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Golf Ball selection – Beginner’s guide to Golf

Ball selection for the Beginner

Where should your priorities lie?

Be honest with yourself.  As a Golf Beginner you are going to lose a lot of balls on the course.  So price should definitely be one of the first things you consider when selecting a ball.  Fortunately for you, there are many quality balls on the market that should suit your game without breaking the bank.

As a Beginner you will be prone to making contact all over the face of your clubs.  Maintaining a square face at impact is also incredibly difficult for most Beginners as well.  For these reasons a Low Spin Low Compression ball would benefit most Beginners.  This type of ball will help reduce the severity of slices, and hooks.  The ball won’t completely eliminate a slice, or hook, but possibly lesson it to a manageable point.  I’ve tested both High Spin, and Low Spin balls on simulators.  Having a Low Spin ball saves me about 5 strokes per round.

Another thing to consider when deciding which ball to purchase is in my opinion the deciding factor.  How it feels, and rolls when putting.   Seriously it’s the single most important aspect of what makes a ball right for you.  A ball could give me 10 more yards of distance off the Tee.  It could stop 2 yards quicker on approach shots into the Green.  It could spin like a top off my Wedges.  If it doesn’t feel right, or roll true off my Putter though.  Then it isn’t for me.  As a true Beginner the first swing you should be able to consistently repeat is your Putter stroke.  You are going to hit Drives all over the place, so 10 yards further into the Woods doesn’t help.  You will Duff, or Blade your approach shots, so stopping quicker won’t help.  The difficulty you will have using your first Wedge is massive, so extra spin won’t make any difference.  When you reach the Green though.  If that ball rolls straight, and true.  You will turn brutally frustrating holes, into a thing of beauty.

The last thing to consider when selecting a ball is how it flies off your Driver.  If you have found a few balls that meet the other criteria?  Choosing between them can come down to Driver advantage.  Some balls have dimple patterns that are specifically designed to help get the ball up in the air.  Depending on your natural launch angle, that could be beneficial.  More often than not.  A Hole that starts well, ends well.  Hitting a ball off the Tee that inspires confidence can be all you need to get off to a good start.

Knowing which ball is right for you takes a lot more than just reading reviews.  Buy a few sleeves of balls that appeal to you, and test them in a Simulator.  Then test all of them on a Putting Mat.  Make sure to use your own clubs, and Putter when testing balls.  Once you’ve decided which ball is right for you.  Make sure you buy a bunch of them.  Play those balls exclusively!  Whenever you go to a store to try a new club you are considering purchasing.  Bring along a sleeve of your balls with you.  That way you’ll get a feel for how your ball flys off that club.  You will also be used to the way the characteristics of that ball affect your shot shape.  If you use whatever balls the store has in the simulator.  The performance of the club you are testing will be impossible to accurately compare with your current equipment.

Lets say that you are in the middle of a round of Golf.  While looking for the ball that you just sliced into some fescue.  You come across a great looking money ball.  A Pro V1, or Taylormade TP5 will be so tempting to continue your Round with.  Don’t do it!  These balls aren’t made with the Beginner in mind.  It happened to me before I knew better.  I found a pristine Pro V1X during a Round of Golf where I was scoring quite well.  The next Hole was a long Par 3.  I had played this course many times, and usually hit my ball to the Green.  The angle at which I would reach the Green was so shallow my ball would always roll out the back.  I figured that the extra spin I should get with the Pro V1X would help me hold the Green.  I wiped it totally clean, and Tee’d it up.  I was right.  The Pro V1X didn’t roll out the back of the Green.  In fact I didn’t even reach the Green.  I’m sure I made contact with a very slightly Open face.  Usually with that kind of contact I’d end up back left of the Green.  With the Pro V1X it went way left, and ended up in the Pond on the left of the hole.  It was the first time I had ever hit one into that Pond.  I actually aim quite far right to avoid it because my normal miss is to the left.  I just hadn’t realized how far left the additional spin from the Pro V1X would send it.

So trust me when I say that finding the right ball for you will make a huge difference in your game.  Test as many balls as you can.  When you find one that really feels right.  Stick with it!

Beginner’s guide to Golf

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GOLF

Choosing a Golf Putter – Beginner’s guide to Golf

Selecting a Putter

The single most important club in your bag.

The right Putter can mean the difference between a good day on the course, or a frustrating one.  You don’t think so?  Here’s two actual examples of the difference having the correct Putter can make.

