Should I quit? Serious question

[john]

8 times a season in not enough play and/or practice to improve. If you have a good time keep at it, if you want to get better you'll need to play about once a week during your golf season, and hit the range every so often.

I agree with this also. You really need to practice more to get better IMHO. Even getting a net in your backyard does wonders. You can start by just hitting 20 - 30 balls a day.

[pup]

Personally I don't believe you should quit. I played a round with an 89 year old man once, when I had first started playing, and he told me something I will never forget: There are two things in life that are fun even if you're not worth a damn at it: golf and sex.

[sean_miller]

Personally I don't believe you should quit. I played a round with an 89 year old man once, when I had first started playing, and he told me something I will never forget: There are two things in life that are fun even if you're not worth a damn at it: golf and sex.

And eating noodles with chop sticks!!

PS. Combine all 3 then you can die happy.

[GaijinGolfer]

Whether or not you should quit is only an question that you can answer. Sure, you could spend your money on things that take less skill but part of the fun of golf is how hard it is to be good at.
Do what you want and what makes you happy.

[nevets88]

I quit, more than once. You'll find out how much you really like golf if you find you can't stay away.

So many awful instructors out there - I started relying on my own instincts and it's working out better. Still take lessons, but haven't really found an instructor to stick with.

[ks8829]

If your goal is to get better at golf it can be very frustrating especially when you are starting off and trying to break 100. The learning process will try your patience and ultimately see if you have what it takes to stay in the game. I agree that you have to enjoy the round even if you shoot over 110. The only advise I can give you is to go back to basics, grip posture, swing plane, watch videos take it slow and it takes time, anything worth while does. I have been playing for 23 years and love the game more and I am still tinkering with my swing. I discovered that you have to play worse to get better if you are developing a new swing, which I am and understand that it will take hard work, practice and time for it to develop.

1) Have fun
2) practice the basics
3) take small steps
4) relax, don't take it too seriously, you don't have to make a living playing golf
5) correct practice equates to results

[walk18]

If all those instructors have not helped you, drop them. Post your swing here and you may get some free, great advice. What do you have to lose?

[Sincraft]

WOW! Thanks for the replies!
Would have replied sooner but, I was golfing :)

To the last poster about posting my swing, heck I never thought of that. I will surely give it a try.

Went out with my boss, shot a 46 with a lost ball and a bad easy par 5. Guess it wasn't so easy. Only had time for 9.

Short course, par 4's averaged 311 yards. added the 7 up and divided by 7 to get that.

Almost drove 2 short greens, and still bogey'd them. I used to be rather ok with my wedge , now with this new one I'm so bad. Should have kept that 30 year old wedge ! Putting was so so. Had some nice putts. Average drive distance was pretty low. Maybe 250? Alot of wind and some exceedingly high shots brought that down. Wind never seemed to play into my favor until I really needed it to get over a giant clump of trees. Was a very nice shot.

There usually is that one shot that keeps me coming back for more. I think for many of us that is all we need, even on a 110 day. Maybe that is why I hope for better results so much, to have MORE of that. I guess it really is like a drug.

The only thing different I did today, and honestly this day could have been MUCH better without the lost ball or bad par 5, was that I didn't overthink the grip. I read a few tips on here and it really seemed to help.

I do this strange thing that I cover my left upper hand with two fingers instead of just the pinky. The one time I lined up I noticed that I only had one on the left hand, was a short iron. Everything went fairly well, because I didn't second guess myself. I felt some pressure to move quickly as I was with my boss and he didn't have that long to play.

Anyway, thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to keep at it and as suspected, 8 times per year isn't enough. But unless I really let things fizzle out here shortly, I'm already on track to go about 14 times this year. If I break 90, just once, I know it will carry my through the looooooooooooooong winter and force me to get out onto the range.

Glad to see that there are so many like many. Out on the course, pissed at your bad shots...come home , clean the clubs and already on google mapping out your next course to visit! :)

Thanks again! Hopefully I will be as upbeat if I hit a 112 next weekend.

[Kieran123]

If you have to ask the question, then you should, because you must not be enjoying it.

