Best Single Tip for New Golfer at Age 22

[darkhunter139]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

My best advice to you would be to take lessons.  Without taking lessons you dont know what you dont know and cant possibly hope to know why you hit bad shots.  You will merely be swinging blinding hoping to make good contact.

Yeah I agree.  Even if you can't afford to get regular lessons at least get a few.  I am actually the same age as you and have only been playing for about 2 years.  I've only had 4 lessons but they helped a ton.

[jhwmusic]

Best single tip? Read this thread.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys

Iacas, is that you? Jk :-D This forum has plenty of avenues to help you improve. 5 simple steps would be a good start. If you really can't afford lessons, I would just start saving until you can. And until then stay away from golf magaizines etc.. That doesn't mean what you are reading isn't correct. But there are just way too many theories in those magazines. You will be a total head case in no time. You can read someone's theory on putting on one page and then two pages later there will be another theory being taught. But If you do decide to resort to teaching yourself through books and dvd's, don't watch them all. KISS! Keep it simple stupid. Good luck to you!

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by KiawahConnor

what is the single best tip you've ever received in your golf life

DO NOT read golf-related magazines or periodicals or watch The Golf Channel Instruction Shows.

Seriously.

[xxsoultonesxx]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

DO NOT read golf-related magazines or periodicals or watch The Golf Channel Instruction Shows.

Seriously.

This.

[bilinguru]

I agree that golf instruction tips in magazines and on GC shows can do more harm than good.  That being said, it's odd where useful tips that can really make a difference can come from.  But, they can boggle the mind too.  One expert will tell you one thing, and another expert will tell you the opposite - in the same magazine!  It's kind of like reading newspapers.  I disregard a lot of the Op/Ed stuff in newspapers, but I read them anyway.  Once in a while, someone will say something that will resonate.  It would be a shame to miss out on a swing thought or drill that might be the one that shaves strokes off your game, simply because most of the stuff you read is junk.

[BugDude]

1)  Get Lessons.  Find a good instructor.  Go to some ranges with pros that give lessons and hang out on the range and watch and listen to them give someone a lesson.  You can tell if they are helpful or not.  Skip a few rounds of golf and save your money and invest in good lessons.  The biggest issue they can help you with is your grip.  Second is set-up (ball position, etc.).

2)  Video your lesson so you can see your swing before and after.  That helps you visualize what you want to accomplish and work on.

3)  Go to the range and practice.  Work on the swing elements from the lessons and ball striking.  You can never get too good at making pure contact.

4)  As someone else mentioned, don't get married.

5)  Don't thave kids.

6)  Get a job that doesn't necessitate working 12+ hours per day so you can go to the range and play several times per week.

In all seriousness, most strokes are incurred around the green.  Work on your chipping and putting religiously.

1)  Practice 5 foot putts until your hands bleed.

2)  Learn different styles of chipping so you can get up and down when you miss a green.  Bump and run, chip with various clubs, soft higher shots, etc.  Get creative with chipping and it will lower your score faster than anything.

You don't have to hit 400 balls per day.  It has been more effective for me to hit less per range session and go more times per week.  Hit the range and hit 25 balls or so and then go to the chipping and puting green.  The more days per week you can put a club in your hand even if it is for less swings is better than a ton of swings one day and nothing again for a week or so.  It helps feel trememndously.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by WWBDD

Don't marry.

I thought this was funny ... but true -  marriage will negatively affect your addiction or ability to purchase clubs unless your spouse is also addicted.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by BugDude

1)  Get Lessons.  Find a good instructor.  Go to some ranges with pros that give lessons and hang out on the range and watch and listen to them give someone a lesson.  You can tell if they are helpful or not.  Skip a few rounds of golf and save your money and invest in good lessons.  The biggest issue they can help you with is your grip.  Second is set-up (ball position, etc.).

Find a good instructor and take some lessons, yes. Use this article to help.

But if he spends more than three minutes talking about your grip or your setup, you've wasted your money. Those are far and away nowhere near the biggest issues .

