Letters to the Editor: August 27, 2009

Brian J. Curtis of Rockville, MD writes:

I always enjoy reading your editor’s letter in Pros N’ Hackers. They are insightful and pleasant to read.

I am 25 years old and recently started to play golf. I have literally only been playing for two months now and I am addicted! Besides getting lessons from a professional, do you have any “101″ advice for a new golfer?

Thank you,

Brian J. Curtis

Response:
Brian,

Thank you for your kind words regarding Pros N’ Hackers. We hope that you continue to support us and also continue to learn and grow with this great game.  While you have picked up the game a little late, there is never a wrong time to learn.   In only a few months you have caught the same fever that infects all of us golf lovers. It’s a hard feeling to describe to someone who has not tried to play golf.   I wish you the best of luck in learning the game.

While I’m not expert on instruction, I can certainly relate to you how I learned to get better, in hopes that it might help you to.  The first thing you must realize is that golf has little to do with your driver, your 5-iron, 7-iron or any other longer club for that matter.  Golf in it’s rawest form is the act of getting the ball in the hole.  That is the single most difficult thing to learn to do, and most of your shots in a given round happen around the hole.  To that point the advice that I would give you, starting now, is to put away the rest of your bag except your putter, sand wedge and pitching wedge.   Do nothing but develop your short game for the rest of the year.  Trust me, everything else will fall into place after that.   Starting in 2010 you’ll already have the hardest part somewhat tackled, then you can work on your longer shots.

I realize that this is not a fun prescription,  as most people enjoy seeing how far that they can hit the ball.  But hitting the ball far has nothing to do with getting it in the hole.  Stay on the practice chipping and putting areas, learn to hit the short shots like the bump and run or the lofted pitch, learn when to lag putts and when to try and make them. While it may seem mundane, the short game is the most artistic part of the game.

That’s my advice to you:  keep it simple for now. Learn how to chip and putt effectively, and when you do decide to either take lessons or start to play rounds of golf (with the intention of scoring better) you’ll be way ahead of the curve.

Thanks for your letter Brian and best of luck with learning the game.

Sincerely,

Chris Counts
Editor