Golf gains in popularity, and not without reason! It’s a sport you can play your whole life and anyone can get started.
There are countless resources and clubs available for purchase, but where do you get started?
This article will tell you what to look out for and how you can get started playing golf right away.
What equipment will you need?
Starting playing golf doesn’t need to break the bank. There are countless alternatives to buying brand-new clubs, and you can find something to fits your budget if you do the proper research.
To get started, we do recommend opting for second-hand equipment. Browse Facebook groups in your area to find out if anyone is selling a set or go to flea markets.
You can also decide to buy a beginner set online including everything you need to get you started.
You can have up to 14 clubs in your bag. That doesn’t mean that you actually have to get all these clubs before you start playing.
Beginners are better off by using just a couple of clubs and upgrade once your skill level increases.
Here the clubs you might need:
Driver
Used for teeing off, the driver is the club that goes the furthest in your bag. It’s also one of the more difficult clubs to hit and requires you to use a different technique than other golf clubs.
Once you get better with a driver, you’ll mainly use it to tee off on par 4 and par 5 holes. Depending on the course you play, you might use it quite often.
The length of the hole is one variable for you to decide which club to hit from the tee box, but it doesn’t always mean you need a driver if a hole is long.
Instead, pick a club you can consistently hit straight and a minimum of 170 yards. That might be a 3-wood or hybrid for you.
Woods
These clubs sit between your irons and your driver. Their shaft is longer, and the clubhead is bigger than with irons but smaller than a driver.
You can play this club either from the tee box or from the fairway. They tend to go further than irons and can make for a good choice on your second shot.
You will decide that, based on how far the hole is.
Irons
These are numbered clubs (usually 5-9 irons) and vary in loft (angle of the clubface).
Higher lofted irons (7, 8, 9) are designed to launch your ball high, but perhaps not that far.
Lower lofted irons (4, 5, 6) have less loft and travel a further distance.
You choose the iron to play based on the distance you need to hit your shot. Generally, shorter irons (with a higher number) are easier to hit. Longer irons might require more practice for you to hit them consistently.
Hybrids
As the name suggests, they combine qualities of your irons with qualities of your woods. They have more loft than a wood but a slightly lower shaft.
This makes them easier to hit and they’re a great choice if you don’t feel comfortable with your long-irons or woods.
Especially for a beginner, they can be real life-safers.
Putter
A bag isn’t complete without a putter. You’ll use it to get the ball into the hole once you are on the green.
They come in two main forms; blades and mullets.
Mullet putters are usually a bit easier to play and offer more forgiveness. If you can, opt for a mullet putter to start off with.
How should I start learning to play golf?
We suggest you take lessons right from the beginning. This prevents you from adopting any faults in your swing and a pro will know exactly what you need to work on in order to improve your game.
Its easier to learn something correctly from the beginning, than it is to correct any bad habits you got used to.
You’ll find many people or friends who want to tell you precisely what you’re doing wrong when they see you swing a club.
We find that a trained professional is way better suited to give you advice because they have the training and coached countless other golfers on how to swing a club.
Lessons can really shorten your learning curve and usually return their value in gold. You’ll enjoy the sport more if you play decent and consistently get the ball airborne when you play!
What are the rules of golf?
The rules of golf are plenty… but you don’t need to know all of them to get started having fun on the course.
If you want to play competitively with friends or in a tournament, it’s essential to know the dos and don’ts on the golf course.
Don’t pick up your ball
Unless you’re on the green and have marked your ball, don’t pick it up. Even if you’re behind a tree or in a bad lie.
There are exceptions to this rule; If your ball is unplayable, you might pick it up and place it. Please announce that before you do it.
As a beginner, it might also make sense to pick your ball up and place it next to a better player’s ball if it takes you too long to perform a particular shot.
Remember that you don’t always need to count your score, especially when you get started.
Scoring
You might have heard people referring to a birdie, or a bogey. Here a cheatsheet you can use to remember these golf terms:
- Eagle = 2 under par (you shoot a 3 on a par 5)
- Birdie =1 under par
- Par = Even with par
- Bogey = 1 Over par – Bogey
- Double bogey = 2 over par
- Triple bogey = 3 over par
- Quadruple bogey = 4 over par
Again, this is not something you need to care about from the very beginning but it’s good to know either way!
Amateurs often play something called bogey golf. That means that your goal of playing golf is to score a bogey or better on every hole.
What to do next?
Get some lessons and start practicing on the range! Once you get more confidence and can get the ball airborne consistently, book an afternoon tee time on a course and have fun!
Golf is a game you can play for a long time and might become a lifelong hobby for you! It’s hard, challenging, but incredibly rewarding.
