quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
They best be lovely at that price. Places I'll play will be more like $25-$35/18 with a cart. Cheaper with senior rates on particular days at particular times.

If I had to pay $40-$50/18 I would run the other way right now.

In northern Utah you might beat the $50/18 with Sr rates but you're not going to find much in the $25-$35/18 with cart except for par 3 and executive courses. I can't remember the last time I saw $25-$35 per round.

That's one nice thing about where I live, if you're a golfer: I'm literally surrounded by golf courses that run the gamut from low-budget to PGA Tour level. Many of the less expensive ones, two of them w/in a 10-15 min. drive, I'm told are pretty decent and are not expensive to play.

A cheap 9 hole walking course near my house has helped me greatly. Helped me get around a course and for me out of the weeds and woods.
Keeping score also helped.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
You can find perfectly lovely courses to play for $40 or $50 a round.

They best be lovely at that price. Places I'll play will be more like $25-$35/18 with a cart. Cheaper with senior rates on particular days at particular times.

If I had to pay $40-$50/18 I would run the other way right now.

$40 to $50 is the price of a decent to good public course at peak time here. Off peak times are more like $35. There are cheaper courses, but they tend to be poorly maintained.

I like to start with the Windmill.

Start off with an early tee time, a can of lite beer, and a chocolate chip muffin.


Else, an inexpensive set of clubs and bag, X Out balls, youtube how-to videos. Then a lot of practice.

Golf is a mental game, think about the swing, envision the swing. then do it.

Leave your ego at home. I was a bogey golfer at one point, until I tore my shoulder up. I'd stand on the blue tees with my friends knowing I was fixing to have a miserable day, and do it anyway. Play the tees that suit your ability. Playing from the whites cut 8-10 strokes from my rounds and made playing fun.

Make sure your clubs are the proper flex. Again, leave your ego checked. Not everyone can swing stiff shaft clubs. I certainly can't these days. Matter of fact, last time I went to the range I had the club guy set me up a senior flex 7 iron, and hit it wonderfully.

In the hope that I can portray an answer to one man's starting golf, allow me to share a retrospective. My journey was borne of a desire to have a social challenge. I wanted to spend time with friends, to discuss life, to struggle and prevail athletically, and to enjoy competition.

I purchased inexpensive PingEye2 copies, and a few lessons, in 1990. The clubs were not fitted, nor did they fit. But I played. Rarely. I even played 9 holes on my wedding day with the groomsmen, to "relax."

I lived on an 18-hole course in NC for a few years. I played weekly with the gang from work. I purchased clubs that I thought would fit. I had them reworked by Ping to truly fit. I struggled to enjoy the game.

I sold and purchased Pings that fit me better. I took more lessons. I played weekly after work. I still struggled to enjoy the game.

I took my young daughters to a golf pro for lessons. They didn't take to the game, and never really enjoyed the struggle.

My son-in-law arranged for a round of golf at his resort the day before his wedding. Great social time. Lousy golf.

Now, with two major driving range entertainment venues here (Drive Shack, Top Golf), I've dragged the clubs out. A few good shots here and there. Still no real joy.

When I think about the game, I realize that I have to truly devote time and money to it if I am to enjoy it. But, I also look back and realize that I have had many opportunities so to do. I've never recognized enough joy each time I focus on the sport to motivate me to continue. I think about the financial commitment, and the time lost to practice and rounds. I foresee driving hours and hours to nearby great courses (Myrtle Beach, NC, etc.) with high greens fees, as well as food and hotel costs. Not gonna happen, I can tell.

Yet I still have a set of Ping S59 clubs, a stand bag, a pull cart, shoes, and a similar setup for my wife. I can't bear to sell them, thinking that someday I'll play golf. I imagine at some retirement home with a course, I'll think back to the clubs that I sold, and regret it. So I keep them.

If you start golf, you may find a great deal of enjoyment. You may realize frustration. Or, you may muddle around like me, for 30 years. If I could go back in time, I think I would avoid starting this journey.

Find a group of laid back friends and play scramble golf with them. Everyone will hit a ball and then the whole group gets to hit the best ball for the next shot. Saves a lot of time on the course and eases the frustration of playing out of the rough or multi putting on the green all the time when you're trying to learn the game. You'll hopefully find that each week you start contributing a few more playable shots to the group.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
If I could go back in time, I think I would avoid starting this journey.

TBH: That's really where I am after just a couple months, $600 on miscellaneous equipment and lessons, and hour-after-hour of practice. I'm really no better, or more consistent, than I was when I started. I'm going to finish my current lessons, play a game or two, and, if it doesn't amuse (and I expect it won't), drop it.

