Golf Tips and strategiesfrom the EWGAto help newcomers to game of golf

1. Develop your game plan. Make a commitment and stay focused on your purpose. Evaluate yourself after a lesson or a round to ensure that you are accomplishing what you set out to do.

2. Pick a program – start with professional golf instruction. Choose private lessons or group clinics. EWGA offers new golfer clinics for women led by PGA and LPGA teaching professionals. A new industry-wide program called “Get Golf Ready” is providing 5 lessons for $99.

3. Everyone learns differently. You’ll find dozens of resources -- golf instructional DVDs, videos, online clips, books, magazines -- to help you learn the game of golf and the etiquette about the game. Only you know your learning style so seek out assistance that fits you!

4. Practicing proper golf etiquette will show others in your group that you mean business. Learn where to drive the golf cart (never on a tee box or green), how to fix a divot and where to stand when others are hitting. Demonstrating good golf etiquette shows your respect and understanding of the game.

5. More golf tips - learn the Lingo – understanding terms like “par”, “birdie”, “bogie”, “bunker” and “slice” can be learned watching golf on TV, reading golf magazines or when taking golf lessons.

6. Be courteous of the other players in your group when playing golf. Don’t talk or make noise when golf shots are being made and please turn your cell phone off.

7. Be professional. As a business professional, appearance and behavior also should be reflected on the golf course. How you behave will translate into how you handle yourself in other real life situations. And others will be watching.

8. Find a mentor and welcoming places to play. Like the transition from school to your first job, putting what you’ve learned into action takes practice. Executive and nine-hole courses are good choices to build your skills and confidence as you play with a mentor.

9. When you feel you are becoming consistent in your shot-making, seek out welcoming tournament formats like the golf “Scramble” format which is a good way to begin your business golf experiences and are used in many corporate and charity events.

10. Join an organized golf group like the Executive Women’s Golf Association. For more information about an EWGA group near you, www.ewga.com.

Tips for being a courteous playing partner as a beginner golfer:

• Talking, moving or making noise while your playing partner is hitting is discourteous. This includes rattling change, candy or tees in your pocket, blowing your nose, shuffling your feet or breathing loudly.

• Paying attention to your playing partners tee shots helps the pace of play of the overall group.

• Be aware of things around you when swinging the golf club. Stand off to the side of a player when he/she is hitting but facing your playing partner so you are in full view. It’s distracting for a player to see someone in the periphery.

• Please leave the golf course as you found it. Rake the bunker after taking a shot, including anyone else’s footprints. Enter bunkers at the lowest point behind the ball. Repair divots in the fairway and ball marks on greens, pat down spike marks as long as they’re not in your line of putt, replace the flagstick in the hole. Observe cart path rules.

• Please do not walk, stand or cast a shadow in a player’s putting line. Treat the imaginary line between a golf ball and the cup on the green with reverence and never disturb it.

• Record your score for the hole once you have left the green. Please do not comment about another player’s score during the round. It’s like a no-hitter in baseball. You may jinx a good round by calling attention to it.

• Be prepared. The player with the lowest score on the previous hole has the “honor” to tee off first on the next hole. Know your scores and whether it is your turn to tee off first. The player whose ball is farthest away from the hole hits first (she is “away”; the player who is closest to the flag hits or putts last and tends the flag.) Know when it is your turn. In many instances, you will play “ready golf” to keep up the pace of play. Confirm with your playing partners that this is how you will proceed on the teeing ground which means, the person who is ready to hit, hits.

• Mark your ball on the green before you pick it up. If another person’s ball is in your way– it may be marked – ask a fellow player. If you hit it, it’s a two-stroke penalty. Mark the ball by placing a coin or other marker behind the ball before you pick it up. When you are ready to putt put the ball back place it exactly as you picked it up and then pick up the marker.

• Do not spend more than 60 seconds looking for a lost golf balls. Although the rule allows longer, it is not one you should follow. This may be dependent on the situation. Helping others in the group look for a lost ball is also a courteous gesture. After a minute, play a new golf ball as a courtesy to your playing partners.

• Please don’t take more than one practice golf swing before hitting the ball. You can take as many practice swings as you wait for your turn as long as you are not distracting the player hitting their ball or while you are waiting for the group behind you to “play through”. But when it’s your turn to hit, do so. 

If you follow these golf tips, you will be viewed as a knowledgeable, courteous playing partner.

About the EWGA

Since its founding in 1991 as the Executive Women’s Golf Association, the EWGA has touched the lives of more than 100,000 women connecting them to learn, play, and enjoy golf for business and fun. This tax-exempt association delivers a wide range of golf, social and networking activities for both new and experienced golfers. The EWGA is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.