If you’re a recreational golfer, that is, not a golfer who is trying to win tournaments, but someone who just wants enjoy yourself in the out-of-doors with your friends, try these five ways to make golf more fun.

1. Play from the right set of tees. Almost every recreational golfer plays a course that is too long, and therefore too difficult. Multiply the length of your average drive by 25. That product is the length of the course you should be playing. Be honest with yourself about how long your average drive is. It’s about 95 percent as long as your best drive.

For example, if your average drive is 220 yards, and that’s not bad, you should play a course that is 5,500 yards long, not the 6,400-yard monster that you’re playing now. You’ll have more short irons into the par 4s, you’ll make more pars and maybe a few birdies . . . and have more fun.

2. Play scrambles. This is a match where your foursome divides into two teams. Each player on a team hits off the tee, then the best tee shot is chosen and both players hit from there. After every pair of shots from the same location, the best shot is elected and the two partners play from there, all the way into the hole — even on the putting green. This game makes golf a little more social, because you have partner helping you with your score, and your bad shots are forgiven. That last part is really more fun.

3. Throw away the scorecard. Play a round where you don’t keep score. Just hit the ball into the hole and move on to the next tee. Too often we get anxious about the shots we have to hit because of how they might affect our score. The score is just a record. Don’t let it become the reason we play.

Try once just playing. Don’t count your strokes, don’t even keep track of them in your head. Give up the score. You might find that alone releases a lot of worry and makes the game a lot more enjoyable. You don’t always have to be competing with someone or with yourself. Sometimes, just play.

4. Lighten your load by playing with fewer clubs. You don’t need three woods, seven irons, three wedges and a putter to move the ball around the course. What you do need is a club to hit off the tee with, a long club and a medium club for the fairway, two wedges, and a putter. That’s six. With that set, you can solve any problem the course throws at you by being creative, and making yourself be more creative is, well, more fun.

What about your score? Won’t it go up if you don’t have all your clubs? If you try this, you might notice that with this abbreviated set your scores stay pretty much the same as the ones you get with the full set.

5. Play golf with your children or grandchildren while they still are children. You give them a lifetime gift, and your time on the course together will build a personal relationship with deep roots. What more needs to be said?

If you play golf for fun, play it so it is fun. We don’t have to play the game tournament professionals play. Being ourselves, recreational golfers out for a good time, is enough.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

About four weeks ago, The Golf Channel started a show with David Feherty interviewing notable golfers in his inimitable style.

The first few shows tried out Feherty as a stand-up comic, and yarn-spinner, neither role of which suits him. He is the master of the out-of-nowhere zinger. Later shows feature this aspect of his humor, settling him into what he does best.

The shows began with Lee Trevino, went on to Tom Watson, Charles Barkley, Johnny Miller, and this week, a topical interview with Rory McIlroy. This last one was a masterpiece. Watch a re-broadcast this week if you get a chance. Here is a local boy who made good, with a square head on his shoulders. He knows what fame is getting him into, that his life will change because of it, though not always for the better, and his upbringing has prepared him for it all.

Feherty is a thoughtful and focused interviewer. He has a clear understanding of the question he wants to ask, asks it, then stops talking to let us hear the answer. He is a respectful interviewer, who can ask a pointed question in an honest way that doesn’t smack of gotcha. If he is touching on a flaw, it’s one he has had, too, and his point is how did you overcome it. The conversation is partly about golf, partly about life.

He has had a hard life and speaks about his problems, not to gain pity or encourage support, but to say to us, “This is who I am.” Because of his honest and respectful approach to his life, the people he speaks to open up about theirs, because they feel safe with him, in a way that they might not with another TCG interviewer or Joe ESPN.

I hope you’re watching this show, which is broadcast on Tuesday evening. There are some laughs, some soul-searching, and a conversation between two people who in some aspect of life are in the same club and understand each other on that level.

