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What is the best way to teach a complete beginner?


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Great advice guys, thanks a lot. Going to follow what iacas said, along with showing her some swings.

And no "romantic inclination" just want to help a friend... haha. And I enjoy teaching when I know a lot about the subject.

Have her break 50 by the time summer hits? Challenge accepted.

Another tip:  When you go out on the course, play scramble style first.  Pick up her ball and move it to where your shot went.  This will move your round along faster and not force her to deal with bad lies at first.  This can be intimidating for the beginner.

We did this with my wife and a guy friend when we first started playing.  After 3 months, they were playing well enough to follow their own shots.

Scott

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FWIW, I introduced my wife to the game of golf and have helped her along the way.  In her 5th season of play, she finally broke 100.  My wife was fairly athletic as well having played softball in HS and she bowls well if that counts.

Anyway, we used the hole-to-tee approach.  We started in the basement during the winter months with balls and a putter on carpet while watching college and NBA basketball games and putting during timeouts and commercials.  Trust me, true beginners don't even have an understanding of how much swing is required with a putter to move the ball 20 feet.

In working with my wife, it made sense to let her kind of feel her way through some things herself.  Then, I would offer some alternatives that might be more comfortable to her and possibly deliver better results.  A putting grip is very personal and there are so many variations.  She now putts with 2 fingers of her bottom hand overlapping her top hand.  Nice and compact putting grip.  She started with a baseball grip!  Today, putting is a strength of her game.

When spring and warmer weather arrived, we hit a local practice facility.  Took the SW and putter. Taught her the basic chipping and pitching strokes.  As soon as she could hit the ball first and get those chips airborne and going in the general direction of her intended target, we moved on.

Next step was half-swing 7-irons off the mats and short rubber tees.  When those shots started flying I handed her a TM 460cc driver.  The first one that flew and went far I knew she was hooked.

This is her 6th season and we play a decent amount of golf and try to take 2 golf trips a year in late fall and early spring.  She plays ok today and has lessons paid for this season with a real professional whenever she can get them scheduled.  She'll probably continue to improve and enjoy the game for a long time.

One more thought:  When my wife started, I bought her one of those full-bag sets from Adams. All we did for the first 2 seasons was pull clubs OUT of the bag that didn't make sense for her game.  What she played with the first 4 seasons was a driver, #5 hybrid, 7-9 irons, a PW, SW and putter.  Let's see, that's only 8 clubs, putter included.

Noobs are always saying, 'what club should I hit?'  When you take away half of the clubs that a beginner shouldn't be hitting anyway, the club decision becomes much easier.  Driver off the tee, 5 hybrid until you get inside 100 yards.  Then it's a 7 thru SW and then a putter to finish up.

Good luck with your student.  Give her the basics.  If she enjoys the game and wants to continue playing, lessons with a teaching professional is probably a really good idea.

dave

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Callaway X-Hot #5 hybrid; Old school secret weapon
Ping G #6-9 irons; W and U wedges
Vokey 54 and 58* Wedges
Odyssey Versa Putter
Golf Balls

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We don't have much of a program at our local course for starting beginners though it is slowly growing. What ends up happening is many will join the golf team never having swung a club before or only having hit a ball a few times. I always start from the green and work them back from there. Once they begin getting a feel for the 100 yard shot I will take them up to an executive type course we have up the road where that will help build the confidence and interest while actually playing a round. Seems to work well but I always drill the basics right from day 1, so important and can never let it slack.

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It is so IMPORTANT that she learn to have fun in hitting the ball!!!!!! I sent my wife to a school of a PGA instructor with the (for her) she was a beginner and learn the right fudamentals first. Don't try to teach her yourself unless you are a person that has taught before, she won't take critisizum very well, from you.

Let her find some others who are having the same problems and they all get the same corrections.

Let her go to the range with you and (DONOT TELL HER JOKES ABOUT HER EFFORTS) She will need all the confidence in herself at this point you can give. If not she will learn to hate it.

I speak from experience, my wife had her ex do this and it has taken 25 years to even get her to pick a club up again. She is taking lessons and is having fun. Take in account she works at country clubs for nearly 25 years between the 2 as an excutive Cheff and hated the game till this year and time will tell how long she likes it. I finally got her to take a lesson and she like it.

For me to take her out would have been a mistake, I feel it would not have had the effect as intended.

Let her learn at her pace, just as you would a child.

Good Luck!

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FWIW, I introduced my wife to the game of golf and have helped her along the way.  In her 5th season of play, she finally broke 100.  My wife was fairly athletic as well having played softball in HS and she bowls well if that counts.

Anyway, we used the hole-to-tee approach.  We started in the basement during the winter months with balls and a putter on carpet while watching college and NBA basketball games and putting during timeouts and commercials.  Trust me, true beginners don't even have an understanding of how much swing is required with a putter to move the ball 20 feet.

In working with my wife, it made sense to let her kind of feel her way through some things herself.  Then, I would offer some alternatives that might be more comfortable to her and possibly deliver better results.  A putting grip is very personal and there are so many variations.  She now putts with 2 fingers of her bottom hand overlapping her top hand.  Nice and compact putting grip.  She started with a baseball grip!  Today, putting is a strength of her game.

When spring and warmer weather arrived, we hit a local practice facility.  Took the SW and putter. Taught her the basic chipping and pitching strokes.  As soon as she could hit the ball first and get those chips airborne and going in the general direction of her intended target, we moved on.

Next step was half-swing 7-irons off the mats and short rubber tees.  When those shots started flying I handed her a TM 460cc driver.  The first one that flew and went far I knew she was hooked.

This is her 6th season and we play a decent amount of golf and try to take 2 golf trips a year in late fall and early spring.  She plays ok today and has lessons paid for this season with a real professional whenever she can get them scheduled.  She'll probably continue to improve and enjoy the game for a long time.

One more thought:  When my wife started, I bought her one of those full-bag sets from Adams. All we did for the first 2 seasons was pull clubs OUT of the bag that didn't make sense for her game.  What she played with the first 4 seasons was a driver, #5 hybrid, 7-9 irons, a PW, SW and putter.  Let's see, that's only 8 clubs, putter included.

Noobs are always saying, 'what club should I hit?'  When you take away half of the clubs that a beginner shouldn't be hitting anyway, the club decision becomes much easier.  Driver off the tee, 5 hybrid until you get inside 100 yards.  Then it's a 7 thru SW and then a putter to finish up.

Good luck with your student.  Give her the basics.  If she enjoys the game and wants to continue playing, lessons with a teaching professional is probably a really good idea.

dave

That last part is very good advice, top shelf! It should be noted in his post that thay did alot of off season building on small things first.

Very good post! IMO

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In the meantime, get her the pocket size on the Rules of Golf (or have her download it).

Let her know, for now, all she needs to understand is the section on etiquette.

And at some point she'll need to abide by the rest of the book.

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In the meantime, get her the pocket size on the Rules of Golf (or have her download it).

Let her know, for now, all she needs to understand is the section on etiquette.

And at some point she'll need to abide by the rest of the book.

Great advice.

Also I find that whatching some matches on the tube together will give her a chance to ask all the whys and therefores!

You might want a couple cold ones standing by, it can test our knowlegde on the rules sometime as well.

Those kids come up with the damest?????'s (LOL)

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Just have her read through the operation single digits thread. Lots of great advice about how and what to practice, as well as some not so subtle examples of how not too.
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Note: This thread is 3636 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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