Golf Onset blog
Practical help for learning the game, rebuilding it after time away, choosing useful gear, and understanding the golf world beyond your next tee time.
Browse by series
Start with one useful guide. Each article will point you toward the next step.
Browse the library
Start with the question, curiosity, or part of your game that has your attention right now.
I can make a good swing. My problem is finding it again. This is my eight-week weekend plan for better balance, a complete finish, useful lessons, and a motion that travels to the course.
Follow the eight-week swing plan
A wedge stamped 56 degrees can be a digger, a glider, a bunker specialist, or the most versatile club in the bag. Loft is only the first angle in the decision.
Choose a wedge setup that fits
The one-hop-and-stop wedge looks like a wrist trick. The repeatable version starts with a clean, dry collision, predictable contact, and a landing spot you can actually practice.
Build a reliable spinning wedge shot
Sunny and dry sounds perfect until the ball disappears into low sun. I have learned to love a cool San Francisco overcast, but rain, heat, drainage, wind, and frost each change the decision to play.
Choose a golf-weather window
The round starts before the first tee, usually with a trunk-size calculation and occasionally with me wondering whether a helicopter would be simpler.
Choose a ride for the clubs
L.A.B. made zero-torque putters impossible to ignore, but it did not invent every balanced-putter idea. The useful question is which design, setup, and fit actually help you start the ball where you aim.
Understand zero-torque putters
Premium golf-ball shelves make every box sound like the answer. The useful comparison is simpler: decide what flight, spin, and feel you need, then prove it from the green back to the tee.
Compare premium golf balls
Some golf food gets me through the back nine. Some gives the group a reason to stay. These three public Bay Area stops show why access, timing, and the job of the meal matter as much as the menu.
Plan the golf meal
Royal County Down and Royal Portrush can carry the dream-round budget. My job is to connect them with two bases, courses that add character, and enough time to taste whiskey after the car keys are finished for the day.
Build the Northern Ireland route
Donegal has enough golf to make a list look easy and a road trip look ridiculous. I would choose two bases, let each course cluster breathe, and leave at least one great tee time for the next visit.
Build the Donegal route
Sligo and Mayo feel like the trip for friends who want serious links without spending every dinner comparing marquee-course receipts. The reward is space, scenery, and a remote final round that earns the drive.
Build the northwest route
Kerry has enough famous links to make every empty afternoon feel irresponsible. My plan is to resist, play four excellent rounds, and leave enough energy for Dingle seafood and the stories after golf.
Build the Kerry route
I want the sought-after links, the shared stories, and enough time after golf to find the food, whiskey, and one properly poured pint that made the route worth taking.
Plan the Ireland trip
Dublin gives me the easiest first swing at Ireland: land near the golf, play historic links, eat by the water, and spend a city night somewhere livelier than the hotel alarm clock.
Build the Dublin route
I prefer the first tee time, once I survive the alarm. Morning, twilight, midday, and weekend golf each solve a different scheduling problem.
Choose your tee time
I now tee every par-3 iron shot as low as I can. The consistent lie is worth taking, as long as turf practice keeps the rest of my iron game honest.
Try the low tee
For a special golf trip, I want my own clubs. I compared shipping ahead with borrowing a hard case, checking the bag, and accepting rental clubs.
Choose a travel plan
Separate long-putt speed from short-putt start line, begin with one simple drill, and build a routine for home, the practice green, and the minutes before a round.
Start the putting plan
Offset can support an open-face miss, but it is only one part of an iron. Here is how to recognize it, test it, and know when your fit deserves another look.
Understand golf club offset
My MGI makes walking wonderfully easy. The real buying guide begins when the wheels stop and I have to fold, clean, and lift the machine into my car.
Choose an electric push cart
Start with Poppy Hills and Pacific Grove, compare membership value, and choose one Monterey splurge without turning the trip into a financial endurance event.
Plan a Monterey golf trip
Compare documented turf at Harding Park, Corica Park, Baylands, and Metropolitan, plus the excellent all-grass practice area at Peacock Gap.
Explore Bay Area turf
Nine full-length holes, tilted fairways, bentgrass greens, affordable rates, and the community-centered muni I still want to play.
Meet Gleneagles
One restored MacKenzie round, one friend, one honest budget conversation, and a very good steak dinner.
Weigh the Pasatiempo trip
I choose the Ocean Course for a first friend outing, then test that instinct against the two public-course designs.
Choose a Half Moon Bay course
Walking has benefits, riding is fun, and moving the bag may be the real question.
Choose your course transportation
Courses, walking, weather, caddies, travel, and the budget conversation every group needs.
Plan the Bandon trip
Five courses I have played, the hilly Presidio round still on my list, and how each fits a different day.
Explore public golf
The 14-club rule, wedge gaps, woods, hybrids, putters, and the case for giving every club a job.
Build a smarter bag
What to learn, borrow, buy, and expect before your first full round.
Read beginner guide
A low-pressure plan for your swing, equipment, expectations, and first rounds back.
Read returning golfer guide
A research-informed framework for strength, power, mobility, balance, and warm-ups.
Read fitness guide
Simple full-body sessions for golfers who want more reserve, speed potential, and durability.
Read workout plan
A repeatable 10- to 15-minute routine for freer movement without chasing random flexibility.
Read mobility routine
Dynamic movement and progressive swings so the first tee does not feel like the first rep.
Read warm-up
Distance, feel, spin, compression, and price explained for newer avid golfers.
Read golf ball guide
Where bentgrass, Bermuda, Poa annua, ryegrass, fescue, and zoysia usually grow - and what each surface means for the next shot.
Learn where each grass grows
A beginner-friendly introduction to Seve's creativity, Ryder Cup fire, and short-game magic.
Read Seve profile
Turn one bucket into targets, club changes, simulated holes, consequences, and a useful note for next time.
Read practice guide
The early upgrades that help most, plus the purchases that can wait until your swing settles.
Read buying guide
Compare exact targets, course context, pace, rules, upkeep, and which first device fits your game.
Read tech comparison