--- title: How to Start Golfing | Infinite Fairway description: What to do on your first range visit, a checklist for your first nine holes, and how pace of play works, written for golfers who are just starting out. --- [Skip to content](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/start#if-main) [![Infinite Fairway](https://www.infinitefairway.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/infinite-fairway/images/logo-green.svg)](https://www.infinitefairway.com/?hsLang=en) [Shop](https://shop.infinitefairway.com/) [Golf Guide](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide?hsLang=en) [Journal](https://www.infinitefairway.com/infinite-fairway-blog?hsLang=en) [Resources](https://www.infinitefairway.com/resources?hsLang=en) [About](https://www.infinitefairway.com/about-us?hsLang=en) [Find your club](https://shop.infinitefairway.com/?collection=clubs#inventory-results) Start golfing # Nobody is watching as closely as you think. Almost nothing standing between you and a decent first nine holes is about your swing. It is about knowing how the day works. This page is that, in order. [The first nine checklist](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/start#first-nine) [Your first range visit](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/start#range) [Pace of play](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/start#pace) Record 02 ## First nine holes: the practical checklist Book a nine-hole round at a public or municipal course, late in the day if you can. Twilight rates are cheaper and the course is quieter, which matters more than the price. ### Before you go - Call or book online and ask for the nine-hole or twilight rate. Say it is your first time, because the person on the phone will tell you the easiest tee time to take. - A collared shirt and shoes you can walk in are enough almost everywhere. You do not need golf shoes. - Take more balls than you think, water, and sunscreen. Nothing else is required. - You do not need fourteen clubs. Two will do: something you can get airborne, and a putter. ### When you arrive - Go to the counter, give your name, pay, and ask where the first tee is. That is the whole process. - Arrive fifteen minutes early. Being early removes most of the stress of the first tee. - Ask one question at the counter. Staff answer this question several times a day and nobody minds it. ### Which tees to play The shortest set on the card. There is no prize for playing from further back, and playing from the front makes a first round shorter, faster and considerably more enjoyable. Nobody will know or care which markers you used. ### When you lose a ball Look for it for about a minute. Then drop another ball roughly where you think it went, add a stroke, and play on. On a first round nobody is counting, and keeping the group moving is worth more than any score. ### When to pick up If a hole has gone badly, pick the ball up and walk to the next tee. This is normal, it is good manners, and it is what experienced golfers do when they are having a bad hole on a busy course. Plate 01 Nine holes with the four moments that actually matter marked: the counter where you check in, the first tee, the turn, and the finish. Everything else on the day follows from those four, and none of them involve your swing. ### The two-club bag A hybrid or a 7 iron off the tee and from the fairway, and a putter on the green. That covers every shot on a nine-hole course well enough for a first round, and it halves the number of decisions you have to make. Add a wedge third if you have one. A driver is the last club a new golfer needs, not the first. Record 03 ## Pace of play without panic Slow play is almost never caused by hitting bad shots. It is caused by four people standing in the same place, taking turns to think. The fix is called ready golf, and it is simple. ### Ready golf, in one habit Walk to your own ball while others are playing theirs. Pick your club on the way. Be standing over it, ready, before it is your turn. That one habit saves a group twenty minutes over nine holes. ### Order of play The old rule is that whoever is furthest from the hole plays first. In practice, on a social round, whoever is ready plays first, as long as it is safe. Nobody will object. ### Safety, which is the only hard rule - Never stand where someone could hit you, including beside or slightly behind a player swinging. - Never play until the group ahead is out of range. Out of range means further than your best shot, not your average one. - If a ball of yours is heading anywhere near another person, shout "fore" loudly and immediately. It is not embarrassing, it is the whole system. ### Letting a group through If the group behind is waiting on every tee and there is open space in front of you, wave them through on a par three. It takes two minutes and removes the pressure for the rest of the round. ### The one thing to stop doing Do not search for a ball for five minutes. Hit a provisional if you think the first one is gone, look for a minute, then move on. Lost ball searches are the single largest cause of slow rounds. Plate 03 The same four golfers, twice. In the pale group they are all standing together waiting for one person to play. In the copper group each one is already at their own ball with a club chosen. Same shots, same players, twenty minutes faster. Record 01 ## Your first range visit, and how to use twenty minutes A driving range is the cheapest and least intimidating way to start. A basket of balls costs a few dollars, nobody is watching, and there is no round to hold up. ### How it works - Pay at the counter for a basket, small or large. Small is plenty. - Take the basket to any empty bay. The bays with mats are fine and are easier on your hands than grass. - Most ranges will lend or rent clubs if you have none. Ask. - The flags out on the range are distance markers. They are the only information you need. ### Take three clubs out of the bag, not fourteen A wedge, a mid iron, and one club you can tee a ball up with. Leave the rest in the bag. Having fourteen clubs available in twenty minutes guarantees you will learn nothing about any of them. ### The twenty minutes, in order 1. Five minutes with the wedge, half swings, no target. You are warming up, not practicing. Do not count anything. 2. Ten minutes with the mid iron, running the contact ladder from the practice library. Count your strikes out of ten and write the number down. 3. Five minutes with the teed club, hitting at one single target. Stop when the time is up, even if the last one was good. That is a session that produced a number. Hitting a hundred balls at nothing produces a feeling, which is worth far less and disappears by the next visit. ### What not to do Do not try to fix anything on a first visit, and do not take advice from the next bay. Find out what you currently do first. The guide cannot help you change something neither of us has measured. [Get the contact ladder](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/practice#contact-ladder) [Or answer six questions](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/assessment?hsLang=en) Plate 04 A range bay with the only three things that matter in it: a basket, three clubs, and the distance markers out on the grass. The copper flag is the one you aim at for the last five minutes. Everything else in the bay is a distraction. ### If there is no range near you Every exercise in the practice library has a version that works at home on carpet, with no range and no course. Those versions are real practice, not a consolation. The only rule is that a carpet count is only ever compared against another carpet count. [Filter the library by at home](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/practice?hsLang=en) Next step ## Work out which one thing to do first. Six questions, about two minutes, no email address. If you have never played, the plan starts with the day rather than with your swing. [Take the free assessment](https://www.infinitefairway.com/golf-guide/assessment?hsLang=en) [![Infinite Fairway](https://www.infinitefairway.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/infinite-fairway/images/logo-white.svg)](https://www.infinitefairway.com/?hsLang=en) Infinite Fairway Utah roots. Golf stories. Good clubs with another round left. 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