Golf is a great sport to play.
However, learning to play golf is not as easy as it looks.
So, if you want to learn to play this sport, there is one thing you must do.
That is, you must take golf lessons.
I'm talking about taking lessons from a qualified instructor.
What I mean by a qualified instructor is someone who will show you the basics and teach you the correct swing.
Also, that person will analyze your swing and provide instruction on how to improve your swing.
What I don't suggest is taking lessons from your buddy who's probably an OK golfer but cannot dedicate the time needed to help you learn to play the game.
Now, if your buddy is a very good golfer and can spend the time to show you the basics and analyze your swing and point out exactly what's wrong, then by all means go take lessons from this person.
Obviously, you'll be off to a good start with this person.
But if that's not the case, you'll be hurting your chance of learning the correct swing fro the beginning.
When I started to play golf I did this very thing.
I went with my friend to the golf course.
He showed me the proper grip, stance and the basic swing.
After that, I practiced for about half an hour hitting practice shots.
Then, I was ready to hit the course, at least that's what was going through my mind.
I was wrong.
Every shot I hit would go sideways.
There were even a couple of times where I almost hit some other golfers.
It was so embarrassing.
Let me tell you, this was the longest day of my life.
And after all that I never took golf lessons.
Like other beginners, I thought there was nothing to hitting a golf ball.
I figured I just needed more practice.
I tried to swing as hard as I could on every shot.
Sometimes I actually hit the ball, but it would go up in the air and go to the right, or what is referred to as a slice.
The harder I hit the ball the more the ball would slice.
Sometimes I would hit the ground and the club would come to a complete stop.
This was very painful.
I would get this pain underneath my ribs from hitting the ground so hard.
I also noticed that I wasn't the only one trying to find that perfect swing.
I would see other people hitting bad shot after bad shot in the practice range.
There would be some guys with big muscles and trying to kill the ball, especially since they had their girlfriend watching them.
But the result was the same as mine.
When I would go golfing, I went as far as aiming 90 degrees from my target just so the ball would go in the right direction.
I practiced several times a week and hit hundreds of balls and I still couldn't find the correct swing.
The problem was that I learned the wrong swing.
I programmed my mind to keep swinging this certain way and could never improve my game.
With lessons, you will learn all the basics of the golf swing and most important of all, you will learn how to swing the club correctly.
This will give you something to practice and program this swing and improve over time using this same swing.
Now as far as hitting the ball straight and long is not guaranteed, but you'll have a good starting point to improve on.
After being frustrated with hitting bad shots, I finally went out and took a lesson or two and learned exactly what I was doing wrong.
The problem was that I had to reprogram myself to swing differently than what I was used to.
This took a lot of time and to this day, I still have problems hitting good shots consistently.
If I would have taken golf lessons from the beginning from a qualified instructor, I would be in better shape than I am now and I would enjoy playing the game more than I do now.
The bottom line is, if you want to learn to play golf, do it the right way and take lessons instead of trying to find the correct golf swing on your own.
You will enjoy the game a whole lot more.