Can You Teach Yourself Golf? You Sure Can
You absolutely can teach yourself golf, the question is how much time and energy you have to invest in it. Golf is a great game and is worth the time it will take for you to learn how to play.
It’s not only fun, golf has many benefits. You can bring food and drinks along with you and play by yourself or with friends, all while getting some exercise and enjoying the fresh air.
Golf is a great way to challenge yourself since you’re always trying to do better than you did the time before. You’ll constantly set personal goals while you’re learning and improving.
In this post, we’ll go over where and how you can learn how to play golf on your own.
Is Golf Easy To Learn?
The basic concept of the game is pretty simple, use a club to hit a ball into a hole. Golf isn’t hard to learn but it is difficult to master. Being able to consistently play well takes time. Learning can happen at almost any age, you just need to have patience and use the right resources.
It’s important to learn the basic rules of golf when getting started. They will help you understand the fundamentals, along with things like proper golf etiquette and how to keep score.
Another thing you’ll want to study up on is what different golf terms mean. Golf has its own language so you’ll want to learn the basic language along with different slang terms if you want to keep up with what everyone is saying.
As Arnold Palmer once said, “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening - and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”
Where Can You Learn How To Play Golf?
The Driving Range
Most people start by practicing at a driving range. There is no pressure since everyone there is just practicing. There are outdoor or indoor practicing ranges depending on where you live.
For outdoor ranges, you pay for a bucket of balls and choose a spot to practice your golf swing like in the image above. Most golf ranges offer loaner clubs if you don’t have any of your own to bring.
There are usually distance markers and targets set up for you to try and hit. Balls are retrieved by a driver who rides around in a special cart with a cage to protect them from incoming balls. It has a brush and roller attachment that automatically picks them up.
Indoor ranges sometimes use golf simulators where you hit the ball at a screen instead. A driving range is also a great place to get lessons if you want to since some have golf professionals available to offer private instructions.
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Putting Green
Many golf courses have a practice putting green by the clubhouse. Golfers usually arrive early to the course so they have time to practice putting before they play. Some driving ranges have putting greens as well. You can also purchase one to use at home or take the family mini golfing and practice putting there!
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Par 3 Golf Course
Par 3 golf courses are made up of nothing but par 3 holes. This is a great place to go to practice and try improving your golf handicap. The holes are shorter and most courses only have 9 holes instead of 18 so it doesn’t take as long.
Another great choice would be an executive golf course, which is similar but can also have par 4 or even par 5 holes. These courses are a good option if you are golfing solo.
At Home
It’s important to keep practicing if you want to get your average golf score up. There are several different products you can buy such as golf simulators that will help you practice at home. There are also plenty of free resources available online. Here are some of the most popular options:
Indoor & Outdoor Putting Mat
There are options available on Amazon, like this Putting Mat Golf Green by NAXOBOBO that conveniently rolls up for storage and has an auto ball return.
Indoor Putting Green
Putt-A-Bout Grassroots Par Three Putting Green is a best-seller on Amazon with over 11,000 ratings. It is a 3-by-9-foot kidney-shaped putting green. There are three cups that give you plenty of practice targets, and built-in sand traps designed to catch missed shots.
Golf Net For Chipping
Wosofe makes a net you can use indoors or in your yard for practicing your chipping skills. You can also search for larger nets that are meant for practicing driving the ball.
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Swing Training Aid
WINNERSPIRIT makes a golf swing training aid that has an attached ball you can use to practice which returns to its original position after each hit.
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Watch Free Online Videos
There are countless instructional videos on YouTube for beginner golfers. The LPGA has an instruction page on their website which has a great library of videos for women golfers to learn the game.
Read Books
Another free resource is to visit your local library and check out some books on golf instruction. This way, you can see which ones you like without paying for books you’re not going to use. Read more at the end of this post about an inexpensive eBook you can purchase to download in minutes!
Visit Golf Websites
There are plenty of websites online, like Golf Digest for example, that have great resources for beginner golfers to learn how to play.
Can You Get Good At Golf Without Lessons?
There are professional golfers who have mastered the game without ever paying for a lesson. The most well know self-taught pro golfer is Bubba Watson.
Lee Trevino is another example. He is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and 29 PGA Tour events throughout his career. He famously said:
“No one who ever had lessons would have a swing like mine.”
It’s going to take more trial and error to figure out on your own, but there are a lot of free resources out there to help you. Golfers are pretty friendly, so odds are, someone more experienced than you will be happy to offer advice and support.
If you want to improve your game, paying for lessons is a good investment but it’s definitely possible to learn without them.
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Are Golf Lessons Worth It For Beginners?
The short answer is yes. Anyone can learn how to swing a club or make a putt with some practice. If you want to learn as efficiently and effectively as possible, it’s better to get professional golf lessons.
There are several options for taking lessons. You can attend a school, look for virtual lessons, have an instructor meet you at a driving range, or learn from a professional golfer at a course. Some golf courses offer free lessons to members.
Keep Trying!
Whatever you do, don’t give up. You will get frustrated and discouraged at times but keep moving forward. Embrace the challenge, nothing worth doing is ever easy.
You will be so glad and proud of yourself that you stayed with it once you get to where you want to be. The most important thing to remember is that golf is a game and you are meant to have fun playing it!
