That’s so fun!!! Your daughters are so freaking cute. I’m still fairly new to golf and bought a set of used clubs off a friend’s mother. They’re Adams and decent enough for me. You mention you’re a member at a club, start mentioning it and see if anyone has an old or unused set sitting in their garage collecting dust they’d sell you.
As far as making it actually enjoyable, I agree with the above statements. Go somewhere that isn’t as stressful for beginners, I love going to the par 3. But now I’m confident enough to play amazing places like #2!
Def tee up every shot, it makes a big difference when you’re learning.
Make sure she knows it’s ok to pick up the ball and call it a hole if she gets frustrated. This is a big one for me and it helps me go into the next hole without still being upset about the last one.
She may get nervous when people are waiting behind her. Just remind her that you’re playing at pace and she’ll get used to it after a while. What worked best for me was actually playing on busy days when we were waiting on groups ahead of us and the group behind had to wait sometimes too.
Finally, Double par is a fine goal for a beginner and worth celebrating.
First step in the right direction is her deciding to give it a try on her own and you not pressuring her into it. If it’s her decision, I think there’s a much better chance for her to truly give it a try.
Keep it fun and brief at first. It might be 20 minutes on the range or riding around with the girls for a few holes.
Thank you for this whole post, but I wanted to single this part out.
Generally speaking, when we’re out at the club as a crew, it is dead. And if it’s not, it’s a few folks probably doing exactly what we’re doing. So id like to think we have a pretty good environment as far as pace and pressure. Unfortunately this has never been enough for her to grab a club yet!
A lot of the suggestions here are the things I already do with my daughter. To be honest, the one thing that worries me is my wife is pretty competitive, so I don’t want to handle her with kid gloves too much, if that makes sense. I don’t want to pressure her into like super serious golf immediately, but I don’t want to make her think she’s my daughter, if that makes sense. Hahahaha.
@hartfordme, I may take you up on that Wilson set, but I love @DoubleParDarlin’s suggestion of asking at the club. Our club has a pretty active group of women that play, mostly around our age, too, and they do a great job with a couple’s night. Not saying we would (or even could) do that often, but I know enough guys out there that we could have a pretty good time out there, I think.
I would say this- let her go at her own pace, start with only a few clubs (driver hybrid, iron, wedge, putter), range is fine to get an idea of the swing, but I always had more fun learning on course and figuring shit out, like on a par 3 course.
offer help, but also try to wait until she asks for it - a lot of times I see dudes giving like 15 pieces of advise at once on each shot and my god that’s impossible to process and I see gals get frustrated much faster.
I’d like to think I’m in a good spot for this. I’ve had friends that have started the game under my watch and I’ve been working with my daughter for a couple years.
Despite playing a ton and taking the game too seriously for myself, I don’t think that extends to my friends or, in this case, my family. I make sure my daughter knows we’re playing and I want her to focus, but we still sick around and have a good time.
Plus, like I said, we’ve been together so long that if I’m driving my wife nuts, I’ll hear about it! Hahahahaha.
Glad to see your wife is considering joining for the YOTB.
In addition to my “tee it up” advice above, it’d be the same advice I have for kids getting into golf: keep it fun. If she wants to play two holes and then drive the cart or read a book, cool. With kids more so, if they want to look for frogs or play in the bunker, so long as you’re able to wave people through safely and/or clean up the bunker, cool. Leave when they’re ready to leave, or at most say “yep, let me finish this hole and we’ll head in.”
Just make sure they (your wife, kids, whatever) have fun “at” a golf course.
My wife is ever so slowly getting into the world of golf.
We bought her a set of Adams clubs (14 clubs + bag) back in 2016 when we got married, but she only used them once before we got married, and the next summer she got pregnant so she hadn’t touched them again until this past summer.
She’s super athletic but like @anon3021505 said about his wife, is also very competitive and gets really frustrated.
Thankfully, my best friend is my golf buddy and his wife is recently taking to the game as well. We took them to do some simulator golf recently and they loved it and we’re hoping to make a semi-regular couples night out of it next summer.
All of the tips in this thread so far have been great, and I can’t wait to start putting some of them into practice - both with my wife, and my girls once they’re old enough to go to the course.
This was the ultimate hang up for my wife. As a college athlete (track) she could always determine her own success in her mind. Golf’s intricacies and difficulties never meshed with her. She made multiple efforts over the years.
I don’t bring this up as a detriment, just to say we’ve circled back and now she LOVES being on a golf course w her camera— so we go together often.
Hopefully the bug sets in, but at a minimum, make sure she’s a continued part of the family fun as your daughters grow to love it… even if it’s a spectator or “golf mom” role!
What everyone else said! Don’t give her too much advice, let her play how she wants to play (ie if she wants to hit her drive and then play from your drive), golf is supposed to be fun and a great excuse to be outdoors. Also please tell me that your youngest (who looks like a troublemaker) threw that callaway at you right at that picture
Constantly. I have a little putt out thing and she picks up balls and throws them at me constantly. She is also super fond of throwing the ramp thing at me too.
A few ideas from a really competitive woman (college athlete) whose husband is a really good golfer .
A couple of things that really helped me get better and more confident was 1) teeing up on the course and range with irons and 2) working from the green backward. It may sound a little odd but getting really comfortable chipping onto the green, working with irons, and finally driver was pivotal for me. Also, many things we learn when approaching the green applies to our second shots.
With that being said, lots of range practice with some libations and par 3s are encouraging without being overwhelming. Finally, if you can find 1 club, mine is a 56 degree wedge, that just seems to work, start and end practice with that.
I’m by no means an expert, simply pontificating some ideas that helped me and may help others.
My daughter is involved in the Operation 36 program, which for those who haven’t heard of it basically uses this philosophy. Starts every hole at 25 yards out. Once you make even par (36) for the round (9 in this case), you move back to 50 yards. Then 100…150…200…etc. I think it is a really great way to learn. In fact, I think i need to head back to step 1 and go from there sometimes!
If you head to the blades thread, it’s already been addressed. Hahahaha.
Here’s how I look at it. If she was the golfer and bought me a set of 1986 Wilson’s, I wouldn’t have any interest. So I figured I had to get something new. And new blades for a female who doesn’t even want to play just didn’t seem budget friendly.
So here we are. Still repping the sponsor though. This is a family wide sponsorship.
Not sure where the right thread for this is, but as I alluded to it in here previously I’ll go with this. As I mentioned, my daughter has gotten into the Operation 36 program. The Saturday’s when they have their testing events are some of the best.
Went out to myself and the 3 other dads of the girls in her squad. Custom made and designed for us by the wives. Can’t wait to wear it while on the bag. Look @JohnP, I’m a pro jock now too!
Hey all! Just wanted to share that we are hosting another virtual clinic with Fore the Ladies on 1/13/21. If you or a woman in your life is looking to get into golf next year, this could be a perfect start! Only $15
Like last time, I’ll share the recording with y’all after.
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