Golf Tips for Beginners: The Essential Guide from Carl’s Golfland

If you’re thinking about starting your golf journey and feeling lost on where to start, or even if you’ve already started playing golf and feel overwhelmed, Carl’s Golfland is here to give you the best golf tips for beginners.

If you find yourself in either of the above categories, don’t panic. Learning the basics of golf can you give you a great foundation to improving and knowing where to go from here. We’re here to help make golf easier and to help you understand more about the game without confusing you even more.

Start with the Right Gear

Having the right equipment can make all the difference. Whether that’s golf shoes, golf clubs, apparel, gloves or accessories, we want you in the right gear. While it can feel like a daunting task to find the perfect gear, don’t overcomplicate it and don’t be nervous.

We have already built out guides for every beginner golfer to find the right equipment and gear.

There are so many golf clubs available, but not every set is for beginner golfers. Starting with a beginner set can make a world of difference and help you feel more confident about your journey. You can find our guide to the best beginner golf clubs linked here.

Golf balls are the only piece of equipment that you use on every single shot, so it’s important you find the right ones. Beginner golfers and high handicappers should most likely start out with softer balls or balls built for distance, or something that’s going to help reduce spin and minimize misses. Our guide to the best golf balls for beginners is linked here.

We also want you to look great on the course and feel comfortable when you’re playing. You can find our guide to the best golf shoes for beginners and golf apparel linked here.

You can’t forget about the accessories, either, with tees, towels, gloves, hats and everything in between. You can find out essential golf accessories for beginners linked here.

Practical Golf Swing Tips for Beginners

As far as golf tips for beginners goes, it’s essential to start at the very beginning. If you can’t build a good setup, then you’re throwing the rest of your swing off course.

Your grip and your stance are vitally important to the success of your golf swing and often get overlooked.

1. Master Your Grip (The Foundation)

Believe it or not, how you hold the golf club can dictate where your shot goes and could result in misses. For instance, if your grip is too strong, it can result in hooked shots (left for a right-handed golfer).

A strong grip would be your right hand for a right-handed golfer turned too far underneath the grip and your left hand turned too much over the top of the grip, rotated to the right. That grip can cause the golfer to rotate the face of the club too much through the swing and turn the head to the left too much, which would result in a hook.

On the opposite spectrum, a weak grip could cause a slice (right for a right-handed golfer). If your left hand for a right-handed golfer is rotated too far to the left under the grip and your right hand is rotated too far over the top of the grip to the left, that is a weak grip.

A weak grip can cause the face of the club to stay open at impact, which would result in spin slice and could cause the ball to go to the right.

A neutral grip can be achieved by placing the grip of the club in the fingers of your left hand, instead of the palm. Wrap your left hand around the grip with your pointer finger and thumb creating a ‘V’ shape with the end of the V pointing towards your right shoulder. You should be able to see two to three knuckles on your left hand while looking down at the club.

Then, place your right hand on the grip with your pointer finger and your thumb creating a ‘V’ shape that also points to your right shoulder. If you’re a left-handed golfer, you would reverse the hands.

Once your right hand is on the club, you can link your hands through a variety of ways. The overlapping grip is where you would place the pinky on your right hand in the slot between your middle finger and pointer finger and rest it on top.

The interlocking grip is another option where the golfer would interlock your right pinky finger and left pointer finger to make the connection between the two hands.

2. Focus on a Balanced Stance and Posture

Golf is an athletic sport, so take an athletic stance when you’re over the ball. You’ll want your feet roughly shoulder width apart, your knees slightly bent with a tilt that starts from the hips. Your posture is incredibly important in the swing and one small movement can throw things off.

Keep notice of your shoulders and chest as you set up to the ball. If your shoulders are rotated too much to the left, with your chest facing towards the target, there is a chance that could lead to swing issues that would create a slice. Conversely, shoulders too far rotated to the right, away from the target, could result in swing issues, as well.

3. Getting your Aim Right

Once you have your grip and are working on your stance, you’ll want to figure out your aim. There are quite a few beginner golfers who tend to aim too far to the right at set up. There are a number of reasons why this happens, but your eyes play tricks on you and we tend to try to align with where our shoulders are, rather than where the actual target is.

Aiming too far to the right can cause problems with your swing, most likely swinging over the top and causing a slice. Aiming too far to the left can also cause problems, possibly coming too far from the inside and creating a hook.

A great way to line up properly is get two alignment sticks, which you can find at Carl’s Golfland. Lay one of the sticks down on the ground pointing to your target and lay the other one down parallel to the first alignment stick where your feet will line up in your stance.

That will get you aimed properly at your target and will give you a good feel for what it should look like.

Getting your grip, stance and aim correct will only set you up for success.

4. Master the takeaway

Once you have your grip, stance and aim in order, you can then work on your takeaway. Similar to aim, if your takeaway is wrong, it can cause problems in your entire swing.

We want to focus on taking the club back properly, because it will help get the club in the proper position at the top of the golf swing and will make it easier to make solid contact. The way that you can practice that is by taking one quarter swings.

Focus on getting the club in the right spot at the one quarter mark in your takeaway to simplify what it should look like. At waist high, the shaft should be parallel to the ground and the club head should be either just outside your hands or in line with your hands.

