Have you ever wanted to learn how to get your significant other into golf but have no idea where to begin?
At the Left Rough, we understand. Golf is a great way to spend time with people you love and make memories that can last a lifetime.
Not to mention, playing golf with your significant other can make traveling fun as you can play awesome courses around the world.
But if you’ve ever tried to teach anyone how to play golf, you know how difficult it can be at times. When it’s your significant other, the difficulty can increase dramatically!
Luckily, it’s very doable if you have the right approach and use these strategies.
How to Get Your Partner into Golf
The first thing about getting your significant other into golf is to make sure he / she actually wants to get into golf. Don’t force them into a potentially frustrating, expensive, and time-consuming hobby. Otherwise, you might never get them into the best sport ever.
Just a quick disclaimer: In this article I am discussing playing golf with your partner. For most of you that will be a wife or girlfriend, but you could just as easily replace that with husband, boyfriend or any other significant other depending on your situation.
Here are some of the best strategies to get your girlfriend into golf.
Make It Fun
The first and most important rule is to make it fun!
If you make it boring, tense or complex, she’s not going to have fun and your golfing excursions won’t last very long. If she’s brand new to the game, start with things like Topgolf, hitting balls at the driving range or mini-golf before you warm your way up to the full swing.
Another fun golf bonding activity is to attend to a professional golf tournament together. This could be a PGA, LPGA or Web.com event in your area. Spending time together on the course with a few drinks and a good time will get her acquainted to the game you love.
Once you do get her to the course, keep the fun going. One thing I always recommend doing is to not keep score, for a long time…if ever! If you’re an experienced player and she’s a beginner, don’t even think about keeping score.
Again, keep it fun, relaxed, and mellow. Some people are competitive while others don’t have the need to compete so understand what’s best.
Get Her Clubs & Gear
Here’s a quick way to end her golfing career before it begins…making her play old, outdated clubs. Especially if they are sawed off men’s clubs or old ones in your garage.
If you’re serious about getting your significant other into the game, buy her a full set of her own clubs. You can buy her a full-set on Amazon very inexpensively. This will usually come with a driver, fairway woods, hybrids, a few irons, putter, and maybe even a bag.
You want to make sure the club are forgiving and easy to use. Most of these beginner sets will have light flex, graphite shafts and typically pink, purple or light blue colors.
Don’t Give Her Golf Lessons
I can’t stress this enough, please don’t give her golf lessons!
Similar to making her play an old set of clubs, giving her lessons could be a deal breaker.
Just ask any golf coach or golf professional, lessons aren’t easy even for certified professionals. Even if you’re great at playing golf doesn’t mean you know how to teach, let alone teach your significant other.
While a few tips or golf basics are fine (like some common golf terminology), leave the full-swing lessons to a pro or someone who knows the game. If you try to be a teacher, this is an easy way to cause tension in the relationship and make golf not very much fun.
To keep with the motto of fun, instead of trying to teach like a pro, help her with the short game. Short chips, pitches, and putts don’t require much movement and make it much easier to teach.
Stay Patient
As I’m sure you know, golf can bring out some bad feelings at times. One moment you might want to quit your job and go for the tour but 10 minutes later you want to throw your clubs in the lake. Golf requires patience, especially when you’re out with a new golfer.
Remember, your time out on the golf course with your significant other is quality time away from all the distractions of normal life. Don’t hold it against her if she’s new to the game or not the most athletic person.
If it’s a busy day on the course, allow other groups to play through and don’t make her hit if she’s feeling uncomfortable with an audience. Take your time, help her with the short game shots, and enjoy your time together…regardless of how long the round takes!
Make Golf Easier
Golf is hard. No matter if you’re brand new to the game or an experienced PGA Tour pro. Just ask Jordan Speith on the 12th hole in the 2016 Masters.
That being said, you want to make the game as easy as possible for her. Because as you know, when things get hard on the course, it’s easy to want to give up.
The best place to start her golfing career is the driving range. Then a short, par-3 executive style course when you feel like teeing it up.
Don’t take her to a 7,000 course to get her started. Find a course where there are a lot of new golfers and junior golfers to get her started. (You may even want to consider teeing it forward yourself to keep things relaxed.)
Once you make it to the course, stick with the main theme of having fun. Go later in the day so you don’t have anyone pushing you or making her feel pressured to hit in front of others. A nice easy pace of play is what you are looking for.
Let her drive the cart, have a drink, and make it super casual. Also, just play 9 holes until she starts hitting it consistently and grab a bite in the clubhouse afterward.
Like I mentioned before, don’t keep score either, the more casual and less competitive, the better. Forget the rules of golf, try to keep it fun by letting her tee it up in the fairway to increase confidence, skip certain holes or pickup whenever she wants.
Golf With Another Couple
If you’re pretty experienced at the great sport of golf, that might be intimidating to her even if you tell her not to worry about it. To alleviate this, a great idea is to try and enroll another couple who are at similar skill levels as you.
If you have a golfing buddy whose wife is interested, get started together. This will allow the four of you to play together and she can have someone to relate too. Even let them ride together so they can converse and have more fun together.
Communicate Clearly
The last thing I’d recommend is to keep communication open when it comes to golf. While it’s fun to play golf with your significant others (unless she has progressed to a being really good golfer), I’m guessing you probably don’t want her involved if you have a serious match with your normal foursome. Let her know you have serious competition golf on certain days and try to schedule tee times with her outside those events.
If you’re doing all of the above, she should be having fun and want to start playing more. If she’s enjoying golf, encourage her to enlist a group of friends or even find a league if she really likes it. Some courses even do things like back 9 and breakfast themed outings with cocktails.
The more you communicate, the better it’ll be for you and her! Ultimately, if you do this right you should be playing more golf than ever.
Final Thoughts on Playing With Your Significant Other
Golfing with your girlfriend, wife or significant others should be a lot of fun. Make sure to use these tips so you keep golf casual, non-competitive, and a great activity to do together. This way you can play when you travel together but still have plenty of time for your own rounds.
Remember, stay away from enlisting as her swing coach because the last thing you want is golf getting in the way of your relationship. Have fun, keep it casual, and include some alcohol to start playing golf together.
Lastly, don’t forget that golfing with a beginner doesn’t do wonders to your game when you’re seeing tops and shanks all day. Don’t try to go out there and shoot your career round.
Have you tried to play golf with your girlfriend, wife or significant other? Let us know in the comments if you’ve found any other strategies as well!