Hi all. Been away from here for a month or two. Moved into a brand new house and took up the sport of golf. I am a little late in the game (35 years old), but am passionate about it and practice my swing every day for the past month. Been to the driving range twice now and the difference is night and day (practice makes perfect). Can nail my shots with 7-iron at 150yds and with 3-iron at almost 200 yards. Fixed my slice a while back. Haven't got the hang of the woods yet. But feel like I can do most all I need to do with the irons for now. Any advice or tips from golfers out there?

The only negative thing about this sport is that it's taking away from my shooting. All my range time this month has been the driving range instead of the shooting range.

Later...

Red--Subscribe to Golf Digest.  90% of it is worthless advertising, but every once in a while, you will find a tip from a pro that dramatically improves your game.  It also wouldn't hurt to take a lesson or two from your local club pro.  

It's never too late to take up the game, and like you, I find it hard to decide how to spend what little free time I have--on the driving range or gun range!

i love golf, of course the only hobby more expensive is shooting [:o]

The most important part of the game is the short game - chipping and putting.  Set time apart to practice that.  Only other tip, if you haven't done this already, is take a couple of lessons from a pro.  They will be able to see things you might be doing wrong.

I'd have to agree.  Generally with the woods, you take a bit wider stance, once again, practice makes perfect!!!  Pro idea is great, unless you have a friend that is real good!!  Friends are MUCH MUCH cheaper!

If you can hit a 3-iron close to 200, you should be just fine playing without woods.  I didn't hit a wood the last two summers because I was going through some kind of funk with them.  It really only hurts you on long par-4's.  

Ditto what TXSunDevl said about the short game - you can still score well, even if you're not a long hitter, if you're good around the greens.  And I don't know what kind of clubs you have, but decent clubs really can make a difference.  I finally bought nice irons (TaylorMade supersteels) last year and it made a huge difference over the knock-offs I was playing before that.

Haven't played much lately...had to quit the club I was in due to $$, or lack thereof, and haven't really hit the public courses 'cos I'm too lazy to get up at 3:30am to make reservations hehehe.  

I've had a lot of fun playing golf, but now I spend all the time shooting instead.  I don't know which is more expensive, but at least my back doesn't hurt after a trip to the range lol.  

I love golf.  I'm lousy at it, but I love it.

Me and my golf buddy go out to have a fun time.  We both are having a good day if we break 100, but we don't care.  We laugh, cut up, and generally have a good time.

Golf courses are usually things of beauty.  I only wish there was some way to mix guns into the sport.

I'm a golf addict !! I started playing at 5 or 6 years old, played on my high school and college teams. The advice given is sound. Get a lesson or two and work on the short game.
I'm fairly good, but I still see my pro from time to time when things seem "off". Down here we have year round golf weather and tons of great golf courses, some of the best in the world and they are cheap to play. Especially in summer when the old farts think they will melt if they are in the heat longer than 5 minutes. [:D]
Also, just like in shooting, the man is more important than the equipment. I see guys all the time with THOUSANDS of dollars in equipment and dressed like they just came from the pro shop and they can't even get off the tee box !!
Good equipment is a must and does help, but the main thing is get your swing taken care of.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I would like to find a pro to spend some time with, but have had a really good co-worker critiquing my swing and it made all the difference in the world. I also have this computer program called Gold Swing Fundamentals that is pretty much awesome. Shows you how the perfect computer model swing should be. My brother actually videoed himself and then superimposed his image over the top of this computer model to fix his hangups. Haven't tried that yet.

I practiced putting a lot in the beginning. I just did it in my living room into one of those electric putt returners. Got real good, but lost interest because the carpet is too uniform to make it worthwhile. I chip and putt on the practice greens after every driving range session.

I bought just one of those Walmart $150 sets (Knight Electra). It's a nice cheap set with all the irons, and then fiberglass 3 and 5 woods and 400cc driver with ti inserts. The putter seems nice and I like it. Cheap stuff, but so far I have liked it. Will shoot for mid-priced set ($400-$500) after a season or two of playing. Maybe Calloways someday...

I am loving it and forced myself into the straight-arm contortions in the beginning (I am a muscular guy and not very limber) and the hard work is already paying off. Was with a seasoned player my second time to the range who had lessons from a pro years ago and I was hitting much better on the driving range than her and equal on the green. So that's inspirational and keeps me practing hard. I realize that I will probably hit plateaus and will have setbacks in the future, but it feels good right now. With ANY sport/hobby/talent that I have ever pursued -- the one's that I practiced every day were the ones I got good at. I have played guitar professionally and taught for almost 20 years and it amazes me how many people want to get good at something but don't want to PRACTICE it. Practice truly does make perfect. No other way...

