LESSON1 Warmupweek It may have been some time since you have been golfing. Can you remember the basics? Use this space to write a few notes about Grip.............................................. Posture........................................... Width of stance.................................... Ball position....................................... Look through the book if you re not sure. Soon you will be playing on the golf course regularly and hopefully you will enter your first competition. This is where golf gets really enjoyable, making friends playing in competitions and the chance of winning a prize is fantastic. However, we need to make In this lesson your coach will talk about all the different parts of the golf club. Can you remember where each of them goes on this photo: Shaft Grip Head Heel Toe Sole Face Grooves There are lots to learn this might take some practice!! sure we mark the scorecard properly, below is a few points to remember: You will be marking somebody else s score card Always count your playing partners golf shots Make sure your writing is clear and any mistakes are initialled Always sign your name and have your marker sign theirs as you will be disqualified if you don t
LESSON2 Putting Keeping your head still on your putting stroke is a problem for all golfers, from beginners to professionals. Tiger Woods is renowned for his steady head when putting. Try this practice drill to help you: Place a ball marker on the ground and then a ball on top. When you hit the ball try and keep your focus on the ball marker and not the ball. This will train you to keep your eyes down and your head steady. We have spoke a little about marking your ball in the pars course, we do this by marking the ball directly behind with a ball marker. However, there are times when we need to move the marker again if your ball marker is directly on someone else s line. To do this we use out putter head as a measuring device and move the marker the width of our putter head. Always remember to move the ball maker back into its original position or you will be penalised. On the green we must use a ball marker to mark our balls when we pick up our golf balls to clean. We also mark our golf balls as they can be in the line of somebody else s putt. If you putt your ball and it hits another ball already on the putting green you will be penalised for not asking the other person to mark their ball. So remember to carry a ball marker and always mark your ball.
Chipping LESSON3 I hope you are spending lots of time practicing your short game which includes chipping, pitching and putting as this is the most important area for improving your scores. We can use pretty much any club to chip with including drivers and rescue woods, so how do we know which club to use? Some comes from experience although I follow a golden rule; I always want the first bounce (pitch) to land on the green and then continue to roll towards the flag. This means that if I am very close to the green I may a 5 iron with very little loft, if I were 20 yards away I may use a SW which has more loft and will carry the ball further in the air. Golfing myths. Below is a few of the most popular golfing myths that you should try to avoid doing. Keep your head down, keeping your head down means you cannot reach a good follow through position Keep your left arm straight Don t move your head, your head must slightly throughout the swing No matter what I do I ll never be good at golf, everyone can improve at golf just keep on practicing and it will come! The putter is not just for the green. The putter is famously used around links golf course around the UK because of the tightly mown fairway and in many cases can be a better choice than taking a chip. The putter is also known as the Texas wedge as has been used from time to time even in the bunker, this is when the lip on the bunker is very smooth.
LESSON4 Pitching There may be times when you want to play a low pitch shot; this is known as a punch, this may be because of the wind. To play this shot we move the ball a little further back in the stance and make sure on the follow through the hands stay below hip height. Your professional will teach you the shot but once they have shown you this can be a reminder for future reference. We will soon be playing lots of golf on the course. It is essential that we learn how far each club in the bag travels. In order to do this, go to a driving range or practice area and hit 10 or 15 shots. We then pace the yardage out and find the average and write down the distance. Using the yardage markers on the golf course to help you choose your club, will save you many shots. There are times when players hit their approach shot to a green where the ball knocks into a ball already resting on the green. Is this a penalty shot? The answer is no, if you not putting then this is fine. The ball that has been played from off the green will stay where it has come to rest and the ball that has been moved by the moving ball will be moved back into its original position.
Ironplay LESSON5 Choosing which club to use on the green is easy and a wood off the tee is the most used club for long holes, but what about in between. This all depends on the lie of the ball. The lie of the ball is how well the ball is sitting on the grass, generally speaking the higher the ball is sitting on the grass the fewer lofts we need for the club. So this means on a really good lie on the fairway we may be able to even get a 3 wood to the ball. When the ball is in the rough it is always a better idea to take a higher lofted iron and get the ball back into the fairway. Making sure you are safe on the golf course is a must for all juniors going onto the golf course for the first time. Below are a few golden rules for the golf course Always be behind the player hitting their shot, being level is not good enough as a shanked ball can fly off at 90 degrees Face the player hitting the shot. When swinging a golf club you can not see behind you so if all the players are facing you, you will know where they are and injuries are less likely to happen Your professional will talk you through all of these details but these notes will help you remember. We have touched a little on how to mark your scorecard but this can be very confusing when learning all of the information. Make sure you fill in the competition name and that the date and your handicap are wrote at the top of the card. Making sure you swap cards on the first tee is a must and remember to write your own score in the markers section normally on the left and mark down all of your opponent s scores in the player A section. Always make sure that you do fill in the scores when you are on the next tee, it is very bad manners to be writing your score on the putting green when other people are trying to get round the golf course.
Bunkers LESSON6 I love bunkers! They are so much fun and with a little bit of practice they can be fun for you too! Really!! Below is a list of things you can do to vary how far you hit your ball out of the sand: Amount of sand. As a general rule we hit the sand 1 inch behind the ball. This can be altered slightly for e.g. if you wish to hit the ball further you can take less sand or if you want to take off some distance you can take more sand. Open the club face. For most golf shots we have the club face square, but in the bunkers the wider we open the clubface the higher and shorter the ball will fly. To do this your club up to the sky and turn the toe so it points to about 2 o clock. Follow through. The further we follow through, the further the ball will fly. Adjust the amount of power you hit your shots and your ball will fly different distances By now I think you should now know a lot of the etiquette in bunkers. Today s lesson is going to be a fantastic practice game that many top professionals play. The game is called the good, the bad and the ugly. What you must do is play 3 balls, one from a good lie, one from a bad lie and one completely buried. Unplayable lie Sometimes we may hit the ball somewhere that we have no real chance of playing the shot say a bush. In this case it would be best to declare the ball unplayable, and accept a penalty shot. We then have 3 options: 1. You can play the second ball where you have just played the original 2. You can drop the ball within two club lengths of where the ball lay, remembering not to go nearer the hole 3. You can drop the ball behind the ball was, keeping that point between you and the hole and you can go back as far as you wish. This all sounds very complicated and it does take time to learn the rules however you re professional will help you understand during the sessions.
LESSON7 Woods We have gone through the correct set up position in the past and we should now know that the stance is a little wider than normal and that the ball moves forward in the stance opposite the left heel. As you are progressing your professional will give you individual advice that will really help you. However, there is a popular saying among golf folk and that is let the club do the work this means that the golf club you have is designed to send the ball straight and a long way so just swing nice and smooth and let the club do the work :o) All clubs have different shafts and are designed for different people. Using your parent s driver seems to happen in most golf clubs but really is a silly as wearing your parent s trousers! The trousers you wear are suited to you and so should your clubs be, make sure you get them fitted for you. This can be the length of the club, type of club/shaft and even make of clubs. What is a handicap? A handicap is a number that is used to make the competition between players of differing skill levels more even. The number is calculated using complicated formula that takes into account the golfer s average score. The lower the number, the better the golfer. A scratch golfer is one with golf handicap of 0 or better.
LESSON8 Quizweek Write your notes down here