Golf has evolved from a boy's club for the elite to a game that's open to all walks of life and levels of athleticism. It also presents a fascinating discipline to test patience and control. Award-winning golf instructor Mark Csencsits, Head PGA Teaching Professional at Bethlehem Golf Club, the city's municipal course, shares what to expect on your first forays into this green and grassy world.
Golf Is for Everyone
“The days of a game reserved for older white men in floral pants smoking cigars are long gone,” says Csencsits. Over the decades that he's been mastering not just the game but the teaching of it, Csencsits has seen golf embrace the women, minorities and children who once weren't even allowed to play. Golf has also opened its arms to people with varying physical ability. “I've had students with an arm or a leg missing,” Csencsits says. “There are leagues for blind golfers and special golf carts to accommodate golfers with disabilities.”
So, if you fancy working through life's frustrations by hitting some balls at the driving range, or getting a healthy walk in on a rolling green course, golf is for you.
The Business Boost
The work/play overlap in golf is still a thing. Some workplaces have regular golf tournaments, or maybe you notice business being done on the links without you. Learning could be a feather in your cap. Many of Csencsits's students have taken up golf just to learn enough to schmooze customers or network in business.
Appropriate Apparel
While private country clubs all have their own rules and regulations, Bethlehem Golf Club is more relaxed. Along with a driving range and 18-hole course, there's a 9-hole sort of bunny slope with no sand traps, no water and plenty of patience for beginners.
A T-shirt and jeans would once have been verboten, but now that's fine, and you don't even need to invest in golf shoes. Sneakers will do. The line is drawn at nudity and flip-flops, but otherwise you already have the outfit to get started. “We had a guy take his shirt off to work on his tan,” Csencsits says. “We went out and told him to put his shirt on.”
Equipment
Each player should have his or her own bag, since golfers diverge after the first hit and may need different clubs depending on where their ball ends up. A decent set can be had for around $200, but as a beginner you don't need to drop that cash right away. The three-week Get Golf Ready program Csencsits teaches provides equipment you can practice with for the duration.
The 5 Laws
Anyone who's seen golf on TV or with grandpa recognizes the preparatory shuffling adjustments alongside a golf ball. Keep your head down, keep your left arm straight, get your grip just right. In Csencsits's opinion, this emphasis is overrated: “It has nothing to do with hitting the ball and getting it into the air.”
Rather than focus on one rigid posture, his experiential approach employs five laws of ball flight. One, the angle of attack (the way the club is coming at the ball); two, the club face (how the front of the club is positioned when it strikes); three, the club's path through the air; four, centeredness of hit; and five, club head speed.
In short, working backwards from what the club and ball are doing, students learn to identify what their own unique process is to get the desired result.
“If I have 100 students, I'm going to have 100 different swings and movements,” he says. “Everybody's going to find their own way to a repeatable pattern of movements that creates a repeatable positive outcome.”
The Learning Curve
Some think golf will be easy because the ball just sits there waiting to be hit. Some see it as an impossible morass of geometric minutiae. Though it's a fairly complicated game, Csencsits has the teaching honed down to a science, and starting out with that kind of knowledge paves the way to success.
Only 13 percent of golfers take lessons. Csencsits teaches a huge number of people set in their ways, who learned in a haphazard manner and don't understand why they can't seem to improve. Whether through a $60 introductory private session or Get Golf Ready's thorough dive, Csencsits breaks bad habits and sets students up with a good foundation.
When you have those tenets, you can get a bucket of balls at the driving range, quickly assess “the production” (what happens when you hit the ball), and make informed tweaks to gain greater control.
Whether golf is a meditative practice, a fun way for a mother and daughter to get outside together or an avenue to rub elbows in the business world, the path to play has never been clearer.
The Expert:
Mark Csencsits
Head PGA Teaching Professional
Bethlehem Golf Club | lehighvalleygolfpro.com
