Category: Learning Project

The 19th Hole ⛳️

- Harlieanne Wiks 1 Comment

After many rounds of golf our game has come to the end. I think I have improved my golf game by not only skill but also my confidence. I never wanted to golf with family or friends because I am a poor sport. I HATE doing things I am bad at because it discourages me and I feel like I need to be good at everything. This is why I originally chose golf for this learning project. The change in skill helped me change my mindset. I wouldn’t let my family watch me tee off when I first started because i didn’t want them to judge me if I missed the ball or didn’t hit it right. Now I have golfed with so many people and am even not scared to tee off with a group behind me.

Week 1 I shared my very small background in golf knowledge but what i was hoping to get out of this project. I also added the video I got last year of my first time golfing as a reference point of where my skills were at.

Week 2 I mentioned I had very little experience with golf and the vocabulary that goes along. I decided to look up some of the key words I have heard or would probably hear on the greens. I found a website that had lots of information and explained the definitions in a way I understood. I know I mentioned that one thing I wasn’t keen on what the explaining of ace. They used the term “hole in one” to define it but if someone doesn’t know what a hole in one means then they wouldn’t find that helpful.

Resource: https://www.golfballs.com/blog/most-common-golf-terms-definitions/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21026724382

Week 3 was an eye opener for me as the week prior I went out with friends for a round. I was in shock when I was “heckled” for not having any golf etiquette. One thing I remember specifically was when I was jokingly yelled at for talking during someone’s back swing. As a beginner I didn’t know it is normally quiet during that portion of the swing so i carried on with my conversation. Luckily no one actually cared but that inspired me to look up all the other common golf etiquette rules. The PGA had a very nice section dedicated to this. Although my golf course isn’t to strict it was nice to see what is most common if I was ever to go to a more proper course.

Resource: https://www.pga.com/story/golf-for-beginners-golf-etiquette-rules-and-glossary?srsltid=AfmBOorNslWbChvQuq7F7wR6r0-_j_nC61Hw4tI0fZoqUsnWjUK4j-bj

Week 4 was all about how to grip the club. I had been taught the traditional and interlocking method as a beginner last year but I knew from other golfers and TikTok videos that there was a few more. I am glad I decided to look into this as now I use the Vardon grip each time because it feels most natural to me. I still think the site could use multiple angles or better descriptions because I some photos were not straight forward.

Resources: https://skilledgolf.com/tips/golf-grip-guide/

 

Week 5 I had been golfing lots by now and mostly with others but I did go out a few time alone. I noticed I was often asking whoever I was playing with what club I should use for what hole and part of the fairway. I thought using ChatGPT could be a good way to get an understanding on how far each club hits on advrage and what they used for. It was also a learning opportunity as I had only used ChatGPT a handful of times. I had a few hiccups with it but mostly because human error and not giving enough detail. Like I mentioned in that post I wouldn’t use it for anything that requires a high quality source but for my personal use and for a quick straight forward answer I could see myself using it again!

Resource: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/chatgpt/id6448311069

Week 6 I decided to find an app to use. I had seen cool range fingered and golf watches out on the course but didn’t find that necessary for a beginner. Although after finding out how far each of my clubs can hit I thought I could use the Golfshot app to help me know how far out I am from the green in order to choose which club to use. I don;t own an Apple Watch but I just used it straight off my phone instead and it worked wonders. Even where the course had no service (which is majority of it) it still an aged to update and keep up! I don still wish that it would continue to show how far you were away from the green once you got closer because sometime chipping is easy to over or under shoot and that could possibly give you more of an idea.

Resource: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/golfshot-golf-gps-scorecard/id622851626

and that brings us back to the 19th hole. I learnt so much in the last. Months and improved my game and confidence. I know have an actual passion for golf and have gone at least once a week if not more. I love working out at the course even more because I know understand why our members are out almost daily. It’s a dose of joy, relaxation, getting outside, visiting with friends, and so on. I really enjoy this new hobby and know for a fact I will continue to play well after this project is done!

Here is the link to my audio/visual learning experience:

Give this app a go!🏌🏼‍♀️📱

- Harlieanne Wiks Leave a comment

I have been golfing with my boyfriend and his family who all have many years of experience and time to gather all the gadgets you can get for  the sport such as ball markers, divot repairs, range finders, but what I was amazed by was the golf watches. Now I am still a beginner who doesn’t necessarily need a golf watch but my boyfriend showed me an app called Golfshot that you download and can use as a range finder, keep your score, and much more. This app can also connect directly to an Apple Watch but I explored it on my phone.

I created my account and it asked to share my location and when I did it showed all the surrounding golf courses including the Pipestone hills golf course that I work and play at. At first it took a bit of navigating to full understanding what the app had to offer as I am still new to the golf lingo but I was intriguing. I also liked that it asked what tee box you were hitting from so I selected the red which is the ladies at my course and then it gave me the option to choose the tee box if I was doing my back 9 for a 18 hole round.

so as you may be able to see on the first photo it looks like I am starting from the middle of the fairway but that is because the woman’s tee box is down a hill and a few yards up from the men’s which lyes on the top of the fairway. Then I added a screen recorded video of it updating after I hit the ball and was driving up to it. It’s very cool to have since last week I used ChatGPT to help me know which club I should use when! The last photo shows that once you get close to the putting green it no longer shows you how far out you are. I think this could be because the hole location changes but it could be helpful if you needed to chip it into the green to know exactly how far you are from the edge.

