The Golf Slice

When I was first starting to play golf I would lose golf balls all the time. It was terrible. It got so bad that I started playing exclusively with the range balls they sell in the clubhouse. As I eventually discovered, that only made matters much worse.

So what do you do when you lose a golf ball? You perform a drop. Here are the three steps to take:

1. Try and find a spot closest to where you lost your golf ball that gives you total relief from any hazard area. Any area that gives your feet and the ball room away from the hazard will be fine. Mark that area with a golf tee or something else visible.
2. Move out from the hazard area and away from the hole by a distance of one or two club lengths. If you lost your golf ball in a water hazard the distance is two club lengths. If it’s a cart path or similar hazard then the distance is only one club length. Mark that spot as well.
3. Now for the actual drop. Stand between your two marked spots and hold the golf ball at shoulder height and an arm’s length away from your body. Let it go without straight down without putting any kind of spin on it. Once it lands your ready to take your shot.

That’s a lot of steps and is a pretty typical example of why most people find golf intimidating because of its mysterious rules. Hopefully, in the future, you’ll know what to do the next time you sail your golf ball into a pond.

I haven’t written a beginner style post in awhile so I thought I’d talk today about an important part of the golf course: the fairway.

The fairway is your direct path to the green. Its grass is cut very, very close to the ground (at a good course, that is) and is usually anywhere from a half to a full inch in height. The area on the sides of the fairway is called the rough and its grass is much longer than the grass you find on a fairway (again, at a good course).

Another physical trait of a fairway to consider is its width. One holes above a Par 3, the narrower the fairway the more difficult the hole.

New golfers tend to have some confusion over whose turn it is or who should go first off the tee.

The general rule is the golfer with the lowest score on the previous hole is the first to tee off. If there’s a tie, then the golfer with the lowest score from two holes ago gets to hit first.

After everyone has teed off, the next player to hit is whomever’s ball landed farthest away from the hole. This rule also applies to putting when everyone has reached the green.

A lot of casual golfers, or people who are hardcore about the game but like to keep things moving along, have a “ready golf” policy. When you’re playing “ready golf” whenever someone is at their ball and ready to hit they swing away. It doesn’t matter if they’re closest to the hole, farthest away or whatever. If they’re ready, they hit and move on.

This is the way my friends and I usually play especially when we’re in a hurry because of a shortness of time or incoming bad weather.

Two of the most popular, or common, causes for penalty strokes are lost golf balls and hitting into an unplayable lie.

Most often these situations both arise when you’ve put your golf ball somewhere in a wooded area. Golf course designers love to put treed areas off to the sides of fairways so be careful when you’re around such conditions. I’ve spent more time than I’d care to admit rooting around the woods looking for lost golf balls. If you can’t find the ball you can go back and hit again and take a penalty.

The unplayable lie is a really good opportunity to strictly follow the rules and be an honest golfer. It’s also a good time to look the other way and cheat a little. Honest golfers will either more the ball two club lengths and take a penalty stroke or go back and hit another shot from their original spot and take the penalty stroke. Dishonest golfers (i.e., everyone I know and play with) will just kick the ball slightly to give it a better lie then hit their shot. The choice is yours to make.

When my friends and I first started to pick up the lovely game of golf we had a really bad problem with hitting topped shots. A topped shot, as the name implies, is when the head of your club doesn’t get under the ball and instead grazes the top of the ball. The result is less than spectacular.

It turns out fixing this problem is relatively easy. All you need to do is keep your head level throughout your swing. When you move your head or lift it up during your swing you have a tendency to top the golf ball.

An easy way to work on this is to have your playing partner watch you while you swing. In our group, everyone yells out in unison “Keep your head down!” whenever someone lifts their head and hits a topped shot.

A lot of newer golfers might be confused about some of the rules and details about the tee box so I’ve put a short explanation together.

At most golf courses there are three separate tee boxes per hole. This number varies but it’s rare to see any less than two: one for men and one for women.

A lot of courses will have two more tee boxes as well for junior golfers and “professional” or “experienced” players. Each set of tees is based on the starting distance to the hole. So the professional tees are the farthest away from the green and then the men, women and lastly the junior tees.

The idea behind different tee boxes is to level the playing field and make the round competitive for everyone in your group regardless of their skill level, gender or age.

I’m going to occasionally write posts with very basic tips for beginner golfers. I’ve received some feedback from visitors asking for more entry-level stuff so I thought I’d oblige and write more about golf basics.

Today I want to talk about club selection. I think a lot of beginners probably struggle with choosing which club to use for any particular shot. There are a few things to remember when trying to pick the right club to use.

The basics of club selection are that higher numbered golf clubs (like your irons and wedges) give you more loft and less distance than lower number irons and your woods. Generally speaking the closer you are to reaching the green the higher club you want to use. If you’re far away from the flag then use a low numbered iron or fairway wood to get more distance on your shot.

As you play more you’ll eventually learn how far you can hit certain clubs and how much backswing you need to get certain distances. It really is about practice making perfect when picking the right club.

A lot of golfers, when they’re first starting to play the game, can’t justify the cost or time investment to take proper lessons. As time wears on they develop bad habits and poor swings and their games spiral out of control.

Remember that old habits die hard so the longer you wait to get proper instruction the worse things are going to get.

If you’re interested in taking golf lessons start by checking with your local golf course. Their resident golf pro might offer lessons to the public. If not, you might want to try calling any area driving ranges and see if they have lessons available.

Most places offering golf lessons have individual and group plans. If you’re worried about embarrassing yourself (or others) you might want to go with the private lesson. It’ll probably be more expensive but you’ll also get more out of it.