6 Tips for a First-Time Golfer

March 27, 2018 Royal Ashburn

Blog, Golf - Play Your Best Golf Now!, Golf Lessons, Tips

The biggest mistake anyone who wants to learn the game of golf can make is to avoid taking up the sport because of concerns about being a ‘first-time golfer’. Everyone on every golf course was a first-time golfer at some point.

Maybe you’re really interested in learning the game, or it would be a good career move, or you want to share yet another activity with your partner, family or friends. But whatever the reason, you owe it to yourself to learn the game properly and start to enjoy all the fun, healthy activity and companionship that golf has to offer.

To help you get into the swing of things (forgive us for that one!), here are a few tips to remember when you’re just starting out in golf.

1.Don’t Buy New Clubs Right Away

From the moment you start to golf, your game will constantly improve as long as you play regularly. Golf clubs can be a big investment. Good quality clubs are designed to help experienced golfers make better and/or more consistent shots. But their benefits will not help a first-time golfer learn to play any faster or better. And you have no way of knowing which are the best clubs for you until you learn more about the game and your style of play.

Instead, borrow a set of clubs or buy a used set to learn with. Then wait until you know more about the game and how you play it before investing in a new set of clubs.

2.Take Lessons

Hitting a golf ball properly means developing a good swing, and a good golf swing comes from developing good mechanics. If you start on your own, you can adopt bad mechanics that will be difficult to correct later on. Making the investment in lessons from professional instructors as soon as you begin to play the game will pay off in boosting your confidence, avoiding mistakes and learning the game faster and better.

3.Learn the Rules of the Game

If you think ‘hitting a birdie’ means you injured one of our fine feathered friends, well, you should brush up on the rules of the game. The more you know about the game and how it’s played, the more you will understand what you need to do and why you need to do it. And the more fun you will have.

4.Watch Golf on TV

There’s no better way to learn about the rules, how to swing and other parts of the game, like club selection, than by watching the best players in the world. They make it all look easy. But after you start to play, you will appreciate their level of skill and get a better idea of the direction you need to go with your own game.

5.Play!

Like anything you do, practice makes perfect. Take every opportunity you get to swing a club, whether it’s on the course or on the driving range. Especially if you invest in golf lessons, practicing helps you put into play everything you learn.

6.Let it Happen

Golf is a game in which you compete against yourself. Everyone learns to play at a different pace. If you feel you haven’t improved after your first few rounds, try not to be frustrated or discouraged. Regardless of what happened the last time you played, focus on having a better round next time.

If you would like to take private or semi-private lessons from the trained and certified golf instructors here at Royal Ashburn, get in touch with us today.

5 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Golf Lessons

August 24, 2017 Royal Ashburn

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Blog, Golf Lessons

Have you ever wondered why the top professionals in golf. Those competing for millions of dollars each week in tournaments around the world, have coaches? If nothing else, that fact is proof that everyone, regardless of how well they golf, or if they’ve ever golfed before, or how old they are, need golf lessons. This is why you should invest in golf lessons.

But the unfortunate truth is that too many golfers feel the only answer to learn how to play golf. Or to make their game better is to buy expensive clubs, or play more often, or analyze the pro swings on the Golf Channel hoping to spot something that will magically turn their game around.

But there’s one simple reason why better clubs, playing three times a week and/or trying to learn more about what goes into a good swing, are not the answer to making your game the best it can be.

Golf is an individual sport. And not ‘individual’ in the sense that singles tennis is an individual sport either.

Golf is just about the only sport where your main competition is yourself. That means the path to better play is unique to every golfer. That’s the basic reason why every golfer should invest in golf lessons. Without lessons, it’s very difficult to learn how to play properly and to perfect your game.

Here are just a few other reasons why you should invest in golf lessons

1. It’s the best way for beginners to learn golf

If you’re just taking up the sport, it’s more important to learn how to play golf properly versus other sports. From learning how to approach the game to understand the importance of club selection and the details of your grip, there are many minute details about the game. Not learning from the start how to do any one of them properly can mean you will never be able to play your best golf.

2. You can’t See what you’re doing right & wrong

With yourself as competition, golf is often cited as being a mental game as much or more than it is a physical game. It’s extremely difficult, if not impossible for a golfer to know exactly what was the difference in the swings that produced a perfect shot and a slice.

But professional golf instructors understand the mechanics of a swing, the importance of body positioning and every other aspect of a good swing. They will very quickly spot a problem in your swing that can make the difference between a flub and a great shot.

3. You’ll stop doing the wrong thing

This is why new clubs, or videos, or frequent play won’t help as much as you hope they will. Let’s say there’s a problem with your grip. Yes, getting a set of better clubs will help improve your game, but they’re not going to correct your grip. Yes, you’ll play better if you practice more often, but it won’t correct your grip. Yes, reading golf books, magazines and websites will give you more insights that could improve your game, but they won’t correct your grip problem.

What will correct your grip problem? Lessons from a golf pro who understands your particular problem.

4. It’s an Investment in Yourself

First, whether you’re a beginner or have played for years, it doesn’t make sense to invest in new clubs, a golf club membership or anything else golf-related if you’re not going to invest in learning to play the game better.

But you decided to give golf a try and fell in love with it for a reason. You enjoy challenging yourself. You look forward to playing a game in the great outdoors. You can’t think of anything else that feels quite like making clean contact with the ball and watching it rise through the air exactly as it should. You need the exercise.

No matter why you’re interested in or in love with the game of golf, with all of that riding on it, why wouldn’t you want to play better?

5. The Limited Golf Season in Ontario

Most local golfers will only get to play for six to eight months of the year. When the season finally arrives, you just want to get out there and play. You don’t want to spend too much time learning how to play or correcting problems with your game. Professional golf instruction is the fastest ways to learn or improve your game, so it’s even more important to get golf lessons in Ontario.

If you’re looking for one of the best places for golf lessons in Ontario, look no further than the Royal Ashburn Golf Club. Led by Director of Golf Instruction, Dave Castellan, every golf instructor at the Royal Ashburn Golf Academy are PGA of Canada golf professionals and trained and certified instructors.

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