Absolutely have to know how to chip, lob, and punch your way from any lie.

I drive a long way, but not always straight....I almost never lose a ball which means I sometimes am left with undesirable lies.

I may try playing with a 3 wood, 9 iron and putter from now on.....seems to be my best set.

Read this book.

Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf by Ben Hogan. It was written in 1957 and is probably the benchmark in defining the components that make up a correct golf swing. Its $7.95 retail.

I also started out with the Knight clubs from Sam's Club, except I had the Diablos.  Still had the woods in my bag at the beginning of this year (5 years later), until I got a couple Callaway Steelhead woods to replace them.  Still can't hit them for shit.

Just go throw your clubs in the lake.  You'll save yourself a lot of trouble.[;D]

Lots of good advice here.

As a former golf pro here's some advice I used to give my beginning students.

Take lessons and do as they say. Even if you hit the ball worse. It often takes a while for swing changes to take effect.
Hit it hard. Accuracy will come.
Spend at least half of your practice time on the short game.
Develop a pre-shot routine. Set up to the ball the same way every time.
Pick 1 or 2 clubs for chipping. It's easier for the average golfer to master 1 club to chip with than 9.

I used to play with my former boss.  Loved the game...sucked at it, but loved it.

I can't afford it now, all the rest of my hobbies are frighteningly expensive.

Guns (self-explanatory)
Hunting (clothes, licenses, more guns, ammunition, stands, etc.)
Archery (arrows, broadheads, target heads, fletching, refletching, new shafts, target centers, bow maintenance, etc.)
Skiing:  Just bought new top-o-the-line skis and bindings...OUCH!!! Even at half price I could have bought a good rifle!
Woodworking:  GOOD hand tools and machinery cost REAL money.

And most of all, NEW HOUSE. A quarter million dollars is SERIOUS money.

I won't be buying a set of clubs for a LONG time, and I'm tall enough that off-the-shelf does not cut it.  That was more than half my problem before.  You can't get a stance or swing worth a damn with short clubs.

Ditto that.  Taught myself with that book and a few lessons about 6 years ago, while in my early 30's.

Shot a 79 just this last weekend.

Even better than Hogan's book may be one by David Leadbetter.  It's essentially a repeat of Hogan's book, with Leadbetter's comments on how Hogan developed his techniques and refinements for today's players.  

Link and review:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385502109/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-2252132-0488969?v=glance&s=books&st=*


In the late 1950s, the great Ben Hogan consolidated his considerable knowledge of the golf swing into a small volume called Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. Nearly half a century later, it remains the cornerstone of every intrepid hacker's instructional library, and one of the bestselling sports books of all time. But there was always something missing from its pages: photos. As marvelous as artist Anthony Ravielli's accompanying drawings of Hogan were, they weren't the same as seeing the Wee Icemon himself in action.
Surprise! Ravielli modeled those drawings on several rolls of film he took of Hogan, and those photos, recently discovered, are the heart of The Fundamentals of Hogan. For golfers, they are like finding a piece of the true cross; there has never been a more perfect swing than Bantam Ben's. If some of the pictures in Fundamentals are just explanatory poses--Hogan gripping the club, Hogan standing at address--and the majority of the swing sequences are actually not true sequences at all but, given the technology of the time, individually posed photos at appropriate intervals of the swing, no matter. They convey what they need to, providing a closer glimpse of the master's mastery.

Swing guru David Leadbetter tees up the accompanying text, analyzing Hogan's swing, parsing Hogan's swing theories, and adapting what Hogan knew to fit the rest of us. Leadbetter knows most of us can't possibly re-create the effortless power of Hogan's fluidity, but that doesn't mean we can't incorporate bits of Hogan's technique into our own herky-jerky hacks. Like Hogan, Leadbetter is obsessed with golf's mechanics, and while Hogan managed to breeze through Five Lessons with the help of the splendid writer Herbert Warren Wind, Leadbetter often gets mired in the kinds of technicalities that lead to the "paralysis by analysis" that plagues over-thinkers when they step up to the ball. Still, the team of Hogan and Leadbetter makes a twosome you can't help but learn from if you're willing to pay attention. --Jeff Silverman

Just chimming in as a fellow golfer as well!

You may want to check out Harvey Penick's Little Red Book.  Though I have not read it, I have heard nothing but rave reviews from fellow golfers who have substantially improved their game.

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