Ya gotta know when to fold

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
TBH: That's really where I am after just a couple months, $600 on miscellaneous equipment and lessons, and hour-after-hour of practice. I'm really no better, or more consistent, than I was when I started.

I'm going to finish my current lessons, play a game or two, and, if it doesn't amuse (and I expect it won't), drop it.

Ya gotta know when to fold

If you don't have the passion - it will always go this way.
Like I said it before - it is HARD but satisfying albeit it can be a slow journey.
I can't tell you how many millions of practice balls I have hit ... then comes that ah-hah moment that something clicks.
Then and only then will you understand.
For a lot of us that never achieve perfection but will never give up trying describes the true obsession of golf.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz: ... then comes that ah-hah moment that something clicks.
Then and only then will you understand.

Oh, I understand. I've experienced several of them. Problem is they come far too few and much too far between. If I was seeing any kind of progress, no matter how small, it'd be one thing. But I'm not.

Never have been particularly athletic. Never had the grace, coordination, etc. to get farther than the bottom end of mediocre. Golf looked for a bit there like it might be different for me. It's looking like I was only fooling myself.

So I'll find out if I can enjoy just being on the course, regardless of how well or poorly I play. If I can't, and I suspect such will be the case, I'll drop it.

But I am done beating myself up with a practice that's netting me nothing.

The only sport at which I've ever been able to do well (FSVO "well") has been shooting. *sigh* $600 would've bought a lot of ammo

quote:

If I was seeing any kind of progress, no matter how small, it'd be one thing. But I'm not.

You've only been playing for less than a month, right?
IF so for Christ's sake that is literally nothing in golf-time as an investment of effort.
Perhaps the expectations were a wee bit excessive.
On a side note: my ten year old plasma has the Golf channel logo burnt-in to the lower right corner (not terrible but enough for an excuse to buy a newer bigger one soon ).

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Perhaps the expectations were a wee bit excessive.

That's a distinct possibility, too

I've got no advice for you.

The weird thing is that I don't live near a golf course, maybe 3 miles by car, but this afternoon I found a yellow golf ball in my back yard.

I have no idea how it got there, and none of my neighbors seem to have any idea either.

Weird.
.

A decent average male golfer can typically drive a golf ball over 200 yards. Somebody with good driving skills can drive them over 300 yards. There are people whose sole interest is in how far they can drive that, I'm told, can drive them over 500 yards.

Point is: It could've come from quite a ways off.

We're on about an acre. It's nearly 100 yards from the back of our home to our back property line. I estimate another 100 yards of our neighbor behind us--undeveloped and heavily-wooded. There is more undeveloped property beyond that. Then a development.

If I ever do get my swing right, it's not outside the realm of possibility I'd be able to drive a ball from the top of my back yard all the way into that development.

(That is currently not a concern .)

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz: ... then comes that ah-hah moment that something clicks.
Then and only then will you understand.

Oh, I understand. I've experienced several of them. Problem is they come far too few and much too far between. If I was seeing any kind of progress, no matter how small, it'd be one thing. But I'm not.

That’s why lessons from a pro you can understand are WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD.
You can beat balls until you drop day after day but if *what* you are doing is fundamentally wrong, there will be no improvement.

My ah-hah moment was when my pro had me stop and hold at the top of my follow through. He said, “I don’t want you here, I want you here” and moved my hands and arms about 3” more in front of me.
(I was swinging too far to the left. My right bicep should come up into my chin)
THAT one little change stopped a lot of compensating and now (when I remember ) when I’m playing well I just feel like I swing to that finish.
You can get rid of a LOT of frustration by taking a few lessons.
When still a new golfer, you have swing thoughts buzzing inside your head like 10 fighter planes in a furball. The pro can clean up that mess considerably.

Golfers get totally unrealistic expectations by watching pros on TV. Those guys are literally the pinnacle of their sport, the top 0.001% of golfers and they STILL hit trash shots!

I will add my 2 cents worth.

Buy newer equipment. Technology have helped many people's golf game.

Just play...a lot. The more you play, the better you will get. Don't set unrealistic expectation for improving.

Lastly, play within your ability. Look in the mirror. If Tiger Woods isn't reflecting back at you, you aren't Tiger Woods.

Golf is a hard game. If you don't play it well enough for you to love it, don't keep playing.

I've known really good golfers who weren't satisfied to have a handicap of 8 or 9 - they had been 4s.

I'd be thrilled to be a 8 or 9, but still get pleasure out of having a 15 or 16 game, and I have been as low as a 12.

My dad finally quit when he was unable to break 100 or even 105 - he just got too frustrated.

Don't torture yourself.