Challenge yourself to a new beginning on the green.
Step up your game, and take a fresh approach to golf. Golf provides opportunities for grandparents to play with grandchildren and for spouses to play together. Teenagers who lack natural athletic ability can gain confidence in a game that provides outdoor as well as social experiences.
If you’re a frustrated golfer, golf can be made new and better. It’s exhilarating to learn how to improve your game from skilled, professional coaches.
Many golfers practice and get tired and frustrated, leaving the course with blisters, inflamed arthritis or back problems. If this is you, allow me to teach you the true golf game. Correctly played, golf is similar to a walk or a hike.
Tiger Woods has discussed the fact that golf is a game of opposites, which is why it’s so hard to teach yourself. When you swing slow, the ball goes fast. When you swing down, the ball goes up. When you look up, the ball goes down. When you feel out of control, you learn to be in control.
If you’re a novice golfer and you want to accelerate your development in the game, approach golf correctly with efficient, proven techniques and hands-on instruction. Jack Nicklaus encourages others to learn golf by building their game from the hole to the tee to find victory.
So, where do you begin? Start by putting correctly. Learn the fundamentals of putting and you’ll experience success quickly.
The feeling of the club effortlessly dropping in the downswing is easiest to learn in putting. When new confidence is developed, we can eventually apply it to chipping, pitching and driving. Golfers from other states are sometimes frustrated playing golf in the South because the grass is different. When I introduce them to the proper techniques to play on our grass, they fall in love with golf again.
I’m fortunate to have played and practiced with some of the world’s best male and female players. My two college teammates, Beth Daniels and Sherri Turner, went on to become the #1 women golfers in the world. My men’s college teammate, Brad Faxon, has won eight times on the PGA Tour. I’ve played or practiced with Nick Faldo, Nick Price, Payne Stewart, Vijay Singh and many more legendary players.
A beginner can find instant joy when nurtured and developed by our caring professionals.
Recently, a husband called me and asked me to give his wife beginner lessons. She had instant success and wanted more. She was a teachable player and followed my instructions regarding how to practice and play.
Ultimately, she developed into a confident, competent golfer who now understands how to play with golfers that are much better than her. She recently joined a ladies group that includes social as well as golf activities. Although she was once intimidated by golf, she now embraces this relaxing, social game that offers her so much in the Lowcountry area and as she travels.
I’ve heard countless players say: “I did not know that,” “No one has ever said that to me” and “Why didn’t I do this 20 years ago?”
Start the New Year off on the right foot, and challenge yourself to a new beginning in golf.
By Doug Weaver, Director of Instruction, Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy