Run to the
About a month and a half ago i decided to give golf a try and my dad got me a pretty good set of clubs that were on sale. So far its a fun sport. Im not that good but i know i can get a lot better. I do soccer so i cant go out to the course or to the driving range frequently. Maybe one visit to the course or range a week. I drive about 175 which isnt that good. On good days i drive a little over 200. Recently i shot a 55 on nine holes. Is that good for a beginner? My dad says thats great for me, but hes my dad, what else is he gonna say?? Anyways I want to get better so i was wondering if anyone had good tips on lowering my score and improving my overall technique. Im not sure what i should really be working on in my early days of golf. what are the most important things to work on? my mechanics are pretty decent. not too great a putting. im pretty good around the green just not on it. please help. thanks.
Answer
I have played golf for 35 years. I played in Jr. College and in College.
This is a hard question to answer with so little information and without writing you a book. First off, I would get a Pro. at your local course to give you some lessons and try and get your video camcorder on a tri-pod and record the lesson. Then work on doing what you were taught. Work on hitting the ball straight rather than how far it goes, that will come, or should come later. You want to make sure you have a proper grip and there are basically 3 to choose from. You want to make sure you work on keeping your swing on the same "plane".
When you start your backswing, don't lift the club. Bring it back low and practice bringing it inside and keeping it on the same plane swinging it outside as you start and finish forward. Your swing should be similar to a circle. If you have played baseball and you are right-handed, on your downswing, swing as if you were going to hit the ball over the second0-basemanâs head and follow through rotating your wrist with your right hand going over the top. Now it gets different than baseball, in baseball your follow through stays on that horizontal plane and you finish âlowâ hitting yourself in the back. In golf as you swing trying to hit over second-basemanâs head, now you finish high and chest toward target. The middle of your swing or at the top of backswing, your club should be parallel with ground and pointing toward target. Now you know why having this recorded so you can check is important. Most important is to keeping your swing smooth and keep your lower body , waist and arms and your body weight all shifting at same time. There are many ways of getting there, but the whole purpose is when you make contact for your club head to be square.
Something you can do before your lesson and of course afterwards as well, is to work on your short game. Putting is different than the rest of golf in that although there is the normal grip. The most important thing is that your grip feels comfortable and that it allows you to take your putter back and following through while keeping your face square. Work on tempo. Your distance, just like in your swing, should be a result in your backswing, not your follow through. You do not want to ever (Driving, irons, putting etc...) want to decelerate. That is don't take your normal backswing and try to slow down or shorten your follow through)
Back to what I was saying, to help you right away and the most is in your swing work on rotating your body weight back and to front smoothly as your waist, arms etc...all doing the same and keep it smooth and head still and down and don't try to KILL it.
Again, back to something now, work, work work on your short game. That is your chipping and putting. That is probably the most important thing there is in golf. It gets better with hard work and you can do this in your yard and putting in your house. You don't always have to have a ball in your yard, or if you have enough room you can get practice balls (plastic, etc..) But just work on your short game, because most people most of the time can get the ball somewhere around the green in two shots (being a par 4 ). Work on getting the ball on the green from there and down in one putt is what itâs all about. That is called getting it up and down. Work, work, work or practice, practice, practice.
Itâs a great game, but let me end with saying the reason to get a lesson NOW.
It is much much easier to learn the right things to do than it is to try and get rid of "old habits" and replacing them with the correct ones.
Gotta run its 5:00 .... have fun and best of luck
Hartdawg
I have played golf for 35 years. I played in Jr. College and in College.
This is a hard question to answer with so little information and without writing you a book. First off, I would get a Pro. at your local course to give you some lessons and try and get your video camcorder on a tri-pod and record the lesson. Then work on doing what you were taught. Work on hitting the ball straight rather than how far it goes, that will come, or should come later. You want to make sure you have a proper grip and there are basically 3 to choose from. You want to make sure you work on keeping your swing on the same "plane".
When you start your backswing, don't lift the club. Bring it back low and practice bringing it inside and keeping it on the same plane swinging it outside as you start and finish forward. Your swing should be similar to a circle. If you have played baseball and you are right-handed, on your downswing, swing as if you were going to hit the ball over the second0-basemanâs head and follow through rotating your wrist with your right hand going over the top. Now it gets different than baseball, in baseball your follow through stays on that horizontal plane and you finish âlowâ hitting yourself in the back. In golf as you swing trying to hit over second-basemanâs head, now you finish high and chest toward target. The middle of your swing or at the top of backswing, your club should be parallel with ground and pointing toward target. Now you know why having this recorded so you can check is important. Most important is to keeping your swing smooth and keep your lower body , waist and arms and your body weight all shifting at same time. There are many ways of getting there, but the whole purpose is when you make contact for your club head to be square.
Something you can do before your lesson and of course afterwards as well, is to work on your short game. Putting is different than the rest of golf in that although there is the normal grip. The most important thing is that your grip feels comfortable and that it allows you to take your putter back and following through while keeping your face square. Work on tempo. Your distance, just like in your swing, should be a result in your backswing, not your follow through. You do not want to ever (Driving, irons, putting etc...) want to decelerate. That is don't take your normal backswing and try to slow down or shorten your follow through)
Back to what I was saying, to help you right away and the most is in your swing work on rotating your body weight back and to front smoothly as your waist, arms etc...all doing the same and keep it smooth and head still and down and don't try to KILL it.
