Ever been intrigued by the flight of the golf ball or even by the sound of the impact between the club and the ball? The proverbial fascination of how one is able to hit such a small ball with an equally small club-head will always remain an amazement to golf wannabes, like myself. No amount of self-taught or endless air balls and digging of the ground as if looking for treasure will ever help solve the mystery.

But to derive the divine satisfaction and joy being able to hit the ball frequently enough to experience the thrill of flight, one must have attained a certain level of proficiency. Like all games, Ronaldo would never have been able to swerve the ball so effortlessly over the defenders if not for his endless hours of tireless training. The magic portion that makes Ronaldo such an accurate executioner of the ball is not the hours of training on the field, rather, it is the basic foundation that he has finally grasped through his years of playing and doing the same thing right.

By same token, the first step for any ardent golf fan, or a budding enthusiast who wants to pick up this most addictive of all pursuits is through signing up with a reputable academy, which are conveniently located throughout the island. This should be, with due respect to all self-taught golfers feely giving advice to beginners, the very first point of entry for all who are seriously keen to pick up the game.

By learning proper skills and habits from the onset will not only form the foundation where regular practice can build upon, but equally important, it prevents largely avoidable injuries that can be sustained due to bad posturing, handling  of clubs and foot movements.  M.Murugiah, the resident golf professional at Golfer’s Network at Warren Country Club and the President of the Singapore Professional Association reiterated in support of the point that  “Your first few lessons with a pro-to learn the basics-are essential for later success”.

We, in Singapore are much blessed with a myriad of choices, not just in terms of food, shopping, recreational hubs, but even in the variety of golf academies. Almost all the academies here offer a wide range of courses to meet the needs of the beginner and short-term courses for the experts who want to brush up their skills or brush off their ingrained bad swing habits.

For junior golfers, golf instructions and good golfing habits are the most pertinent. At their formative stage, the key to grooming good junior golfers by grounding the correct skills and habits starts from the very moment they pick up a club. If parents want their budding Tiger Woods to enjoy the game, let alone play, then it is crucial that they find a good academy or a coach that understands their child and ability.

One good recommended place where junior golfers are very much assured of acquiring sound skills for them to master the short-game before moving up to acquiring the skills of a full golf swing, is TeeOne Labs at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club, where the school offers a wide gamut of programmes catering to juniors, and even high achieving juniors the possibility of a golf scholarship to play and learn golf overseas.

Joey Gaughwin at Swing Kings, located at Keppel Club Driving Range, emphasizes on the importance of  the three P’s, namely Practice, Patience and Perseverance in all its well-designed programmes for budding golfers, where instructional programs are specifically geared towards mastering the all-important swing. Likewise, Mark Bates, General Manager of Heartland Golf School at Jurong Country Club, also focuses on refining the swing for juniors, but looks more at designing individualized programmes  to suit  ‘his or her golf swing based on physique, experience and goals of the student’.

Again, when you have the time and patience to subject your child to the rigors of learning golf the fun way, Singapore’s founding father of golf coaching, Alan Murray of Champions Golf Academy at Sembawang Country Club has a programme, aptly termed ‘Search for Champions’, that stretches from three to five years, making up of 10 modules of 12 sessions each. According to the guru, what matters really, at the end of the day, is not the one hour programme, of the five-year programme, where you can get from any of the reputable academies in Singapore. What is most important, however, is the long road to finding a ‘qualified teacher whom you can trust and get along with’ and making up the rest of the equation, your attitude.

Lincoln Chua

 Adapted from Golf Digest Jan 09