Golf forums

First and foremost, get a good therapist.

Second, work on increasing your expletive vocabulary lest you become a boring playing partner.

Third, your relationship with golf will be of the love/hate variety. Mostly hate during the round. The love part happens when not playing and is of the unrequited type.

Fourth, go to a pro tournament. There you will see prima facie evidence that you will never ever get close to being that good. No matter how much your clubs cost.

OK. Grip and rip it.

1st, learn golf etiquette. It makes a difference. If you're even remotely athletic, when you start off, you'll probably do pretty well.  It's when you get to understand more about stance, swing, and the numerous other details is when you'll start to go to shit.  Leave pro golfing to the pro's.  Just enjoy the game, your company, the course and your time away from VitalMX. 

As for forums, I've looked and there just doesn't seem to be any worth spending time on.  Check into leagues, sign up for 4-man best ball scrambles.  You'll meet people with the same interest.  My wife loves playing the game as much as I do, and we always pack a day in for golf on any vacation we take. 

https://www.golfwrx.com/

It wouldn't hurt to spring for a few lessons from a local pro.

It might keep you from developing bad habits that are hard to undo.

And remember, they call it "Golf" because "F@#$" was already taken. 

I agree. Find a local pro that can help you figure out your swing. Trying to analyse your own swing and fix it rarely has a good outcome

Reddit is my go to place for all things golf

Agree. And forums are almost useless unless you just want to chit chat about your new Space -X quadroquirk driver.

Go to a driving range and see if you can even square one up. If you think you like it. Get some beginners lessons. Really important. They're not expensive ($50) and will pay huge dividends.

Lots to learn about etiquette and avoiding slow play. Youtube can help you there. 

Especially this one:

Watch this video twice because the first time you're not going to learn a goddam thing.

And be ready for the "plateau from hell".

It starts at different places depending upon your skill, 90's? 80's? Whatever your's is, and you will hit it, it's frustrating as hell. 

I don't know how to get that out of your head,  I never could. 

Etiquette, yes.

When starting, don't go buy a bunch of high dollar balls. Hell, you can get sacks of "pre-owned" that will be fine to learn with, and if you hit one in the toolies, screw it. There's someone waiting for you to continue. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hEwnd1wbE-M

https://m.facebook.com/tobykeith/videos/you-can-put-me-down-for-a-5-the…

I have a first cousin who is a pro golfer and my son played collegiate golf… BOTH have passed on good info over the years!

All the info above is very good!

Just like moto, golf gets exponentially harder to get from one plateau to another! Going from shooting triple digits to the 90’s is very doable with a little interest & effort (beginner to novice!), getting into the 80’s will require honing your swing & some dedicated practice (novice to intermediate!) getting into the 70’s (with an honest score! No mulliigans, foot wedges etc!) is very difficult and will require a significant effort, some good equipment, a lot of time & practice! (going Expert!) 

like mentioned above, you don’t have to spend crazy $$$ on expensive golf balls starting out BUT you will do yourself a favor by buying & playing the SAME ball consistently! Even if you buy the cheapest ball you can get a WalMart or Academy etc, having a consistent feel off the club face and consistent repeatable distances with each iron is critical to being able to score well! (Every ball has a different core, wind & cover and all those things affect feel & how the ball plays! a consistent feel and being able to hit consistent distances with irons is critical!)

Golf can be a lot of fun, and it can also easily become yet another bottomless pit you throw your time & money into, and it can be really frustrating at times too! Just learn all the rules and the proper etiquette, DONT CHEAT and most importantly REMEMBER to have FUN! 😎 👍❗️

I used to play an unhealthy amount of golf. I'm talking 50 rounds a month sometimes and memberships at multiple courses. My best friend was the chef at Bonita Bay top 50 course for a decade and i played free there about once a week and ate 5 star free afterward.

When I was a teen my mom worked at a church where the head priest was the top senior player around and he gave my wife and I both clubs and a stack of passes to local courses and it started there.  I hurt my arm a awhile ago and been missing it badly.

Great tips above.

I just tell everyone to watch Caddyshack and it will show you everything you need to know about golf.  

Two tips from me (5.6 handicap)

1.  ‘Paralysis by analysis’.  Don’t overthink it. Standing over the ball for ages, thinking about every little thing you ought to do in your swing is counterproductive. Take a practice swing, then quickly step into the ball and, at a count of 1-2-3, hit. 

2.  If you want to score well, eliminate the shots you throw away. By that I mean the stupid, ‘going for it’ shots that are never going to come off, that end up with lost balls and big numbers.

Manage the course (and your game).  Make good and realistic decisions about the likelihood of a potential shot outcome. Play conservatively to realistic targets. Accept bogeys rather than risking doubles or worse. Play boring golf…

On the other hand, if you just want to have fun, rip it every time! 🤣

Oh, and practice your short game. That’s where you save shots, not with your driver (which I rarely, if ever use). 

I have a love/hate (as most do) with golf. I started really young (lessons/coached), played multiple times a week through high school and then spent almost every night at a driving range next to my housing when I was in the military. When I came home, I basically quit playing aside from the random drunk scramble once a year.  
I wasn’t bad when I was young. Had a good swing. 

20 years later, My brother in law recently has become obsessed with the game.  Wants to talk nothing but golf.  I went out for the first time last year with him and aside from a few good shots, I spent most of the day wondering wtf was happening lol.  Now my wife has started playing and I’ve been out with her twice, and I’ve spent the last month watching nothing but swing videos..   god help me.  I just tell her all my motocross injury’s ruined my swing.  The thing about this game, I could hack the ball 90 times, but that one perfect shot keeps me wanting to come back  

Btw, reddit golf sub is probably where I spend most of my time. Fun stuff on there.  

WHAT HE SAID! Excellent input with all these!

My son’s high school coach always advocated for NOT overthinking it! Figured out your best option, then make it happen! Once you’ve decided your intent, get on with it! (No excessive practice swings etc!) 

Something else I picked up from my Son, was playing from the green back to tee box, NOT from tee box to the green! And what he meant was, always leave yourself a full club into the green… On longer holes I would always just hit it as far as I could with each shot, often leaving myself with a difficult “half wedge” into the green! I learned from my son, to lay up so that there is a full club swing into the green! He KNOWS he can hit his wedge a consistent controllable distance and leaves himself with a predictable practiced approach rather than a very difficult 50, 60, 70 yard “half wedge” shot that is much harder to hit consistently!

Golf can be a fickle bitch and about the time you’re ready to toss your bag in the pond and drive the cart into the creek, you’ll hit the one perfect shot you’ve been imagining and you’ll be back for more punishment in a few days! 😎 👍❗️

(For what it’s worth…and most will think it’s crazy blasphemy BUT I find that I played MUCH better when I walked the course rather than using a cart! The best golf I’ve ever played was when my son was a high school/collegiate player and we would always walk the courses. But in spite of all my effort & practice etc, I have never shot a single round in the 70’s either! I managed on several occasions to shoot an honest by the rules 80 & several 81’s but I never broke through to a 79 etc…talk about frustrating plateau’s!!! 🥵😡🤬)

Your post reminds of a time the wife and were teamed up with another twosome.  His theory was pretty much the same, especially with longer holes.  Focus on hitting 150 yards consistently and accurately and you'll shoot par's all day long.    

Welcome to this incredibly addicting, frustrating, and enjoying game! I post over at GolfWRX.com's forums too.

I've been swinging a club since about 2 years old and it's my main hobby since I don't currently own a MX bike. A lot of my friends are getting into it. This post from these golf content creators sums it up for them.