In a low-key way, this is some of the best television I have seen in a long time.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

If your boyfriend plays it, if your husband plays it, if your girlfriends play it, or if it’s just something that you want to try, welcome! Golf is a lifetime game that gets you out into beautiful surroundings having fun with friends. There’s quite a bit to learn, but if you take it in small steps, it will always be enjoyable.

The absolute first thing to do is sign up for some lessons. Hitting the ball is not as easy as it looks, and you need someone to teach you how. Please, if your boyfriend or husband wants to teach you, politely decline, and get lessons from a PGA professional who knows how to teach someone who is just starting out. A series of five lessons should get you started on the golf swing, putting, and little shots around the green that have their own special ways of being hit.

You don’t even need clubs to take lessons. The pro shop will have some you can use while you’re there. When it’s time start playing, though, you’ll want to buy some clubs. Make sure you buy ones designed for women. They have a different weight and balance than men’s clubs do, and will be much easier to swing. Make sure you get a fitting when you buy your clubs so they are tailored personally to you.

Speaking of buying, here is what else you’ll need to start playing. You’ll need a golf bag to put your clubs in, a wheeled cart to strap the bag to so you don’t have to carry it (it can get heavy), golf balls, of course (ask your pro which ones would be best for you), and golf tees to put the ball on when you hit it.

A towel clipped on to your bag is a must for cleaning the face of the club after you hit the ball, and for cleaning your ball once you get it on the green. You’ll need a marker to mark your ball on the green, but a coin in your pocket will do.

Be sure to wear clothing that is comfortable. Golf clothing has its own styles and wearing them makes you feel more a part of the game.

Golfing fashions are not just for the golf course these days. The updated golf fabric cuts and structures cross the fashion boundaries into other sports and street wear. You can feel comfortable playing 18 holes of golf, a quick meal in the clubhouse and out on errands without a change of clothes.

New fabric materials and layers allows for adjusting temperatures. Carry a rain jacket, though, in case it rains unexpectedly, and bring an umbrella if rain is possible.

Golf shoes are not a necessity, but they have special soles that grip the ground so you won’t slip when you swing. If you are serious about playing, invest in a pair. Until you do, wear shoes that are sturdy and comfortable for long periods of walking up and down hills.

Being able to hit the ball is only half of what a player needs to know. There are principles of golf etiquette that you must learn to become a welcomed playing partner. They mainly involve ways of keeping pace with the flow of play of the other golfers on the course, and of not creating disturbances for the golfers you are playing with.

The best way to learn them is to have a playing lesson from your professional, where you go out on the course to see how to apply the shot-making skills you learned, and to find out in practice what the principles of golf etiquette are and why golfers observe them.

I recommend two procedures for all beginning golfers, not just women. First, tee up the ball whenever you hit it from the tee or the fairway. The rules say only from the tee, but hitting the ball off the ground is hard to do at first. Tee it up (without taking too much time about it) while you’re learning the swing to make it easier on yourself. Around the green, where you use little part swings, you can play the ball off the ground.

Second, if you’ve hit the ball five times and you’re still not on the green, pick up your ball and walk it up to the green. This helps maintain the pace of play. Experienced golfers won’t mind that you’re learning and don’t hit great shots all the time, but they will mind if you’re slowing down the group. Also, you need to be aware of players in the groups behind you who will be expecting your group to finish the hole in a timely fashion.

Most golf courses, public and private, have a women’s league you can join to play with more experienced golfers who will help you get started playing this wonderful game.

So again, welcome to golf. We’ve been waiting for you. If you want to read more about playing golf, there are many web sites you can go to, but for the absolute best one,

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

These aren’t rules from the rule book, but practices you might find on the course where you play. They’re from today’s GolfWorld Monday, and the rules is below followed by my comment in italics.

1. No cell phones on the course, even for texting. Absolutely. For once, give your complete attention to the people who made the effort to spend four hours with you. It’s good manners, the basis of which is that because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

2. No hats on backwards. Lowers your apparent IQ by 40 points, but if you want your face to get sunburned, that’s OK with me.

