Starting out?This might help

Grip a golf club correctly

“Good Golf begins with a good grip” – Ben Hogan

The right grip is the most important fundamental in golf. Gripping your club correctly lends three advantages to your swing:

• Grip controls the face position of the club. Impact with correct grip  helps you hit your shot straight and solid.
• The only physical connection between you and your club is your grip. It allows you to create the right amount of wrist hinge which isa very imp power source.
• During the course of your swing, your club is travelling some 18feet and all that while your eyes are focused on the ball. With a good grip, you can feel where the club is in space, allowing you to optimize power and control.

To assume the correct grip, right-handed golfers should follow this procedure:

• Hold your club 3 feet in the air in front of your body
• Make sure the face of your club is square, not open or closed (This just means pointing the club head straight up and not tilted in either direction)

LEFT HAND

• Place the club at an angle onyour left palm. The club should touch the base of your little finger and the portion just above the first joint of the index finger
• Close your fingers around the club with your left thumb pointing down the length of the club
• You should be able to see the knuckles of your index and middle finger in the address position

RIGHT HAND

• The club should be placed at an angle on your palm, resting on the base of your little finger, in between the base and first joint of your ring finger, on the first joint of your middle finger, and in between the first and second joint of your index finger
• Cover left hand thumb with life line of right palm
• Make sure the V formed by your thumb and index finger of your right hand is parallel to the V formed by your thumb and index finger of your left hand

Your hands must work together as a single unit when striking the ball so it’s best they’re linked together in one of three ways:

Vardon overlap – This is the most common grip amongst professionals. The little finger of your right hand rests on the groove formed between your left index and middle fingers.

Interlock – This is the next most common grip. The little finger of your right hand is locked in between your left index and middle fingers.

Ten finger grip – This is the least common grip but an effective one. The little finger of your right hand lies by the side of and touching your left index finger.

Swing tip: To hit the ball further, use a light grip pressure. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is light and 10 is tight, applying pressure of 3-4 is recommended for a good swing.

Handling failure at the practice range

Now that you’ve got some idea of how best to grip your golf club, there are some things to think about as you’re a developing player. The game of golf is ultimately played in the head. There is a lot of practice involved, but the best players know it’s played in the head not with the body. They are the most relaxed players, they practice the most, and they have the best technique.

A study that put brain scans on people showed that beginners’ brain activity is all over the map, like a light shower going off.  Whereas the brain scans of the top touring tours showed a pin prick of light in the brain. This is because their focus is so intense. So it’s not so much the body, it’s training the mind to hit the ball correctly. That’s why you have to learn how to handle failure at the practice range. Think about failure as data so when you fail at something, it just means you have to keep practicing at it. When you do something successfully, learn how that feels so you can replicate that.

To get the type of focus and concentration that a top pro has, you’ve got to put the work in that the top pro has put in.  The more work you put in at the range, the better your results are going to get.

Quick Guide to the Rules

The rules of golf are internationally standardized and are jointly governed by The R&A, spun off in 2004 from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (founded 1754), and the United States Golf Association (USGA). The underlying principle of the rules is fairness. As stated on the back cover of the official rule book:

Play the ball as it lies, play the course as you find it, and if you cannot do either, do what is fair.

The game of golf should be played in the correct spirit and to understand this you should read the Etiquette Section in the Rules of Golf. In particular:

• Show consideration to other players
• Play at a good pace and be ready to invite faster moving groups to play through
• Take care of the course by smoothing bunkers, replacing divots and repairing ball marks on the greens.

Before starting your round you are advised to:

• Read the Local Rules on the score card and the notice board
• Put an identification mark on your ball; many golfers play the same brand of ball and if you can’t identify your ball, it is considered lost (Rules 12-2 and 27-1)
• Count your clubs; you are allowed a maximum of 14 clubs. (Rule 4-4).

During the round:

• Don’t ask for “advice” from anyone except your partner (i.e. a player on your side) or your caddies; don’t give advice to anyone except your partner; you may ask for information on the Rules, distances and the position of hazards, the flagstick, etc. (Rule 8-1)
• Don’t play any practice shots during play of a hole. (Rule 7-2)
• Don't use any artificial devices or unusual equipment, unless specifically authorized by Local Rule (Rule 14-3).

At the end of your round:

• In match play, ensure the result of the match is posted
• In stroke play, ensure that your score card is completed properly (including being signed by you and your marker) and return it to the Committee as soon as possible (Rule 6-6).

Handicapping

One of the characteristic features of the game of golf is the handicapping system. A handicap allows players of all levels of golfing ability to compete against each other equally and, consequently, is essential to the popularity and prosperity of the game.

In amateur golf, the majority of competitions cater for players who have a wide range of golfing ability.  If no allowance was made for this variation then the relatively small number of high-ability players would be successful in all competitions.

Throughout the world, a golf handicap is recognized as representing the number of strokes that need to be deducted from the player’s actual (gross) score so that, when he plays to his average ability, his net score equals a "Standard Score". The amount deducted (i.e. the player’s "handicap") is calculated so as to be representative of the player's current ability and potential at the point in time that they play in a competition.

Only amateur golfers have handicaps and, the better the player, the lower the handicap. Professionals do not have handicaps, they play in competitions without handicaps.

As a player improves, his handicap will reduce. Some highly-skilled players reach the stage where their handicaps are zero, better known as "scratch". A select few may even become so good that their handicap enters positive figures (e.g. +1, +2), which means they have to add strokes to their total for the round.

Stroke play

In stroke play, a handicap is a certain number of strokes that a player is allowed to remove from his total gross score for a round. For example, if a player with a 15 handicap has a gross score of 87, his net score would be 72.

Match play

In match play, the situation is a little more complicated. In a match played off scratch, handicaps are not used at all. In a handicap match, however, a player may give strokes to his opponent, or receive them from his opponent, depending on their respective handicaps and the handicap allowance that is in force.

Golf Equipment

The Rules of Golf specify the equipment which may be used to play the game. These specifications can be found in Rule 4 and Appendix II for golf clubs and Rule 5 and Appendix III for golf balls. In general, they are 'descriptive' and 'restrictive' in nature - defining what a golf club should look like and how far a golf ball can travel.

In an historical context, the game of golf has seen progressive developments in the clubs and balls available to golfers who, through almost six centuries, have sought to improve the playing performance of their equipment.

As an amateur player, the sets wisest to invest in would be Golden Bear, PowerBilt, or Wilsons. And if you’re just starting out without a trainer, be assured that you can find many videos on YouTube and other golf websites that give you tips, advice, suggestions, point out common mistakes, etc. You can find information on anything else you need related to golf by simply searching for it on the internet.