going to hit the range tonight to try to figure out what I was doing wrong, but my guess is it will probably keep happening until I play enough rounds to get comfortable out there.

All in all it was a fun experience, my wife rode around in the cart with me (while playing her DS), and enjoyed herself as well. I really like this course, it's a cheap 9 hole course ($12 w/ a cart) and very good for beginner players as there are few shots you have to clear a lake and only 1 or 2 bunkers (I managed to miss both of them thankfully). The atmosphere is very relaxed, I had no one behind me so was able to play as slow as I wished. I'm looking forward to going again.

[Dub]

There is an old joke about golf being the game of a lifetime.....that it takes a lifetime to figure out.

Good luck and keep at it.

You are brave, though, gotta give you that. I never would dream of taking my wife on my first rounds.....didn't even do that for a couple of years. I didn't want to expose here to my mumbling and grumbling under my breath and unkind comments made to my ball / club.

[mdouet]

Ha, good point, but I enjoyed having her there, it's funner to have someone to experience your good shots with, and to remind you to keep you head up with you hit a bad shot. :)

[goblue107501]

One thing about hitting good at the range but it not going to the course is this. When you are on the range it is more relaxed and for the most part there is no real target, just hitting the ball downrange. Plus you are hitting the same club 8-10 times in a row so you may sort of get into a groove with that club after a few shots to get the set-up right. When you are on the course, you hit one club, put it away, and then hit something different. This is something that takes some getting used to and it will come the more you play. Just try and transfer you range set-up for your clubs (like where you put a 9-iron in your stance and how hard you might swing) when you hit it good at the range. After a few rounds this will become more second nature than a question mark in your mind.

[billie]

Try changing your range time to course type shots. Hit a driver or 3W then a mid iron followed by a wedge. Switch to an imaginary par 3, 4 and a 5 in varying order. Imagine a trap and hit to miss it. You might find it more interesting and improve your course play at the same time.

Cya and good luck

[Guest]

I played with a buddy who is a brand new golfer just recently. He's been really excited about the game and had the same experience at the range. Went to the course and had a difficult time with skulling alot of his irons. Maybe its different with you, but I had him take a practice swing to find the ground before each shot and it completely changed the way he was hitting the ball. It seemed on all his practice swings he was completely missing the ground with the first swing making the adjustment and hitting the ground with his second practice. He had no difficulty hitting the ball clean after that. The other thing he also had to be a little more thoughtful about every time was where the ball was in his stance at approach. Seemed like he had a tendency to not pay as much attention to that at setup. It might be something that will improve your game and help you hit the ball a little better.

[mdouet]

Now that I think back to my round, I wasn't taking many divots. I had been trying to fix fat shots on the range, maybe I was overcompensating on the course.

Last night I hit the range to try to get my swing back on track and it took me quite a while before I was able to hit it good again, I guess I had built up some bad muscle memory with all the bad shots I hit on the course. The fix for me seemed to be trying to take long divots through the ball and also finishing high. I guess I will have to make these my swing thoughts next time I play.

[mdouet]

I played another 9 holes today and dropped 2 strokes from my score (+15 for 48 strokes: 1 par, 4 bogies, 2 double bogies, 1 triple bogie, and 1 quadruple bogie). I worked at the range last night and this morning and figured out that the cause of my low runners is I wasn't taking a divot through the ball, also I was casting the club. When I played today I focused on these two things and my shots were much better, hit alot of high shots, and even hit a nice drive with my 3W. Another thing that helped was I had a beer before teeing off on the first hole, pretty much got rid of my gitters. I'm looking forward to my next round, hopefully I can make it back out this weekend.