Conference 7.286::golf

    
    	Dave,
    
    	Good luck...! I guess the main thing is to give her the pointers,
    	then once she is hitting it just let her go untill she asks
   	for help. Don't keep trying to point things out to her, this
    	makes it hard on both of you. It might be best that if she is
    	serious about it, after playing a few rounds, to perhaps have
    	her take a few lessons. For some reason people are usually more
    	receptive to out siders pointers/tips.
    
    	Well, that is my two cents worth. And again, good luck Dave.
    
    
    	Gene (who_has_tried_this_route_once_and_it_ain't_easy_!)

    
    Dave,
    
    I grew up in Franklin, and there are several hacker courses in the
    area. In Plainville there is one called Heather Hill, it is an 18
    hole course. The front nine is completely wide open exept for two
    holes. The greens are small so she won't have to deal with any long
    puts, they are also very flat. I forget exact directions to it but
    if you go 495 S to the plainville exit, take a right at the ramp.
    Stay on this road to the center of Plainville (there is a light
    there, ( I forget what the intersecting route numbers are). Take
    a right. If you go past some natural gas tanks on the left you are
    going the correct way. The road will take a 90 degree left so you
    should believe the signs when they say slow down. After the left
    there will be a large willow tree on the right about 100yards up.
    The drive way for the course is here.
    
    There is another in Holliston, across the street from Holliston
    High, its small (par 66), and usually wet if there has been any
    rain. Only played there onece.
    
    Glen Ellen is also in the area, this one however is usually fairly
    crowded and tee time required on weekends.  The course is wide open
    with the excrption of 16 and 17. Fairly long with some large very
    uneven greens.  To get here (hope you know the are cause I don't
    know street names) Head toward 109 via the center of Medway, go
    past Medway High. You will  come to an intersection of whatever
    road you are on and 109. (There are several small stores on your
    right). Go across 109, about a mile down the road you will see a
    sign on your right, it looks like a double street sign, the top
    part says the name of the street, the bottom part says GLEN ELLEN.
    Take a right on this road. Keep going down this road, just about
    the time you think you are lost, you will find it. (Its about 2
    miles down here but through what looks like deserted land.)
    
    As for hints, .1 had a good one, don't pick at her, let her go until
    she asks for help. Teach her how to read a green, she may get
    frustrated by the ball curving away from the hole. Also if you are
    a long hitter you may want to back off for a while, When I taught
    my wife, she got depressed at how much further I could hit the ball
    than her. She had seen it on the range, but never had to walk out
    to the ball, hit hers again, (sometime more than once or twice)
    then walk to mine. 
    
    Good luck
    
    --Bob
    

    I agree with .1.. My wife loves to play, although she isn't all
    that good.. Have some fun with her on the course...Let her develop
    at the speed she is comfortable with..
    
    My wife has some rules that she uses. They help her have fun even
    on bad shots. You won't find any of these in the USGA Rules of Golf.
    
    	1) 30 Second rule - Any ball you can retrieve in 30 seconds
    	   or less, does not count as a stroke.
    
    	2) Re-Chip - Similar to rule 1.. If you don't like your chip
    	   shot, retrieve the ball and chip it again.
    
    	3) Re-Putt - You got it. If your don't like the results, bring
    	   the ball back and re-putt it !!
    
    Dave, try these rules...You'll find you both can enjoy the course..
    
    Jim
    
    PS- All I do now is align my wife...She has a little trouble with
    direction...
    
    

    I forgot about her Preferred Lie rule..
    
    Where she prefers it !!!
    
    
    Jim
    

    
    	Dave,
    
    	I forgot one thing and it is most important. Give her LOTS and
    	LOTS of encouragement and remind her that she shouldn't expect
    	to much at first...!
    
    	Gene

    After finally getting a "real" set of clubs, I thought I'd take the
    wife out and show her how to really play the game.  Give her some tips,
    do something together, let us get some fresh air, so on...  We use to
    plod around the course while we were dating years ago, we had fun, and
    I remember she usually had double my score, (which is nothing to brag
    about to start with). 

