Golf in a Nutshell for New Golfers Over 50

The amount material available to the beginner golfer these days could fill an encyclopedia. With so many resources to choose from it can be overwhelming for the startup golfer to decide which tips to listen to. So many new players get caught up in the swing tips, strategies and techniques and before they know it those expensive new clubs are gathering dust in a broom closet.

Most of the frustration new players experience is entirely mental. They become overwhelmed by information and this causes them to make even more mistakes. In reality, there are really just a few basic golf tips for seniors just beginning that can make for a more enjoyable learning experience every time you step on the golf course.

Golf in a Nutshell

Golf is made up of a variety of parts. For example, you have the long game which will require great timing and strength. Then of course you have the short game, which will require precise motor skills with your hands. You then have putting, which will demand aiming ability. To top it off, every hole you play will have specific hazard zones you need to avoid when hitting the ball.

Developing your long game will require hours on the practice tee and driving ranges testing various swing techniques and ball positions. Developing your short game takes many hours on the practice greens familiarizing yourself with your clubs and improving your accuracy in pitching, chipping and putting.

Practice, Patience and Perseverance

Nothing in life comes easy. Golf is a sport that takes great skill and skill can only be attained through practice, patience and perseverance. You can read every golf tip and watch every video but nothing is going make you a better golfer faster than being patient and practicing your technique, but you can’t let the learning curve discourage you. The reward for your hard work will be a great shot…and there is no better feeling in the world.

The fact is that golf is a game of patience. If patience is not one of your better virtues, beginning golf is a good way to develop it. It can take years to get to a point where you have absolute control over your swing and the ball. But the journey is fun and rewarding as you progress.

As a new golfer over 50, remember that learning comes a little harder and teaching new movement patterns to our bodies can take time. Just stick to it, even when it gets tough. Golf is a game you will truly enjoy and have fun with the rest of your life!

Golf Widow? Not Me!! Five Tips To Join Your Golfer On His Turf

GUEST POST: This article comes from Catherine Behan from Golf In Love – Bringing Couples Together for Golf, Love and Soul Mating.

I wonder where the term “golf widow” came from in the first place.

I spend a lot of time doing my own thing while my man is on the golf course and believe me, I don’t wear black and mourn!! After going through a couple of seasons away from the game because of a health challenge, I am back playing, though not nearly as often as my honey.

It was my first husband’s passion about golf that got me into the game in the first place. I was 22 and quickly surmised that if I wanted to spend time with him, I needed to take up golf. Fortunately, I LOVED it. As a matter of fact, I became consumed with the game on my own. But I do have him to thank for getting me into golf in the first place.

But golf WIDOW? Yikes! What a stark and awful image. Ladies, if your hubby or main squeeze is spending too much time with golf….I challenge you to an attitude adjustment! Let me let you in on a secret….he is still alive and you are NOT a widow! Ha!

There are ways to reconnect with your man USING GOLF as a tool to build your relationship. Here are 5 tips to help you get out of that widow garb and get out there and FLIRT with your man!

1. Find a friend who is in the same boat and make a plan. Most of us have friends whose life mirrors our own. Surely you know another woman who is spending a lot of time alone while her man golfs. Between you, create a plan to explore golf to see if there is a gateway for you to begin to enjoy the game.

2. Find an instructor who will split a lesson between the two of you. Working in a small group as you are experimenting with golf is really fun. Golf is such a social game and it can be great fun to get together with girl friends to practice before grabbing a bite of lunch. We get together to shop and eat, couldn’t we also putt and eat?

3. Ask for a short game lesson first. Get familiar, really familiar with putting and chipping. There is no reason that a woman cannot excel at the short game. Two cool advantages here: one, men admire a woman who knows her way around the green and two, it sets you up for a great date night. Imagine this scenario: You invite your shocked husband to a putting practice session followed by cocktails or dinner, you can spin a great romantic evening out of this!

4. Join Women on Course. This is the coolest group ever.  I love the nine hole play dates called Dine and Wine.  Women who want to socialize and explore golf are meeting all over the country through this great membership site.  There is an event in San Diego today and I can’t wait to go.  Beginners are more than welcome and you can get all the info you need at the site!

5.  Never call yourself a golf widow again!! Begin to see yourself as a member of the golf community.  If your man LOVES the game, he will love your interest, trust me.  Sometimes guys tease about not wanting “the last bastian of male dominance sullied by female invaders,” but there are plenty of others who are craving your company out there.  As you become more comfortable and confident, he will respond to you with respect.  I love putting contests with my husband.  We frequenty practice together and we both enjoy spending the time together.

Golf Widow?  Not me.  I am a golfer who plays less frequently than my man and I treasure my time with him on the course.  I am carving out a place in golf that is uniquely my own.  Developing my OWN golf confidence, separate from him is making me a better player.  Our golf dates are more romantic because of MY attitude.  I don’t know about you but I LOVE romance and golf dates are so easy once you know a few basics!!

Visit Golf In Love for your Free Report on How to Find Romance on the Golf Course

Golfers Over 50 Celebrate Tom Watson’s Open Run

In what is shaping up to be a historical run at Turnberry, Scotland, 59-year-old Tom Watson holds a one shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the 149th Open Championship. Watson is 59-years-old, by far the oldest golfer to hold the third round lead in any major championship.

How historical would this be? Here is a list of the oldest golfers to win a major championship:

* Julius Boros: 1968 PGA Championship, 48 years, 4 months, 18 days
* Jack Nicklaus: 1986 Masters, 46 years, 2 months, 23 days
* Old Tom Morris: 1867 British Open, 46 years, 99 days
* Hale Irwin: 1990 U.S. Open, 45 years, 15 days old
* Roberto de Vicenzo: 1967 British Open, 44 years, 93 days
* Harry Vardon: 1914 British Open, 44 years, 41 days
* Raymond Floyd: 1986 U.S. Open, 43 years, 9 months, 11 days
* Ted Ray: 1920 U.S. Open, 43 years, 4 months, 16 days old

Watson turns 60 in September.

