Chapter 1: The Components of Golf
Before we begin, we need to look at the various components of golf. What pieces do you need to put together to play golf?
First, you have to have a certain amount of physical ability. You need to be healthy enough to get to the course, to swing the club, and to make it around the course. You have to have enough strength and flexibility to swing the club around your body. You need sufficient cardiovascular health or physical endurance to play nine or eighteen holes. And you have to have basic athletic ability – eye-to-hand coordination – to swing a club and make contact with the ball. To realize the full potential of your basic athletic abilities, you must maximize all of these physical attributes.
Unless you have a desire to play, you simply won’t do it. I know that there are cases where a person really doesn’t want to play golf, but they play for other reasons. Their desire may be to not displease a parent or loved one. So their desire is to please somebody else. Some people play golf to enjoy the outdoors, for business reasons, or for social reasons. There must be some type of motivation to get out of bed and go play.
If you’re going to play golf, you should know a few fundamental rules of the game. And, of course, you need some swing fundamentals to be able to swing a club and make contact with the ball to drive it down the fairway. If you have poor fundamentals, you will have poor consistency and poor shots.