First time on a golf course

[darkhunter139]

After several weeks of practicing at the driving range and chip and putt I finally decided to try an 18 hole course. I shot a 118 through 16 holes (got too dark to keep going), ouch. Still had a great time though and hit a few nice shots. I feel like the only way to get better is to keep going but I don't really have anyone to play with during the week and I am a little nervous to go alone because I suck so bad. What do you guys think the best way to practice is?

[cougar978]

After several weeks of practicing at the driving range and chip and putt I finally decided to try an 18 hole course. I shot a 118 through 16 holes (got too dark to keep going), ouch. Still had a great time though and hit a few nice shots. I feel like the only way to get better is to keep going but I don't really have anyone to play with during the week and I am a little nervous to go alone because I suck so bad. What do you guys think the best way to practice is?

Practice from the hole, and work your way back to the driver. What I mean by that is, work on your putting first - screw hitting full shots, chip shots, any of that - spend a lot of time on the putting green until you're confident you can get the ball in the hole. Next, go to chipping (which is just a scaled-down version of the full swing). After that, work on your wedge game and short irons. The longer clubs basically use the same swing as the short irons.

If you go to the driving range and just try and knock the shit out of everything you see, chances are you won't do well. When you go to the range, don't even worry about hitting woods, just focus on your irons. There's a lot more to it than that, but hopefully that gives you a good start.

[darkhunter139]

I actually did decent with my putting. Chipping is a different story this was by far the worst part of my game yesterday so I plan on working on that a lot. I need to find somewhere with a putting green I can use though.

[O.B. Right]

I feel like I'm an expert on this :)

If you're shooting 116 for 16 holes then you have to be honest with yourself; there is no reason to keep score right now. It doesn't do anybody any good, including you, for you to be chasing your errant shots all over the course. I was at this level for about a year and only just now started getting better thanks to lessons . .but, anyway, when I was shooting 150+, I just took every round as a practice round and played like this:

Try a drive, if it goes OB or shanks or something, try another one. If you're ball is still in a bad place then pick it up and drop it somewhere on the fairway where a decent shot might have landed. Take a few tries from there and move on. Bring plenty of junk balls and don't spend a lot of time looking for lost balls. This way you can keep up with your playing partners. I have never had anybody not be cool about this. I think they realized it was the only way for me to be on the course but not take 6 hours to play a round. I got a lot of tips, too (that was probably bad, though, now that I think about it).

If I were going to do it again, I would just take lessons off the bat and not go on the course until I could hit OK. It only took about 4 lessons before I could shoot close to 100. I used to lose 6-12 balls a round, look like a fool, and, in retrospect, I didn't learn very much that way. I did have fun though, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

Even if you are more athletically inclined than I am and could teach yourself to swing properly, you could still get there way faster with a couple of lessons.

[darkhunter139]

Yeah totally agree. Funny you mention losing balls. We got to the 11th hole an I said to my Dad wow I am suprised I am still on my first ball, I then proceeded to hit two balls in a row into the woods on my left :(. I plan on taking some lessons soon too.

[David K]

I've played solo about 75% of the time since I started playing 3 years ago. I never have an issue being in a group with a new golfer. I was there at one point myself and you need to start somewhere. If you don't play you aren't going to improve. You'll probably meet a few people with terrible attitudes about slower players but they usually have bad attitudes about their own game anyway. Play golf to have fun and don't let anyone ruin that for you. I've met many more excellent people playing golf than I've met ***holes.

Just try to keep the ball in play and you'll be fine.

[Shripe]

I know where you're coming from as I'm still kind of dealing with that. Still no lessons, and I've only managed to get the courage to play at a short par-3 pitch-putt 18-hole course twice. Anything that's more than that I'm just nervous about, even when playing alone (which I will be, and always have so far). I need the lessons first...

[uttexas]

Agree with Shripe. Until you've had some lessons, I'd take driver all the way up to 5 iron out of your bag, and find a local par 3 golf course and play it a lot. Go ahead and get some lessons. By getting lessons early on, you'll learn the correct way to do things. You'll save yourself years of frustration by getting lessons early. You live in PA, and I would strongly recommend the instructors at http://www.thegolfevolution.com (based in Erie)

[zeg]

As someone who occasionally shoots rounds like that, I disagree with the idea that keeping score or playing every ball is not worthwhile. If the ball is long gone, sure, play another (with the penalty if you're scoring) and keep it moving, but I have seen a steady trend from ~110 down to ~100 and continuing downward. Plus, even when I have a "good" round, I'm likely to have a few crazy shots. Having practiced a lot of chips out of the trees really helps with those. Even when I'm shooting 55 for 9 holes, I can play in 90-100 minutes, so I'm not terribly off pace, so I'm not really inconveniencing anyone.