Again, back to something now, work, work work on your short game. That is your chipping and putting. That is probably the most important thing there is in golf. It gets better with hard work and you can do this in your yard and putting in your house. You don't always have to have a ball in your yard, or if you have enough room you can get practice balls (plastic, etc..) But just work on your short game, because most people most of the time can get the ball somewhere around the green in two shots (being a par 4 ). Work on getting the ball on the green from there and down in one putt is what itâs all about. That is called getting it up and down. Work, work, work or practice, practice, practice.
Itâs a great game, but let me end with saying the reason to get a lesson NOW.
It is much much easier to learn the right things to do than it is to try and get rid of "old habits" and replacing them with the correct ones.
Gotta run its 5:00 .... have fun and best of luck
Hartdawg
I am looking for a camera I can take to the golf driving range record my swing and download it to my computer?
Vic
Answer
Nearly any camcorder will do - you do not need "special" high speed camcorder (but you can investigate them - and buy one if it makes you feel any better).
What is your budget?
For best results, you need good lighting and the ability to manually increase the camcorder's shutter speed to 1/1000 second or more. On regular consumer-grade camcorders with a 30mm diameter lens and 1/6" imaging chip, the 1/1000 second shutter speed will make the image darker. Whether it is too dark for you is unknown. So... using a camcorder with a lens diameter of larger than 37mm is strongly suggested... They generally come with a larger imaging chip, so you should be OK there... THEN...
The video needs to be not very compressed. The least amount of compression comes with using miniDV tape based camcorders. The Canon HV40 is about as low as I would suggest (but you can probably get away with s Canon ZR960, Panasonic PV-GS320 or Sony DCR-HC62 - all are standard definition only, mini DV tape based camcorders). Flash memory and hard disc drive camcorders compress their video a lot more than miniDV tape... and DVD camcorders compress the most and must be avoided.
Assuming you want to import that video to your computer for analysis, all miniDV tape based camcorders mean your computer needs a firewire port because the only way you will get the video from the HV40 to the computer is by connecting a firewire cable to the camcorder's DV port and the computer's firewire port. USB won't work (it cannot handle the streaming requirements of either standard definition DV or high definition HDV).
If your computer does not have a firewire port and you are unwilling or unable to add one, then look into flash memory (Canon FS series or HF series are suggested). The video is copied (not imported) over USB and may need to be converted. Because of the compression, expect to see lots of "artifacts" because of the fast motion - even with the fast shutter speed. I tend to stay away from consumer-grade internal hard drive camcorders. They use the same file types the flash memory cams do, but they have too many know issues with vibration, altitude and data recovery - these might not be important to you for the golf stuff, but if you decide to use the camcorder for other things, you might as well prepare for them ahead of time.
You probably don't need to record in HDV, but that is up to you.
If you think you need a "high speed" video recording device, the good ones will be just a camera head that connects to a computer... Vision Research and Photron make some affordable units. If you rely on something like the Casio Exilim EX-F1, you will be constantly checking the memory to see if there is enough space left on the memory card, and the compression rate is REALLY a lot, so full screen, good, resolution is very challenging.
Nearly any camcorder will do - you do not need "special" high speed camcorder (but you can investigate them - and buy one if it makes you feel any better).
What is your budget?
For best results, you need good lighting and the ability to manually increase the camcorder's shutter speed to 1/1000 second or more. On regular consumer-grade camcorders with a 30mm diameter lens and 1/6" imaging chip, the 1/1000 second shutter speed will make the image darker. Whether it is too dark for you is unknown. So... using a camcorder with a lens diameter of larger than 37mm is strongly suggested... They generally come with a larger imaging chip, so you should be OK there... THEN...
The video needs to be not very compressed. The least amount of compression comes with using miniDV tape based camcorders. The Canon HV40 is about as low as I would suggest (but you can probably get away with s Canon ZR960, Panasonic PV-GS320 or Sony DCR-HC62 - all are standard definition only, mini DV tape based camcorders). Flash memory and hard disc drive camcorders compress their video a lot more than miniDV tape... and DVD camcorders compress the most and must be avoided.
Assuming you want to import that video to your computer for analysis, all miniDV tape based camcorders mean your computer needs a firewire port because the only way you will get the video from the HV40 to the computer is by connecting a firewire cable to the camcorder's DV port and the computer's firewire port. USB won't work (it cannot handle the streaming requirements of either standard definition DV or high definition HDV).
If your computer does not have a firewire port and you are unwilling or unable to add one, then look into flash memory (Canon FS series or HF series are suggested). The video is copied (not imported) over USB and may need to be converted. Because of the compression, expect to see lots of "artifacts" because of the fast motion - even with the fast shutter speed. I tend to stay away from consumer-grade internal hard drive camcorders. They use the same file types the flash memory cams do, but they have too many know issues with vibration, altitude and data recovery - these might not be important to you for the golf stuff, but if you decide to use the camcorder for other things, you might as well prepare for them ahead of time.
You probably don't need to record in HDV, but that is up to you.
If you think you need a "high speed" video recording device, the good ones will be just a camera head that connects to a computer... Vision Research and Photron make some affordable units. If you rely on something like the Casio Exilim EX-F1, you will be constantly checking the memory to see if there is enough space left on the memory card, and the compression rate is REALLY a lot, so full screen, good, resolution is very challenging.
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