← My Journey
✨ Week 1 2026-02-17

I Held a Golf Club for the First Time

Okay so this is really happening. I’m learning golf. Me. The person whose only sport experience is running away from balls in PE class.

How It Started

I was doom-scrolling Instagram at 2am (as one does) and saw this reel of a girl hitting a golf ball on this gorgeous green course with mountains in the background. She was wearing this cute outfit, the sun was setting, and she looked so… cool. Not athletic-cool. Like, effortlessly-living-her-best-life cool.

I thought: “I want to feel like that.”

So I YouTubed “how to play golf beginner” and fell into a 3-hour rabbit hole. By morning, I’d booked a lesson at the nearest driving range. Impulsive? Maybe. But I had a feeling about this.

The First Lesson

My instructor’s name is Coach Park. He’s probably in his 50s, very patient, and immediately clocked that I had never touched a golf club. He handed me a 7-iron and said, “This is your best friend for the next month. Forget drivers, forget putters. Just this.”

The grip alone took 15 minutes. I kept holding it like a baseball bat. Coach Park adjusted my hands probably 47 times. Left hand here, right hand there, thumbs pointing this way — it felt completely unnatural. He said, “It should feel weird. If it feels natural, you’re doing it wrong.”

Weirdly comforting.

My First Swing

I missed the ball. Completely. The club hit the mat behind the ball, made this horrible THWACK sound, and my hands vibrated like I’d just jackhammered concrete.

Second try: topped the ball. It rolled about 10 feet. Pathetic.

Third try: I actually hit it. Not far — maybe 50 yards? But it went UP. Into the AIR. I made this involuntary squealing sound and Coach Park just nodded like “yeah, that’s the one.”

I spent the next 45 minutes chasing that feeling. Most swings were bad. Some were okay. Two or three were actually good. But that feeling when you connect cleanly? I get it now. I get why people get addicted to this.

What I Learned

  1. The grip is everything. Coach Park said 80% of beginner problems come from the grip. I believe him because every time my shot was terrible, he’d look at my hands first.
  2. Don’t swing hard. I kept trying to murder the ball. Coach said “70% power, 100% smooth.” Turns out the ball goes farther when you don’t try to destroy it.
  3. Golf is weirdly meditative. When you’re focused on your stance, grip, and swing, you can’t think about anything else. My brain was quiet for the first time in weeks.

Next Week

I’m going back Tuesday and Thursday. Coach Park gave me homework: practice my grip at home with a pencil. Apparently I should be able to hold a pencil the same way I hold the club. I’ve been doing it while watching TV. My roommate thinks I’ve lost it.

This is week 1. I can barely hit the ball. But I’m going back. That has to count for something, right?