The Best Way to Get the Most Out of Your Beginner Golf Lessons

Even the best golfers were beginners once. There was a time back in the 1940s when Jack Nicklaus had never held a club in his life and at that stage, he was probably only as good at the sport as you are now. 

Getting good, or even great, at something doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of time and hard work and golf is no exception to that. But you don’t have to go through all of that by yourself, you can get some help along the way.

If you’re a beginner, you should definitely look into getting yourself some golf lessons. A good teacher will be serious about helping the next generation and will know all about the common pitfalls that are faced by beginners.

They will be able to guide you through those and will also notice things that you won’t if you try to learn golf by yourself. They’ll spot holes in your game (pardon the pun) that they can show you how to fix.

There’s a ton of benefits to taking lessons and it will be well worth it once you see how much you’ve improved. Let’s have a look at how to you can maximise your beginner golf lessons:

Get High Quality Equipment

Having shoddy equipment will just get in the way of your progress and will also give you a false impression of your ability and how enjoyable the experience is for you. This isn’t to say that you should shell out on the most expensive clubs out there.

You might discover that golf isn’t actually for you and then you’ve just wasted a lot of money, but it’s worth making an investment to ensure you get the best experience right out of the gate.

Playing with an ill-fitted club is awkward and uncomfortable and it might make your first lesson more frustrating than it needs to be, which could deter you from coming back. So be sure that your equipment is optimal for your lessons.

If you’re looking to keep your costs down, here’s a link to what Mike believes are the best value beginner golf clubs on the market today.

Wear the Right Clothes

Golf isn’t a high impact sport, nor is it incredibly strenuous, so you don’t need the same kind of athletic attire for your lessons that you might wear for boxing or running, but you still need to be selective.

The standard is to wear a collared shirt, and I would suggest one that’s lighter in colour because you will likely be playing in the sun. You can wear pants or shorts but just make sure they’re not denim, and a pair of sneakers is fine for footwear.

I would also wear a peaked cap to protect your face from the sun, and you may also benefit from wearing a golf glove. These can help to secure your grip, especially if you’re not used to holding a club.

Be Punctual and Reliable

If you book a lesson and you either don’t show up on time, or don’t show up at all, then you’re wasting everybody’s time. You won’t get the most out of the lesson if you’re late for it and chances are you’ll have to pay the full amount anyway. 

There are others who will take it seriously if you’re not going to and a teacher’s time will be better served working with them. What you do before your lesson is important and being on time is one of those considerations, Mike has shared some more thoughts on that here.

Ask Questions

Your teacher will want to cater the lesson to what you need. Every student has different needs and learns differently and so the best way for your teacher to help you is for them to get to know you as a player.

This is why you should ask every question that comes to mind. If you’re unsure on something, let your teacher know. If you need more information, ask for it. Through this, they will develop an understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are and be able to better adapt their teaching style to how you learn and play.

Concentrate

Learning how to play golf is like learning anything else. There will be important things that you need to remember about your stance, your grip, your swing, and everything else, and you need to concentrate to ensure that stuff sets in.

Concentration is hard, especially when everything you’re being taught is new to you, but learning how to excel in a sport doesn’t happen without a certain amount of focus. So go in with a clear head and a readiness to pay attention.

Don’t Get Disheartened

It’s likely that you’re going to get frustrated at some point during your lessons. Everything to do with golf is going to be new to your body and your mind and the likelihood is that it won’t come that naturally to you.

It can be frustrating and disheartening when you’re struggling to improve, especially if others around you aren’t. Everybody learns at their own pace though and succumbing to frustration will get you nowhere fast.

Reflect on What You Learned

Something else that can get in the way of your progress is if you allow yourself to forget everything you learned as soon as the lesson is over. Trust me, that will happen if you don’t give yourself time to reflect on the lesson and build an understanding of what you were taught and why it’s relevant.

Practice

And finally we come to an old cliche. ‘Practice makes perfect’ might be a cliche, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Obviously, you won’t have a golf course at home, but you will have your clubs and you can still practice your stance, your grip and work on some drills.

If you can get to a driving range between your lessons, then that can help tremendously too. The reality is that if you don’t do any practice from one lesson to the next then you won’t really make any progress, so if you’re serious about it, set aside some time for it. Even just 15 minutes every day can make a huge difference.

So with all of this in mind, let me give you one more tip to remember. Have fun. You’re not a professional and likely not trying to be, so golf should be a recreational thing. It’s a very enjoyable, and therapeutic sport and you should take full advantage of that in addition to working hard on improving. Good luck!