Newbie

Hello All,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a 50 yr old woman who is just beginning to take up golf. My youngest son is the clubhouse manager at a small local course and he is the one who has started me on my journey. Although I've only been on the driving range about 5 times now and played 9 holes of par 3 with my son I can already see myself enjoying the challenges for many years to come. I am currently playing with a set of old , borrowed clubs that my son was able to collect from the club house and one new putter that I just bought the other day.
Ofcourse I'm quickly finding out that the more I learn the less I know but hopefully that will turn as I spend more time with a club in my hands.
I am looking for some advice and/or ideas from anyone out there who may have some arthritis as I do. My right hand, wrist and hip are my biggest concerns, some of it is due to heredity and some to an active lifestyle.
Pat

Hi pberg,

Golf Bald here, Sounds like you have a good source of info. Just a few tips in teaching ladies over the years.

1. Ladies tend to be alot more flexable in the elbows. I've seen ladies that can turn them so they face straight up. The inside of the elbows should about face each other. Make sure your arms form a V with the shoulders being the wide part and the hands the point. A drill would be to swing a club with a small beach ball between your arms.

2. Another thing I see is the hands too close to the head. Make sure you keep your arms streched out but not over extended.

If ya need a hand, you can always ask the guy in the white hat!

GoldBald

__________________
The guy in the white hat!

Well, you're never too old to take up golf. In fact, lots of people do in later life. I'm not a teaching professional, I'm not even a pro but I've helped a few people learn to play and given plenty of enthusiasm for the game over the years.

TIPS:

1) My advice, to you, would be to keep your arms as straight as possible throughout the swing.

2) Keep your upper body, including the head, as still as possible to begin with and don't try and turn too far.

3) when you swing the club back make sure the club head doesn't go higher than hip level to begin with; a fuller swing tends to grow with confidence and through the exercising of a gentle swing.

4) Resist the temptation to try and hit the ball as far as possible as this throws the club off line resulting in mishit shots.

5) Even on those little swings, try to turn your belly button or belt buckle towards the target keeping the angle of your spine. i.e. when you bend forward to address the ball at set up, keep that angle right through to the finish even though it means bending sideways at the hip.

Right then, that's quite a lot to take in so don't expect it all to come straight away. You can watch as many videos, read as many books as possible but these should only supplement regular lessons; even the top golf pros in the world still take lessons. If lessons are too expensive, where you live, it may be possible to make friends with a good golfer and learn that way.

Just remember, things are bound to go wrong sooner or later so don't give up because it is easy to do so. Golf is just like any learning process - things are difficult at first and you'll feel like you've hit a brick wall. That wall will eventually be broken down and things will develop until you reach the next brick wall and so on and so on ... just keep going and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps
Paul