First Golf Experience...

[Vino707]

Today, I played my first ever round of golf at Los Arroyos Golf Club in Sonoma County. It is a 9-hole executive course with a par 29. I shot a 66. Mind you this was my first time ever playing a hole of golf.

I have a big problem with shanking the ball. I can't get my forearms to turnover fast enough for the club face to meet the ball square. I always it with an open face. What would be the best way to stop doing this?

Even though I shot a 66 I still had a blast and can't wait to get back out there. I would really like to correct this and would like some advice from people better than me. Thanks ahead of time.

[scottevans77]

If you can afford it, take some lessons. If not, buy Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. It'll at least give you a good starting point towards building a decent swing.

[CoolBreeze20]

Yep, the best money you will EVER spend will be on a couple half-hour lessons with a local teaching pro. They can get you the basics like grip, stance/posture, and proper swing fundamentals. Good luck!

[Smallville]

In the OP's other posts on other threads, he stated he was taking lessons. For some reason, I looked (I guess since there weren't many to look thru). Normally I wouldn't. He probably should have mentioned again that he was taking lessons.

I'd say to continue with your lessons; if you don't feel that you are getting better, try someone else. Alternatively, if you could get video made of your swing, setup, grip, etc., there are sites you can post them to for free and direct some of these people from the forum to them and have them give you their advice. From what I can tell, there are several on here who can give some very good advice and are only too glad to do so.

[Harry Longshanks]

Today, I played my first ever round of golf at Los Arroyos Golf Club in Sonoma County. It is a 9-hole executive course with a par 29. I shot a 66. Mind you this was my first time ever playing a hole of golf.

Ain't

NOTHING wrong with a 66 on your first time out. There are a few prodigies (and a lot of internet exaggerators), but 66 is a fine place to start. The only thing that matters is that you get a little better each time (or, if your score was higher, did you at least lose fewer balls? ) Raise the issue with your instructor. It's awfully difficult to analyze your swing flaw without seeing it. (Even then, internet amateur instructors [i.e. "I'm not a golf instructor, but I play one on the internet." ] probably aren't the best thing for your swing. Just because someone plays well doesn't mean they can translate that to good recognition and correction advice for others.) Congrats.

[bigmick]

Congrats on your first round! I too am very new to golf, and recently played 9-holes with some friends, shot a 64 (first round since taking up the game seriously, and only 3rd round in my life - the other 2 were over 10 years ago and who knows what those scores were ). One of the guys gave me one of the best advice regarding the scores that I have heard (and was also noted in Harry Longshanks post) - don't concentrate on that score so much, but try to improve that score on your next round, and then your next, and so on. And most important of all - HAVE FUN!!!

[not yet satisfied]

could have been much, much worse. my first round (18) was 108, by no means bragging material, and dont let the shank get in your head.

[Octuple Bogey]

Today, I played my first ever round of golf at Los Arroyos Golf Club in Sonoma County. It is a 9-hole executive course with a par 29. I shot a 66. Mind you this was my first time ever playing a hole of golf.

Good for you! Glad you are enjoying the game. I wouldn't worry about the high score too much since you are just starting. 66 really isn't that bad for a total newbie. I think my first score on a nine hole executive course was something like 80 or 90.

As for the shanking thing I really can't help you there because I don't know what causes it. A few years ago I was occasionally shooting 18 hole rounds on standard courses in the 70s and I was still shanking a ball every now and then. Everything would be going great, hadn't shanked one for weeks, and then boom... I shank a ball into the worst possible place. It is really frustrating when it happens.

[BillyG]

Same here! My first "scored" round was a 66 on 9 holes. But I was smiling when I was done. I had a good time. The weather was nice, good friends with me. My second round was a 64. I felt like I played much better. Had a good time. Trying to get out to my third run around here as soon as I can.

[Mr.Wedge]

From my experience, sh**ks are caused by trying to manipulate club position with the hands. It's important early in the process to think of swinging the club, not hitting the ball with your hands. If you are still taking lessons, raise the issue with your teacher, and good luck.

[Vino707]

Thanks all for the great advice. I will probably be taking proper lessons sometime in October. Thanks again.

[mdouet]

Congrats on your first round, I'm right there with you having played my 3rd round over the weekend. My first round I shot a 50 (par 33 9 hole course), but didn't really feel like I was playng golf as all of my shots were really low and my ball basically bounced to the green on every shot. This was very frustrating because at the driving range I can hit nice high straight shots. My second round was a bit better, got more shots airbourne, but still low, but my score was better, shot a 48. This week was my worst yet, every shot was low again, and despite improving on my short game (only 3 putted twice, got up and down twice), I shot a 52.

I plan on getting with my instructor to see what's causing these low shots so I can fix them when they happen again in the future. My guess is it's nerves, when I'm at the range it's very low stress since I know if I mess up I have 100 other balls to hit, when you're out there on the course you have one shot to hit it right, that added pressure can lead to some bad shots if you don't have a consistant swing grooved.