You should move your shoulders and chest to bring the club back instead of lifting the club straight up (outside), or pulling the club to far inside and rolling your arms over.

If you can get comfortable with what this move should feel like and getting the club in the right spot at waist high, you can set yourself up for success with the rest of the golf swing.

Navigating the Course (Etiquette & Rules)

A big part of the game is knowing etiquette, rules and how to play the right way. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to know the rules, it can be intimidating if you don’t understand what to do or how to proceed.

Understanding the Rules

There are far too many rules to go over in this post, but you can utilize the USGA as a resource for all your rules questions. You can carry a USGA rules book in your bag to reference if you find yourself questioning what to do.

If you hit your ball into a hazard, if it’s marked with white stakes or red stakes. If you need to take a drop, if your ball is buried, where to tee the ball from on the start of a hole. These are all questions that you need to know the answer to, so study up on the rules and have a general knowledge of what to do in certain situations.

Play Prepared to Keep Up the Pace

Pace of play is how quickly you are playing the course and each individual hole. Courses will set what the pace of play is based on how busy it is and how many golfers there are, but always try to play at a quicker pace.

Holding up other golfers in your group or behind you is always frowned upon and can be avoided. Make sure you don’t wait until the last minute to figure out your yardage and which club you’re going to use.

Doing this while other players are preparing to hit can help with pace of play. Make sure you aren’t taking too many practice swings and are hitting the ball in a reasonable amount of time to keep pace of play moving forward.

Respect the Course and Other Players

Leaving the course better than you found it is a good rule to go by when playing golf. You can start by repairing your divots that you make in the fairway or tee box.

Some courses will equip you with a sand seed combination on your cart to fill in any divots, but typically you want to replace the grass divot that you hit and push it back into the hole you left. Similarly, if you hit your ball onto the green and make a ball mark, make sure you repair the mark.

Having a divot repair tool will allow you to easily repair the ball marks on the green by sticking the tool into the ground and pushing forward, never lifting the grass up, to fix it. Once the ball mark is repaired, pat your putter on the green to make it as flat as possible so that the next golfers behind you don’t have ball marks in their putting line.

If you hit your ball into a bunker, make sure that you rake the bunker after you’re done hitting out of it. Enter in the spot closest to where you hit from, rake the spot where you hit the ball and any footprints to leave it as smooth as possible.

Smart Practice Habits: The Best Golf Tips for Practice and Mindset

Practice is where the foundation of your game is truly built, so make sure that you have a great practice routine. Too often, golfers will go to the practice range with no goals and no routine in mind, hoping that they will get better.

Plan out your practice sessions to ensure that you get the most out of each and every one.

Don’t Neglect the Short Game

Hitting driver at the practice range is the go-to for many golfers, but your short game is where a lot of strokes come into play.

Spend time around the greens, chipping and hitting different shots for different scenarios, so that you can get a feel for shot types. Use different clubs for different lies and yardages to dial in your short game.

Don’t forget about putting, either. It is a part of the game that just doesn’t get enough attention when practicing. If you could cut a few strokes off of your score each round, it’s very likely to come around the green or on it, so why not dial in your putter?

You can work through a variety of drills and putting games to help you read putts, dial in your distance control and start saving strokes around the green.

Practice with a Purpose

You’re either practicing or you’re just hitting balls. When you practice, make sure that you are going through your pre-shot routine, aiming at a specific target and lining yourself up to that target. Run through different scenarios in your head to test your skills and abilities.

Hitting balls is a great way to practice as long as you have a game plan and are practicing with a purpose.

Start by warming up with your wedges. Hit some shorter distance shots, then move to specific targets and distances to try to get your wedge distance control where you’d like it. Then move into your irons and pick targets to hit specific distances.

Prior to hitting the shots, pick your aim point, get your setup right and go through your entire pre-shot routine as if you were playing on the course. That way, it will be very familiar and comfortable for you when you do it for real in a round.

Once you’re finished with your irons, then move into fairway woods and driver. Don’t get your driver out and blast 50 balls right after another thinking that will help cure your woes.

Pretend as though you are on the tee and need to hit a specific shot and aim for an imaginary fairway to hit. Giving yourself realistic situations will help you see your shots better on the course.

Take a Lesson (or a Few)

Don’t be afraid to take a lesson. PGA Professionals are there to help golfers of all abilities get better and to make the game easier. It’s a good idea to build the right foundation and not develop bad habits in your swing.

A way to do that is by taking lessons and learning the basics the right way. It doesn’t matter what skill level you are, or where you’re at in the game of golf, a lesson can always help get you to where you want to be.

Hiring a PGA professional can also make your golf journey a little bit easier, because it is likely going to be difficult, but rewarding.

You’ve made the right steps to get better at golf, or step into the game, so don’t get frustrated if your development doesn’t go as quickly as you would like. It’s a marathon and can take time to develop a consistent swing.

As you continue on your path, you can learn more about custom fittings, expert advice and the best selection of beginner golf gear at Carl’s Golfland. We’re here to help make the game easier and more enjoyable no matter if you’re just starting out or have been playing golf for years.

Visit CarlsGolfland.com to learn more and continue your golf journey moving forward.