Cue a club🏌🏼‍♀️

- Harlieanne Wiks Leave a comment

Now that I have got the feel for holding a golf club and hitting the ball. I have went golfing a few times by myself. One issue I always run into is when I get to certain holes I never know what club to use as they are shorter than the rest. Typically, I ask who I am with “ What club should I use?” But because I’m trying to learn more about the game of golf, I decided to use ChatGPT and figure out for myself, what club should be used when?

this was one of my first Times using ChatGPT so I did have to be a little bit more specific and ask how far a beginner woman can hit with each club and this is what it said.

I had one last question for it since all of the people I played with weren’t sure what the difference between a pitching wedge and a utility wedge was.

Overall, I now understand why so many people use ChatGPT. Yes, it might not always be accurate, but I did find it quite helpful and I am now able to use this information in my golf game. I think I could’ve got better answers by narrowing my search about being a female beginner golfer, as well as being specific about what golf clubs I do have in my set since I don’t have a five iron, but I do have the utility wedge.

chatGPT is not something I will personally use all the time but it is a good source and I’m glad I explored it. I don’t think it should be used When you are needing a credible source but for personal use where you might not need it to be 100% accurate it is a very helpful tool to be able to explore.

I grabbed a blank scorecard to fill out what club to use when teeing off for each hole and I am going to put it in my golf bag to use in the future!

 

Get a Grip!

- Harlieanne Wiks 3 Comments

Last week I decided to explore different ways to grip the golf club. Since I am a beginner holding a club in my hand feels unnatural anyway I hold it. I looked up many different type such as:

The Traditional

Interlocking

Vardon (overlapping)

The baseball

I did not like the baseball grip as I felt I was moving my wrist to much when I swing which causes me to top the ball. I am in between the interlocking and Vardon grips as these feel the most comfortable when swinging and I have less mobility of my wrist which benefits my game. I did need to find videos explaining these grips which are hyperlinked on each name because simply looking at a photo wasn’t enough for me to understand.

Let’s Talk Golf Etiquette! ⛳️

- Harlieanne Wiks 5 Comments

Let’s talk about golf etiquette! I have only golfed with my family and close friends at some local courses. I went out recently with my boyfriend and his friends and although they don’t take it serious they were teasing me about my etiquette on the course so that inspired me to learn more. The first thing I learnt was to not speak loudly during someone’s tee off and especially their back swing.

Another thing I got called on was walking on someone’s line. I didn’t understand this so when I found it on the PGA website I was able to read what they meant.

The rest of the rules I mostly knew about or don’t apply to my personal game of golf as someone who does it just for fun.

One this I appreciate about the PGA website is they broke down the etiquette rules by the different portions of golf like

ArrivinG

Warm up

Tee off

Game play

Putting greens

Etc.

This helps understand what you should follow as the game progresses. Another thing I appreciate was the “improve your game secretion” where you can find videos of drills in order to help your form and overall performance.

Golf Talk

- Harlieanne Wiks 1 Comment

For my first week of learning golf I decided to start from the very beginning before I step foot on the greens. Golf terminology is something I have heard but I’m not 100% “fluent” in. Some of the terms I was familiar with was

Par – the amount of strokes on that hole

Birdie – 1 stroke under par

Eagle – 2 strokes under par

Bogie – 1 stroke over par

And so on

Some new terms I have heard but did not know the meaning would be

Slice – shot with an extreme curve to the right

Hook –  is where the ball curves powerfully from right to left and left to right if the player is left-handed.

Mulligan – an opponent may permit one to replay one’s last shot.

There are many other terms to learn but these are the ones I found most important as a beginner.

One thing I liked about this site was the way it’s layed out . They didn’t have a long intro to the page as sometimes if I see multiple paragraphs I have to scroll past I will just go to another site but this one was short which made me stay. Secondly I love the alphabetical order of the list. This makes it easy for a beginner like me to look up a term when I hear it on the course. Lastly I appreciated the closing paragraph of encouragement and use of the language in the game of golf.

A “complaint” I have with the site would be that they combined Ace and Hole in one almost together as they assumed most people know what a hole in one is so they only put ace as a term.

Starting My Learning Project!

- Harlieanne Wiks Leave a comment

Welcome to Tee Time with Harli!

As mentioned in my introduction I have decided to focus of Golfing for my learning project. I am very new to golf and have only played a handful of times. I am aiming to not only develop new skills but also confidence in them. One of my undesirable traits is that I don’t like doing things I am not good at so I will avoid it at all costs but this stops here with this project. I am so excited to start this journey because I got a full time job at the club house which means I have a membership to the golf course and can enjoy my summers out their but also because golf is one of my moms and boyfriends passions so I can’t wait to finally get the courage and knowledge to do it along sided them.

To Tee off my project I will be doing some research into what the game of golf is all about. The rules, language used, what is required to play, etc. I did get my own set of clubs as everyone I plan to golf with is left handed and I am a right hander but I think it is a good investment as here in Moosomin golfing is a big part of their community.

Here is a video of my first time playing golf last summer!