Things you wish you would have known when you started

[Dave]

Never follow a bad shot with a stupid shot ...

[edingc]

Course management is a big thing that I wish I had learned right away. When my score goes skyward it's a result of poor shot choices.

But hands down the biggest thing I have learned over the last few years is that what works for some doesn't for others. Sometimes I wish I could drive the ball 300 yards, but I've gotten used to hitting it shorter and finding a way to the hole.

[enis750]

trying to get back to a 1 hcp after not cometitively playing for years is hard...really hard

if life tosses you an opportunity, take it
i had lots of opportunity to be doing this professionally (or at least trying to)

i decided that "being" cool in H/S and getting myself in sh*t w the law was a better idea

[Knockglock]

take a divot. hit down on the ball and it will go up. you'll never be able to get your club face lower than the ground, that's what loft is for.

This is a great one! I really wish someone had told me about this when I was just starting. It seems so obvious but for some reason I didn't figure it out until I read all about the details of it online.

[TheJuice]

One that is simple and not very important/useful...
"It is better to miss long in putting than short, at least that way you have a chance of it going in."
Although this is not an extremely important one and might not always apply based on the set up, it always sticks in my head from my first instructor I had when I was 10. I usually use it to make sure I have a solid stroke instead of a sissy one that is on line but falls a foot short always making me regret not hitting it a touch harder, and thinking "If only..."

[Thaddy]

My list is pretty simple...

1. Proper grip, stance, and posture.
2. Practice putting and chipping. These are your scoring clubs.

[tm22721]

I wish I had ignored mechanics and stayed with feel.

When I first started, I discovered a feel for good swing dynamics through experimentation.

When I started taking lessons I lost the feel and have not been able to get it back since.

[Methadrol]

im just starting out, so this thread is golden knowledge for me. keep it going

[Adumb]

Get a pass if I'm going to play once a week. Get a driving range pass if I'm going 3 days a week. Could have saved me all kinds of money, lol.

[mm6840]

All those information is good/great ! But I doubt it if can really help (at the start). Because one can't trully understand all that (simple) information. They think they do ... but they don't !
From my point of view ... follow just one "approach" of swing at the time; practice just one part at the time and then move to the next ... But for that you should first know what's the yours swing about(best tool concept/theory and video).

Cheers,
M

[Methadrol]

i can go to the driving range for free :D

[JtotheD]

1. Keep right leg flex (swing in a barrel).

2. Don't let weight get outside right foot.

2. Get an athletic stance.

3. Hit the little ball before the big one!

[Clambake]

Things I wish I knew:

1. Clubs are a miniscule part of the money I'd spend trying to learn and play this #$@% game

2. The beer cart girls aren't flirting only with me - they do that to everyone. #$%&, another fantasy blown

3. I should have stayed with basketball - I've never lost a ball on the court

[goblue107501]

Two things for me.

1. To learn how to not hit every club hard. Starting out, I only knew one way to hit a club -- hard. If it worked, great, if not, oh well. Now I can hit any club a variety of distances without just hitting the ball hard. 5-6 years ago, a friend taught me how to choke down and abbreviate the backswing to control the distance. It has helped me tremendously in the past couple of years and I am to the point where I can hit any club to any distance within 3-4 yards (provided I make a good swing and good contact).

2. Take lessons even if you think you don't need to. My game got much better after a series of lessons with a good pro. I wish I would have taken lessons a few years before I did. Now I am married and have kids to the money for lessons just isn't there anymore. When I was single, the money was there.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Remove your driver, woods, and hybrids from your bag. Learn to swing the irons first (including the long irons--go out an buy a 2 iron.) Once you are comfortable with your irons, only then attempt to start hitting woods.

[mdl]

I can't say that I'm a pro or anything, but I've been paying for a while now...

I feel the same way. That one (or zero) hole(s) where you make the low-percentage shot doesn't make up for the 2, or 4, or 8 strokes you give away trying the shot you can't hit a high percentage with on other holes.

For me, the two things were: 1) We all love those eagle putts or the super short pitches in on the 3rd shot in a par 5, but hitting a 3 wood when you're in big trouble more than 10 yards off in even one direction is a bad play even at my current level, which is generally about mid 80s+ 2) If you spend your time at the range working on the basic mechanics and so only really have one shape (your natural one) that's high percentage, don't hope you magically will be able to fade your 2nd shot into the green on that dog leg hole where you ended up on the wrong side of the fairway. Club down, go for as close a pitch as you can get with your natural shape, and hope for the up and down. Actually, there's a third: 3) Don't putt with your hands! Get your speed from the weight of the pendulum and keep your hands and forearms out of it. Cutting out the three or four putts 8-10 feet past the whole has taken a couple strokes off my score, and has let me work more on reading the green and keeping a repeatable stroke so I can try to put it exactly where I'm aiming.

[enduro]

I wish I would have known the golf swing is easy, made complicated by humans.

I don't mean it's easy like Sunday morning or something. But that we over complicate things.

The swing isn't this big complex puzzle. It's a few critical movements that must be executed and everything else falls into place. Through repetition of these fundamentals we can develop a pretty decent, serviceable swing that can be built on to really learn to play golf.

[woodzie264]

Never follow a bad shot with a stupid shot ...

that is well put - I'll use that line frequently!