and here we are at the Driving Range! got changed into our golf wear - the attire for ladies are any tee with a collar and any pants below our knee caps or just above the knee caps with track shoes. have absolutely no idea why they need us to wear something with a collar. what's the difference between a polo tee and a tee? does it help a person to swing better or look better in that posture? anyway, that's what my coach says, and that's that, no arguments. but my coach is actually quite humourous.. and he has the habit of smacking his own butt and say "Lovely, i like that!". and we were all imitating him, of cos not in front of him lar!

so here we are in our golf wear!

then we were inside the driving range and we saw this!

haha.. and u will thought that this will only appear at the train stations!

this is the machine that give out golf balls..

today's lesson is actually a very basic one, teaching us how to hold the club correctly, how to stand, how to pose and of cos, the basic safety rules of game.

basic rules :

1) on the driving range, never walk towards your friend when he is having a game. always step outside the yellow line and shout to him, ok, not shout.. maybe u can talk in a normal voice. and always walk outside the yellow line.

2) Never swing your club when u are not having any game. u might hurt the person next to you. always hold the club by the "head" when walking. cos normally, people tend to swing the club when walking.

ok, end of the rules part cos i can only remember these 2.

how to hold the clubs.. (9 kinds of clubs, today we,girls practise with the no. 7 iron, also called graphite and joe used the steel shaft).

there's actually 3 types of grip.

1) the baseball grip - with your left hand on the top and right hand at the bottom, near to each other but not overlapping.

2) the interlock - with left hand on the top and right hand on the bottom. Last finger of right hand interlocking with the left index finger. (Tiger Woods use this grip!)

3) Overlapping - left hand at the top and right hand at the bottom but fingers of the right hand overlap some fingers of the left hand.

which grip u used doesn't matters, as long as u are comfortable with the grip.

correct way of gripping the club.. left hand always on the top with the club on the last part of your fingers and on your palm. if u still dont get me, here's a picture i've made to show u.. so nice of me, right! hee.. (p/s is not my hand)

where the word "club" lies on is where the club should be.. then closed your hands and hold the club in your left hand. make sure there's 2 knuckles that can be seen by you. then the right hand, place it near your left hand with the flesh of your lower thumb touching the left hand. and your right thumb should be facing downwards.

posture..

- legs should be apart, in line with your shoulder line and your feet pointing slightly outwards around 15 degrees. can bring your protector if you like to measure.

- back or spine, whatever u want to call it should be straight.. try not to bend.

- bend your knees slightly, just a little bit.

- and preferably, your butt should be perking out. i was telling the coach i could only do one.. either i perk my butt or i bend my knees! haha.. i can't do both! sharon does it without much effort! look so easy for her to do it!

- hold your club with your left hands straight and right hand slightly bend/relax. so when u do this, your shoulders will actually be tilted to your right (with your left shoulders higher then the right).

- and if u are in the correct position, u should feel your centre of gravity at the centre of your feet.. not the toes on the back..is the CENTRE.

ok, at first we practise with a tyre.. apparently, the correct thing to practise with is called an "impact bag", but the coach says they don't have it in Singapore and a tyre serve the same purpose.

then finally, the real thing! each of us had 3 white balls. OUR PRECIOUS BALLS! was thinking like, it will be damn embrassing if my ball is still there after i swing my club. but luckily all 3 hits were done without embrassing myself! though it didnt go very far, at least i managed to hit it, ok! hee..

anyway, Coach told us to try to practise the ending pose our swing whenever we are not in heels.. and this can be done in trains or in malls while waiting for our friends.. so while waiting for cabs, i decide to practise it and ask aini to take a shot for mi so i can post it here!