    Well things change:  I didn't realize that her new interest in sports
    and exercise would make her so much more coordinated. I also forgot she
    took a three month golf lesson at the local college while I was away
    from the area. 

    Well it's not as embarrassing as it could have been, she did pretty
    good. First hole, I sliced into the trees, re-teed and "one bad ball
    follows another". While I'm looking for the lost balls, she tees up and
    hits about 150 yards "straight" down the fairway.  After putting her
    clubs away, driving the cart over to me, she says, "need help?", UGH!
    How embarrassing.  We did find the balls though, just where she said
    they'd be. 

    Not all went good though, she has a hook on her swing, while I slice,
    so when we both had a bad hole, we were "sailing" (tacking back and
    fourth) down the fairway. 

    The first par three, she's saying "Take it slow, you don't have to kill
    the ball".  She's right, a slow stroke lands just off the forward
    skirt.  Now she's giving me pointers!  Well... they work, so it's ok.
    Her turn, she lands the ball on the green rolled *slowly* within two
    feet of the pin and stays on the green!  When she later underscored me
    on a hole, she was overjoyed.  At his point I couldn't give her enough
    encouragement, she was doing great!  BTW: My game was going down the
    drink at this point. 

    In retrospect she enjoyed it, (and even more so that I asked her to go
    with me). I enjoyed it, and that wasn't all she liked.  Your guessed
    it, after that first hole, I never drove the cart again. 

    Mike, who slices, golfing with a wife that... 
    	...that's not going to come out right, but you get the idea.... 

My wife started to take up the game before our daughter was born.  Before ever 
venturing out on the course we spent several relaxed sessions at the range.  I 
gave her some pointers, while she practiced that I practiced, a few shots later 
I would evaluate, give encouragement and help correct problems she was having.  
We also worked our way thru the bag.  We started with short iron shots (7 
irons) which helped her get the ball up in the air and progressed thru to the 
driver.

At the course we set some guidelines.  1) Worst score is a 10. 2) If you are 
having a problem (like having hit the last 3 shots 5 yards each) just relax, 
step up and hit the ball quickly.  Spending a lot of time over the ball and 
trying to figure out all 287 swing keys that you worked on at the range 
probably won't help. 3) If you really get out of it, pick up the ball.
4) If we were holding up the group behind us we would let them play thru.
5) We were there to have fun so let's relax and not worry about the score, etc.

This worked well.  My wife can really drive the ball.  In fact when I picked up 
a metal driver she tried my old driver and started hitting the ball further 
than I ever did with it.  Unfortunately she can't putt.  (Too many trips to the 
local miniature golf course as a child.)

Since my daughter was born she has laid off the game.  (It's hard to justify 
paying someone $15-20 to babysit while you are out golfing.  It also makes for  
a very expensive day.)  My daughter is now almost 4.  We took her to the Open 
playoff and she was well behaved.  (Was quiet when the golfers were playing.)
I am interested in how couples that have children manage to play golf together 
during those early formative years.  Any suggestions?

Larry

I forgot to mention that the best time to go play is in the late afternoon when
the course is less crowded.  This is a must is you want to let your spouse 
rehit shots at will like a previous note mentioned.  It also has the added 
benefit that if you are playing late enough you can drop a few balls and 
practice different shots.  (This is how I cured myfear of sand traps.)

    Dave,
    
      Get a Professional to teach her.  Unless you qualify, always learn
    good habits from someone who knows. 
    
    Rick

    Just found conference, but I'll add my $.02.  A few years ago when
    I was leaving the Albuquerque plant for an assignment in Puerto
    Rico, I thought it would be great if my wife learned to play.  She
    took a couple of lessons from the pro at Arroyo del Oso and we played
    4 or 5 rounds together. Once in P R, we played nearly every weekend
    for 2 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. She plays in the high-90's
    to low-100's.  She's 100- 130 yards *STRAIGHT* off the tee every time
    followed by, usually 2 *STRAIGHT* 3-woods, on most par 4's.
    I'm not qualified to do much teaching, so I absolutely endorse .1.
    You concentrate on your game and let her work on hers and you'll
    both have a lot of fun.   
    
    Chuck