However you do it, I think lots of range time working on technique is key, as is lots of putting and chipping practice. Personally, I used to go to the range (etc) 3-4 times for every time I played on the course, and I think that was a good ratio. It's different out on the course, so range time can get you far, but not all the way. Just pick off-peak times to get out, and try to have a good attitude and sense of humor.

[darkhunter139]

Agree with Shripe. Until you've had some lessons, I'd take driver all the way up to 5 iron out of your bag, and find a local par 3 golf course and play it a lot. Go ahead and get some lessons. By getting lessons early on, you'll learn the correct way to do things. You'll save yourself years of frustration by getting lessons early. You live in PA, and I would strongly recommend the instructors at

Look like great instructors but unfortunately I live on the opposite side of PA outside of Philadelphia. If anyone could recommend an instructor around here that would be great!

[MrSlice]

I just started this summer and completely sell taught so far. It does take a little longer to pick up fundamentals on your own vs lessons. I would suggest you pick up a copy of phil mickelsons secrets to the short game. this helped my game tremendously and rather quickly. I would also suggest a book called the modern fundamentals of golf by ben hogan, it really helped my game and now i am consistenly breaking 100 and getting lower. Best way to learn is just get out there. the driving range helps but it really doesn't compare to the real thing.

[CPT]

Most players got destroyed in the first (few) times they are out on the golf course for a full round. There are million things that you just can't practice anywhere. You just have to learn by playing on the course. At this stage, it should never be about score. It's a perfect time for you to learn how they do things out on the golf course and more importantly, not to slow other people paces. Drove in the woods? Pick it out on the fairway and just go from there; it's okay.

No matter how new you are in the game, if you play on a good pace and being nice; people will be glad to join with you.

[Tugglife2]

That's not bad at all. The first round of golf I ever played I shot a 147. The most important thing is that you enjoyed it.

[MrSlice]

Oh and another thing if you hit your ball in the rough and its a terrible lie or you hit your ball on a bad part of the fairway theres no harm in moving the ball to a better spot. After all its not the PGA Tour its just for fun and this stage that should be one less thing to beat yourself up over

[newtogolf]

I disagree with the idea that keeping score or playing every ball is not worthwhile.

I agree with zeg, last week was my first time out on a real course after taking lessons for a month. I didn't care what my score was, but I wanted to keep score. I'm not going to break any speed records for marathons, but I want to track my time and work towards beating previous bests for different races.

The only way to know with certainty you're improving is to keep score according to the rules. You don't get to retake shots, improve lies, and drop balls to make an easier shot without penalties in real world golf, so when I felt I needed to do that I included the penalties in my score. My goal next time will be to beat last weeks score, and continue to do so. The real key is to not read too much into scores, to me, 118 means nothing other than to set my goal for next time to shoot 117 or better.

[darkhunter139]

I agree with zeg, last week was my first time out on a real course after taking lessons for a month. I didn't care what my score was, but I wanted to keep score. I'm not going to break any speed records for marathons, but I want to track my time and work towards beating previous bests for different races.

Yeah I wanted to keep score so I have a goal for next time. I counted every stroke and took penalties every time I lost my ball. My worse score was a 12 on a par 5 cause I hit it into the woods twice. And I played all my bad lie's, I would rather learn to play them then take a drop, if I hit a bad shot oh well. If I felt like I was slowing anyone down I would play differently but we kept a pretty good pace and were often waiting for the foursome ahead of us before we could tee off.

[O.B. Right]

I think it's a good thing to start keeping score once you've achieved a basic level of proficiency. Let's say, for example, I slice my drive and it ends up 40 yards right of the fairway, about 100 yards towards the hole and behind a bunch of bushes. It is not really helpfull to me to try and play that lie (since I can't even hit it off a tee) and, if I don't play that lie then my score is meaningless, anyway.

Just for the first few times - until you feel comfortable you can hit the ball - I say don't worry about the score, just take practice shots on the course.

But whatever you do . .don't take 6 hours to play a round . .that just isn't cool under any circumstances. If you want to play every shot, then find a way to do it within the course guidelines for pace of play - usually 4.5 hours.

[Carts]

I am playing for 3 weeks and I hit 110. I believe I am better than most newbies because of playing hockey all my life. Chipping and putting are where I take up most of my strokes (about 65%). When you play dont give yourself a hard time, move the ball if the shot is hard to hit (I dont take any shot if my club is in danger like a tree in my backswing) and I often kick a ball that is behind a tree out a bit so it wont effect me on a clean shot. Most players dont mind you do this as it gets you moving instead creating line-ups at the tee box.