The first example is of a hole I played with the second Putter I purchased.  It wasn’t the right Putter for me for a number of reasons.  I had developed a decent putting stroke by this time though.  I wasn’t completely hopeless on the Greens.  This happened on the 8th hole at Scarlett Woods Golf course in Toronto, Ontario.  A fantastic course for beginners by the way.  The Pin was placed back left on the Green, and the hole was playing about 170 yards long.  At that time 170 yards was a 4 hybrid distance for me.  I wasn’t making particularly good contact that day, and there was a bit of wind to deal with.  I clubbed up, and decided to go with my 3 hybrid off the Tee.  My Tee shot drifted left of the target.  I was left with a difficult pitch over a bunker roughly 20 yards away with very little green to work with.  I hit my 56 degree wedge which successfully cleared the bunker.  Unfortunately my shot ran through the Green to the opposite side and settled in the fringe.  At this point I’m thinking two putts for bogey on a par 3 that I missed the Green is perfectly fine with me.  I actually finished that hole with a triple bogey!  Now here is how it happened, and it’s all because of the Putter.  I had a Taylormade Rossa Daytona blade style Putter.  Why this Putter was wrong for me begins with the weight.  It was definitely too light for me.  A heavier Putter helps me follow through with my pendulum style swing.  It also has a specially designed insert in the face of the Putter that reduces weight, and improves the feel at impact.  I found the insert to be a bit spongy feeling, but it did get the ball rolling smoothly with perfect contact.  The real problem was the combination of a spongy Putter face matched with an extremely soft covered ball.  I was strictly using the Wilson Staff Elite 50 balls at the time, and they have a very soft outer layer.  This meant that it required a lot of additional force to get the ball rolling when putting.  My first putt struck me as requiring a little extra power to get it through the fringe, and on it’s way to the hole.  The hole was on a bit of a downslope though, so I didn’t want to hit it too hard.  Due to the fringe the bottom of my Putter brushed along the ground during the stroke.  It slowed it just enough for the soft insert in the Putter, and the soft outer layer of the ball to come together and my ball travelled a total of 2 feet.  It only just made the Green.  Well at least I was on the Green now right.  So now I’m looking at double bogey.  One long lag putt plus a tap in, and I can get on to the next hole.  My next putt wasn’t bad by my standards. I left myself a 4 footer with very little break for the double.  It should of been an easy putt to make.  With a Putter that feels too light in your hands, isn’t balanced right for your type of swing (toe weighted), and takes a fair amount of force to get the ball rolling.  A short downhill putt is unnecessarily challenging.  Needless to say I left it just short.  Triple effing bogey!

Seven months later with a Putter far more suited to me the second example took place.  It was on the 11th hole at Dentonia Golf club in Toronto, Ontario.  This is also a 170 yard par 3, but it plays significantly downhill.  I chose to hit my 6 hybrid which ended up being just a little too much club that day.  My line was close to perfect, and I ended up rolling the ball off the Green, through the fringe, and settling in the short rough.  The Green slopes downward to the hole from my position.  Once again I’m staring down a shot that could potentially get away from me.  The distance to the hole was about 25ft.  I considered a short chips, but my chipping had been horrendous that day.  Instead I chose to go with the Putter.  I was using the third Putter I had purchased at this time.  A Yes Milly face balanced mallet.  It is a completely different design then the previous Putter.  First of all it’s quite heavy, so once you begin your swing bailing out isn’t an option.  It also has a face insert, but instead of being designed to provide feel.  It’s firm not soft, and designed to quickly get the ball rolling.  These two features practically eliminated my propensity to leave the ball short on touch shots.  I used the same stroke I had used at Scarlett Woods.  This time though the ball didn’t come to a complete stop at the edge of the Green.  It rolled on through without losing too much speed at all.  It tracked well, caught the downslope, and ended up in the hole for birdie!  The speed of the ball when it dropped would have probably left me a 5 footer coming back up hill if I missed.  A very doable putt for par.  Either way a massive improvement over the last Putter.

A quick word about how much you should spend on a Putter.  Given it’s importance, price should not be the deciding factor when purchasing a Putter.  You still need to be careful with your budget though.  While testing Putters I had some very good results with a Scotty Cameron model.  It was three times the price of the Yes Milly Putter I eventually picked though.  In the end I believe that there are features on the the Yes Milly Putter that actually benefit me more.  The true alignment aid on the base of the Milly is one particular advantage.  Once you’ve settled on which type and balance of Putter is for you.  You should be able to find one that fits your price point as well.  For instance Wilson makes quite a few different Putters at great prices.  One of my particular favourites is the one available for less than $50 on Amazon as of the publishing of this post.

When I check my scorecards, and count the number of putts per round.  I used to average 45 putts per round.  Now I average 36 putts per round.  That’s an improvement of 9 strokes per round of golf.  There are very few clubs in your bag that can make that much of an improvement in your game.  All it takes is switching to the model that’s the correct fit for you.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to have the right Putter.  So don’t take choosing a Putter lightly.  Test as many as you can.  Visit the putting practice area at your local course, or range.  Ask to try a few swings with other Players Putters.  Visit your local store and get a Putter fitting done.  Once you know which type of Putter suits you.  You can then decide which one to purchase.

Beginner’s guide to Golf