3. No women before 10 a.m. on weekends. You’re kidding. Does this still go on?

4. No collarless shirts. Even my $80 Nike shirt that looks pretty darn sharp?

5. No denim. This shouldn’t be a rule, per se, but if the course isn’t a muddy mess, it’s just as easy to wear your Dockers.

6. Hats off indoors. Absolutely. You learned that when you were six-years-old. Or at least you should have.

7. Jackets and ties in the dining room. Boycott the dining room.

8. Guests can’t purchase in the pro shop; must go on member’s account. So my money is legal tender everywhere in the U.S., except in your pro shop? Am I in France?

9. No pull carts. I thought we were trying to get a little exercise here.

10. No cargos shorts or pants. Oh, good grief.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Is it just my imagination, or has the steam run out of professional golf? By that, I mean has the Tour stopped being a tour and become instead a series of exhibitions held between major tournaments?

Long ago, when the tournament players came to your town, everybody was there. They had to be. Prize money was pretty low, so you had to play to make a living. Remember those golf shows, like All-Star Golf, Challenge Golf, and Big Three Golf? The prize money for winning one of those shows was $3,000 and the loser got $1,000. When you consider that winning a tournament in those days (early 1960s) was worth from $3-5,000, those shows were a big deal. All the big names played in them. All the big names came to your town, too.

The tour meant something because each tour stop meant something to the players. Now, I ‘m not so sure. Jack Nicklaus won all those majors, and that was his personal quest, but since he was in a class by himself, no one thought how many majors you won should define anyone except him. How could it?  Who else could try to win that many? So the week-in, week-out tour was still a Big Deal.

Then Tiger Woods came along and took up the challenge. The press responded in spades. Features stories were about Tiger winning the last major, or whether he might win the next major. The “Best Player Without a Major” became a serious topic of discussion, rather than just an idea some bored golf writer had one day.

Now, it seems we just mark time until the next major. Play from January to March is all about who is going to qualify for the Masters. Then it’s the lead-in to the U.S. Open. Yes, The Players is in that gap, but it’s just a glorified tour stop. Then the British in July, and the season is over, because even though there’s the PGA in August, it doesn’t get much respect.

Tour Championship? FedEx Cup? Are they still playing? I thought it was football season!

The tour used to excite me. Now, my golf season revolves around the U.S. Open and The British Open.

What about the women? The LPGA is professional golf, too. I don’t want to leave them out of this discussion, but was there ever any steam in that tour?
—
Let us note the passing of Mason Rudolph April 18. He was, for me, one of the quintessential tour players in the 50s and 60s. Never a major winner (there’s that again), he nonetheless played in 430 PGA events and made the cut 409 times (95%), winning five times. His secret to consistent play? He always played for the fat part of the green. Earning sure money was more important to him than winning tournaments. Nothing wrong with that strategy. He was 76.
—

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

Golf season started in Oregon yesterday. Here in the Willamette Valley, it was below 40, rainy, and windy. So I stayed at home in my warm, dry living room and read a book about how to play golf. I like to have fun when I play golf. Cold and wet isn’t fun.

The thing about golf that keeps many of us coming back is that we find a little thing to change in our swing that makes us think, “This time I’ve really got it!” I found one a few days ago.

I tend to hit left. The ball starts out fairly straight, but curves left. After trying this and that for years to correct it, I finally noticed that when I take the club back, my right elbow doesn’t bend right away. This jams my left hand, closing the clubface. So three feet into my backswing I’ve already set up my hook.

I’ve been practicing letting that right elbow start folding as soon as I take the club back. It feels good, and the clubface stays square. I can’t wait for the weather to get better so I can try it out.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast is along the lines of, “You thought it rained hard yesterday, you should see today!”

Maybe by Friday. I’ll keep you posted.

Something I very much enjoy. But Stina Sternberg thinks she has some problems with me. See her video where she lectures us men on how not to act like we’re self-centered five-year-olds. Then continue reading.

As you go through your golfing career, it’s a good idea to ask yourself this question every so often: “Why am I doing this? What am I getting out of this?” You should be able to come up with a satisfying answer. But if you can’t, it’s time to reconsider not only what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it.

