Golf is one of the few sports that no one else can beat you, but yourself. Golf challenges the mind, body, and soul. Golf is not a game that is meant to be played against other people or even against the course, it is a game played against the individual golfer. The golfer walks the course by himself, makes decisions by himself, and executes shots by himself.
Many people say that golf is a women’s sport and that there involves no skill what so ever. Playing ever since I was seven years old, I tend to disagree with this statement. I have been practicing my whole life and have played over a hundred rounds of golf. Even though I have this much experience, I still find myself saying how difficult the game really is. Golf involves many different traditions and rules. The best way to learn the game begins by knowing the layout of a golf course, different golf clubs and the types of swings for various situations.
When I first learned the game of golf with my father instructing, he did not want to overwhelm me with the terminology and in-depth aspects of the game. He began by teaching me the basics. The layout of a golf course varies depending on which one you are playing at, but most of them consist of tee boxes, fairways, greens, sand traps, and water. The tee box begins the hole and is where each golfer playing starts from.
During the tee shot, the golfer swings in hopes to hit the fairway ahead. The fairway consists of shortly cut grass allowing for easy hitting and slopes and hills that can hurt or help your distance in the end. If the golfer just so happens to luck out, they are probably in the rough, grass just longer than the fairway. Rough can be very thick and difficult to hit out of. Good strength is necessary to hit out of thick rough. If not in the fairway or rough, the ball had landed in either water or a sand trap.
If your ball lands in the water, you must drop another ball and take a penalty stroke. If your ball lands in a sand trap, you can still play it, but is sometimes difficult to do. Sands traps come in different shapes and sizes. Deep sand traps make it almost impossible to reach the green. My father emphasized that it didn’t matter, as a beginner, whether I was close to the hole or not, just as long as I was on the green. From the green, you can easily hit the ball into the hole, most of the time.
The green’s grass is cut extremely short for the ball to roll with ease. Many experienced golfers will explain that putting is the most important aspect of the golf game and practice is a must. As a golfer, the goal is to hit the ball into the hole taking the least amount of strokes as possible. This sounds easy, but an experienced golfer knows otherwise. These, keep in mind, are just the basics.
There involve many different rules and strategies while playing a course. After I learned the basics of the golf course, I eagerly asked my father what each club was used for and how to swing them. There are three main types of clubs used for playing golf. Woods are mainly used off the tee box and from far distances away from the hole. The driver, the most popular wood, makes the ball travel the farthest. Woods are difficult to control and be very accurate with.
The heads of drivers come in different lofts and volumes. When too close to take out any of the woods, an iron we be a good decision. Irons come in all different lengths and lofts. Irons do their job when the golfer is within about 200 yards of the hole, except when on the green. Irons include the three-iron to the lob wedge. As the iron number gets higher the loft of the club increases also.
Wedges, gap wedge, sand wedge, and lob wedge, all have different lofts and are used in their own situations. When the golfer reaches the green, he or she takes the putter in order to finish getting the ball to the hole. Before a golfer executes his putt, he takes the time to ‘read’ the line of the putt, as the ball may roll to the right or left at different speeds. After is began practicing with all of these various clubs, I was determined to learn more about the game of golf. My father decided to show me the different types of shots that you can use in multiple situations. Depending on what obstacle lies in front of the golfer, choosing one of these shots to move around is the best way to go.
The hook, slice, draw, fade, and punch are all different ball flights. The hook is a shot that veers sharply from right to left. The slice is the same, except it moves from left to right. Both, the hook and fade, can be used to get around large trees and bushes. The draw is a type of shot that flies with a slight curve from right to left. Again, the fade is the opposite.
These shots are mostly used when there is a slight side-blowing wind. In order to compensate for the wind, choose either the fade or draw. Lastly, my father taught me the punch shot. When have branches from a tree that are right in the line of your normal ball flight, hitting the ball under them is the only option.
The punch is a low controlled shot that is played with a shorter swing. Practicing these various shots made me the golfer that I am today. Golf has many different aspects, strategies, and rules. The game can be difficult to learn at first, but becomes easier with practice and repetition. For a beginner, learning the layout of the course shows the golfer multiple areas on the golf course. Knowing the different clubs and their specifications is also necessary when playing out on the course.
Various situations can force a golfer to decide which type of shot to use and knowing those shots and their purpose is crucial for exceptional performance. Many people say that golf is a women’s sport and that there involves no skill what so ever, but they have no idea.