[Chief Broom]

As has been said to improve you'll need to commit to playing more often. You can't develop any kind of feel for proper swing mechanics if you only play once a month. Given what you've posted I'd say playing once a week would be more like it and try to incorporate a couple of practice sessions a week too (even just chipping and pitching in your yard counts). Once you've made this commitment to golf in your schedule then I'd start looking for a good instructor to help. Without having that set schedule for play and practice in place you're just wasting your time and money on lessons. Take your time finding an instructor. As you've seen good instructors can be hard to find, but you also have to commit once you find that instructor to working with them and putting in the time with the game in order to use what they are trying to teach you.

[mobosecomin]

hi i have a friend that overlap to his right hand ring finger too .. he smacks it 270 no problem when his swing gets going. think its really if your grip is weak or strong thats importand because after all you hands are meant to work as one unit once connected.you really need to practice some though ! would advise getting a net to hit into in your backyard if you can and hit some balls everyday :) even this will improve your overall game. but for big improvments you really need to play twice a week and practice a few times.oh just read the post above think chief broom explains it perfectly :)

[dreamsmith]

OK, let's get real here. Some things in life feel good when you do them. Examples: eating ice cream, or some other delicious food; sexual gratification; alcohol; drugs; etc. etc. Well guess what? If you hit a golf ball in or near the sweet spot of the club, it feels good! And you want that feeling again. There is probably a medical explanation why (chemicals released by the body, just as adrenalin is released when necessary for the body to use it.
Now some of those feel-good activities aren't practical, for example: drinking alcohol at work, so we usually don't do it. But then again, some people do, and then pay the price. These things are often addictive. If you find an activity(or addiction) that IS practical, and not that expensive or penalizes you for doing it that much, then it's a pleasurable activity that you will do often. Golf can be one of those activities. If you're addicted to heroin, that's not practical, because it ruins your life usually. And so can golf, if you let it. But those two activities are obviously very different, and taken as an occasionaly physical activity that does not cause great mental anguish, golf can be very pleasurable. The difference is in the words 'great mental anguish'. We all get somewhat upset when we hit poor golf shots, but we usually get as much - or more - pleasure than anguish from playing golf. It's that pleasure we like to feel, so we keep going back over and over and...

So it's a matter of degree. If I was miserable most of the time I was playing golf, I wouldn't play golf. If I expected to get much better with time, and instead got worse, I'd probably quit. It depends on my expectations.

Bottom line: don't expect too much, and enjoy yourself. And if you don't enjoy yourself, but still insist upon playing the game, QUIT YOUR BITCHIN'!

[jallen100]

I have been in a similar situation to you. I only made it out about once a month. I started taking lessons and I now volunteer at a local course and I get free golf in return. This allows me to play about 2 days a week which has helped me a bunch. I still have a long way to go but I really love the game and I live everything golf every day.

[Shanks A Million]

No, don't give up. Golf is a sport that requires a lot of discipline and work to get good at, which is why we love it. But that doesn't mean you need to be good to play. Plenty of 20 handicaps go out and have fun, and that's all that matters, isn't it?

But if you do want to get better, range memberships are usually your best bet. They are fairly cheap, and you can practice as much as you want. If you want to get better, practice, and film your swing. These small things will help more than any amount of gadgets or gizmos.

[jamo]

You picked up the game because you had people to play with. You watch Golf Channel and read this forum because there are other people tot interact with. You hit it well during your first lesson because you had someone to tell you what you were doing right and wrong. Common denominator? Find a friend to play with. It's much easier not to care about score when you are playing with someone.

[chef35ca]

I enjoy planning to play, reading about playing, watching golf, and even golfing itself to some degree. It's after the game that remorse and a bit of 'what did I just waste all that time and money for' sets in..

LOL...i've felt that way before. Worse than chinese food. Hungry for more an hour later. I swear golfers are sadists.

Anyways, relax. You obviously love the game, so don't give it up. I used to be a little more obsessive about it. Watching TGC, reading mags, online instruction, etc. Once i ran out of time to play & practice as much i found my outings much more enjoyable. I'm not in danger of breaking par anytime soon but bad shots don't really upset me. Just happy to be out now. I still think about the game a fair bit, but conciously distract myself with other pastimes. Best idea i have off the top of my head is video your swing & post it here. People here seem to have a wealth of knowledge. & it only takes that one little nugget to make your swing thoughts 'click.'