For all golfers over 50, watching this Open turns back the clock for all of us. How does he do it?

For all of the muscle and brawn of the American game, the game in the United Kingdom is very different on its links courses. The elements are every bit a part of the game as the strength of the golfer. Strength is marginalized and imagination and touch are emphasized.

This is why we have seen Greg Norman last year and Tom Watson this year contend in the Open Championship. We won’t see older golfers give it a run at the U.S. Open, The Masters, or the PGA Championship…all majors that are played on long courses built to challenge Tiger Woods.

While Tiger is back at home in Florida wondering what could have been during his opening round on a calm day by the Firth of Clyde, Tom Watson is enjoying a glass of wine in the Watson Suite at the Westin Turnberry Hotel making his game plan to capture his ninth major championship.

We’re all rooting for Tom Watson tomorrow. I hope to be back tomorrow to write a glowing review of his championship finish. But even if he falls short, this weekend will forever be remembered by golfers over 50 as a classic.

An Expert Golf Tip for Golfers Over 50

The Internet is littered with so many articles promising to expose the secrets of success in golf. I’m sure at some point you have encountered titles like “Secrets to a Lower Golf Score” or “Golf Strategies Only the Pros Know”. While many programs provide some excellent content, you know as well as I that the odds of these tips changing your game overnight are slim to none…

What if there was a “secret” expert tip to a lower score, a strategy time tested that even the seasoned professionals employ every time they play? What if to use this “secret”, you didn’t have to change how you play golf at all? Here is the secret tip for playing a consistently strong game for golfers over 50:

Never Hit A Shot That You Have Not Yet Practiced

It seems so simple, and you might be thinking to yourself, “That’s it?” The truth is that following that incredibly simple piece of advice can prove pretty tricky. Think back to the last round you played and see if this scenario seems familiar:

Your shot off the first tee slices just a bit, plopping the ball down in between trees. You have the option to play it to the side and back to the fairway or launch a super-straight, low long iron shot through the trees. The second choice could put you right at the green, but there are a lot of obstacles and you aren’t very familiar both with the terrain and not very comfortable with your long iron. Because it can put you closer to the hole, you go for the second choice… and before you know it, you’ve started your round with a triple bogey or worse.

It might seem like you are adding extra strokes by playing it safe, but sticking with shots you are confident about will probably save you strokes, not to mention embarrassment, in the long run.

You wouldn’t bet your life savings on your first-ever hand in poker. You wouldn’t drop the steepest cliff on the mountain your first time skiing. In any activity you have to build up your skills comfortably through practice. You never want to introduce something brand new to your golf game in the middle of a round.

Stick to the shots you know you can execute when playing most games and especially in competition and use your practice time to expand your repertoire and try new shots. This is a sure fire way to lower your score and show dramatic improvement each and every time you play golf.

Golf Video Lessons for Senior Golfers

The Internet has completely changed the way we baby boomer golfers learn to play golf. With thousands of websites, articles and video golf lessons available at the click of a button, progression in golf has never come faster or easier. In fact, the amount of information available to golfers over 50 through the Internet is so vast it can be overwhelming. Here are some tips for how to find, interpret and utilize the video lessons found right here in the cyber-world.

The Right Lessons

If you were to type “golf lessons” into Google it would yield hundreds-of-thousands of results. Which “golf lessons” are worth your time? You want to make sure that the lessons you watch are backed by a professional golfer or better yet a professional golf instructor, and a good place to start is right here at Golf Over 50 with the featured video in the right column. We’ll feature videos that are specific to the golfer over 50, including fitness, swing technique, and golf improvement tips.

Another good place to look is the website of your favorite print golf magazine. Many magazines have taken their expertise to the worldwide web to encourage interactivity from their community of readers. Part of having these websites is the ability for magazines to take their old text-to-picture instruction sections and transfer the lessons to a much easier to understand video. Since the videos are backed by your favorite magazine, there is no question as to the quality of instruction presented. Golf Digest has an excellent resource that is worth checking out.

Sites such as YouTube are an awesome to place to find specific lessons. For example you could look for “chip shot golf” or “golf tee shots” to find videos on those specific aspects of your game. Be aware of who you take your advice from on YouTube. The best way to gauge an author’s credibility is to look at his rating, the comments presented on his videos and his overall collection of videos. Obviously, an author with two dozen five-star instructional videos is likely to know his or her stuff.

Utilizing Video Instruction

Simply watching a video, regardless of the quality of the instruction, is not going to do you much good on the course. You need to watch each video over and over again, making sure you pay attention… not just to what is being said either.

The true benefit of a video lesson lies beyond the verbal instruction. In fact, most people find such instruction to be somewhat distracting and confusing. You need to become a video analyzer with a precise eye for detail. Things such as shoulder alignment, stance width, grip position and ball placement are as important as the steps needed to execute the technique.

As you watch these videos make sure you are focusing on the demonstration more than what is being said. These video lessons are your chance to see an expert golfer execute the precise movements of golf. Each run through will put the image of the motions deeper into your psyche, and since visualization can overpower skill-level you might find the lessons stick better and you progress faster. Take the motions, all of the steps needed to put together a perfect technique, and try to describe them to yourself in your own words. The great thing about video lessons is that you can make them cater personally to you!

A final tip is to make sure you practice what you learn. If you can, download these videos and upload them to your iPod, Blackberry or other video-capable mobile device – then take them with you to your practice session. Remember, if you don’t practice any of the things you learn than you really haven’t “learned” anything.

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