[BugDude]

He said he was a "new golfer."  The only part of the body that contacts the club are your hands.  The best place to start to learn the golf swing is to learn the proper grip and set-up.  Both of those happen before you even swing.  If your grip or your set-up are wrong, then the most perfect swing in the world will not have a good result.  I didn't say spend three days on it, but I have rarely seen a good instructor start anywhere else.  If an instructor starts with a new golfer on swing mechanics rather than grip and set-up, then I would not consider them a quality instructor.  Also, I have seen golfers with great swing mechanics get in a funk that was traced back to either grip, set up, or both and seen instructors get them back in form in very short order by addressing them.  I see it as something that can have the most impact and is certainly the easiest and quickest to address...and usually something new golfers get wrong.  That's the basis of my comment in the context of a new golfer wanting to improve...just my opinion.

Originally Posted by iacas

Find a good instructor and take some lessons, yes. Use this article to help.

But if he spends more than three minutes talking about your grip or your setup, you've wasted your money. Those are far and away nowhere near the biggest issues.

[BugDude]

Let me re-phrase it this way, the most immediate return on your investment in a golf lesson is likely correct grip and set-up.  Those are immediate fixes that will pay dividends on other aspects of the swing that you work on either with an instructor or on your own.

[jhwmusic]

Let me re-phrase it this way, the most immediate return on your investment in a golf lesson is likely correct grip and set-up.  Those are immediate fixes that will pay dividends on other aspects of the swing that you work on either with an instructor or on your own.

Totally agree. It all starts with grip stance and posture...the body reacts from those positions....whether they are correct or incorrect. I would toss you a skin but my iPad won't let me for some reason.

[nevets88]

Now OP is totally confused.

[nevets88]

Original poster - while grip, stance, posture are important, as long as you don't do something extreme in the former, you should be okay.

Look down the line at a tour event, you'll see all sorts of setups - open, closed, strong, weak, etc...

Keep your eye on the prize - the low point of the golf swing is four inches ahead of the ball .

The low point of the golf swing is four inches ahead of the ball .

T he low point of the golf swing is four inches ahead of the ball .

T he low point of the golf swing is four inches ahead of the ball .

T he low point of the golf swing is four inches ahead of the ball .

T he low point of the golf swing is four inches ahead of the ball .

[iacas]

Originally Posted by BugDude

He said he was a "new golfer."  The only part of the body that contacts the club are your hands.  The best place to start to learn the golf swing is to learn the proper grip and set-up.

I'm sticking with what I said. If you spend more than a few minutes on these in your first lesson - or almost any lesson - you've spent too much time on them.

[uttexas]

You've found thesandtrap which is the best source of information regarding the golf swing. My best tip would be to now read the instruction articles by mvmac, iacas, and others.

[nevets88]

And their YouTube videos. Egads, pre-internet was the dark ages, huh?

Originally Posted by uttexas

You've found thesandtrap which is the best source of information regarding the golf swing. My best tip would be to now read the instruction articles by mvmac, iacas, and others.

[BugDude]

Originally Posted by iacas

I'm sticking with what I said. If you spend more than a few minutes on these in your first lesson - or almost any lesson - you've spent too much time on them.

Perhaps so...but they are fundamental elements of the game that get a lot of people in trouble.  In the beginning, keep it simple.  Over time, there are so many variations of grip and set-up depending on what you are trying to accomplish I don't know how you could possibly cover all of them in a few minutes.  With a somewhat accomplished player, I could invest an entire 30 minute lesson in grip and set-up just on shots inside 100 yards and still feel like I didn't cover it all.  Just a difference of approach I guess.

[jhwmusic]

Originally Posted by iacas

I'm sticking with what I said. If you spend more than a few minutes on these in your first lesson - or almost any lesson - you've spent too much time on them.

I guess I get what you are saying if it is your "First Lesson"   But I guess that depends on a lot of things...Like how old the new student is, have they been playing for awhile but never had any sort instruction, how athletic are they in general, how much knowledge do they have about the game prior to their "first lesson....stuff like that.   Because if it is a little kid or someone who has never picked up a golf club before, you should be more concentrated on the swinging motion and making contact with the golf ball....making it an athletic motion.  Is that what you mean?