Hopefully, we started playing golf because it was fun to do. We had fun with friends, we enjoyed being on those special place called golf courses, we got thrilled when we hit a good shot or sank a putt we didn’t expect to. It was fun to be in the special club that calls themselves golfers.

Somewhere along the line, that changes for many of us. Golf becomes a vehicle for another activity. Or we get caught up in getting good and forget about the fun. Or we forget that golf is a difficult game which returns to us only what we put into it, and get frustrated by the state of our skills instead of enjoying them.

Now I can put the two questions above to you, but only you can answer them. I can’t even suggest that your answer should be something like this: “[Insert wise words here].” It’s all up to you. It’s your answer and it’s one that must speak honestly.

It takes courage to ask these questions and give yourself honest answers. Because the answers might be, “I don’t know,” and “Nothing.” If that’s the case, then go find something else that fulfills you. Don’t waste your time on a pursuit that doesn’t reward you.

But if your examination reveals that the reason you thought you were playing golf isn’t, and what you thought you were getting out is golf isn’t, it might be that you’ve drifted away from the original reasons that golf attracted you and made you want it to be a part of your life.

In that case, start over. Find a way to be pleased about something after every round no matter what your score was, and go from there. That’s how you’ll find the rewards, that’s how to ensure golf is a source of joy and happiness.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

On the PGA Tour, the stars of the closing decade are winding down, and a new set of stars is emerging and sorting themselves out.

Seven years ago we had the Big Five. They were Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Retief Goosen. All of them had won multiple majors or were on their way.

But the last three haven’t won a major since 2004. Mickelson was a late bloomer and started winning them later than he should have. Yes, he won at Augusta this year, and was close at the U. S. Open, but we wonder how much gas he has left.

Tiger? He has gone 10 majors without winning one, though he had two other droughts of the same size while winning his 14. His declining performance this year also makes us wonder how much gas he has left.

There is a new set of 20-somethings who are to good to be denied. Dustin Johnson will learn how to win a major. His problem yesterday at the PGA was not in failing to read the rules sheet. It as having a swing that sent the ball that far right on the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead — the same swing that betrayed him at Pebble Beach two months earlier. He can correct that.

Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer are not flukes. Each established a serious resume prior to their major tournament victory. Louis Oosthuizen won his major before doing that, though he has marvelous potential according to two stars familiar with his game — Ernie Els and Gary Player.

Look at the Sunday leader board in yesterday’s final round. Jason Day. Nick Watney. Rory McIlroy. Bubba Watson. These are not tomorrow’s stars. They are today’s stars.

Start paying attention to this new wave of golfers now. They’re here to stay, and they will not be derailed by the old wave. The PGA Tour isn’t changing. It has already changed.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

I tried to raise my two sons right. Honestly, I did everything I could, but to no avail. It was Michael Jordan’s heyday, and they both wanted to play basketball instead of golf. Liking Michael Jordan was cool. Liking David Toms wasn’t. So they played the sport of their cultural hero instead of listening to their Dad. (Sigh …).

They both play golf now, but it’s the game of someone who took it up when they were 30. I think the best golf tip I could give anybody is to take up golf when you’re ten years old. They didn’t, but that’s what grandkids are for.

So I’m taking my grandson, who just turned eleven, to the range tomorrow for his second series of lessons. We’ve been playing an executive course for about three summers now, and two years ago he had his first series of lessons.

He does everything right-handed except play golf. When he was four, we had this set of plastic golf clubs with big heads and a big golf ball and he just couldn’t get it. So one day in a moment of inspiration I turned him around to the port side and there it all was.

He lives a long way out of town, so its about a half-hour drive to get him and another half hour to get back in town to the course, but I don’t mind. He’s only going to be eleven once, and it’s not like I have more important things to do than to put golf into someone’s childhood.

We all want to leave something behind, a world that’s different because we were in it. I’m going to do for him what my father did for me. And my two sons? Well, now we have something we can always talk about, and there’s no better family outing than a day on the course. Maybe I did have some influence after all.