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What is the best way for a beginner to learn to play golf?
Reasonable minds can disagree about the specifics, but I am biased towards the way I got into the game: from the green backwards.
That's why I think highly of Operation 36, a program run by Golf Genius, a company that serves thousands of golf tournaments with their scoring and leaderboard-tracking software.
Operation 36 is used by golfer-development programs across the country, and includes an app that helps new golfers track their progress as they work their way up through its various levels.
It essentially applies a martial-arts approach to golf, which for years has treated beginners like experienced veterans. The theory being that a new golfer heading straight to the tips or even middle tees of a golf course would be like a trainee karate student sparring with a black belt, Operation 36 sees a better way. New players start at Level 1 from 25 yards short of each green, with a goal of getting the ball up and down in an average of four strokes per hole across nine holes. Once they can reliably tackle that task, they level-up to 50 yards and continue moving farther from the green as they ascend the levels. The goal is the same each time: "shoot" 36 for nine holes from each distance.
What I like most about Operation 36 is that it centers the short game. Be they kids or adults, people's first instincts in golf tend to revolve around whaling away at a driver on the range. This is more likely to be frustrating than immediately fun or helpful. Operation 36 builds solid close-up fundamentals that will reverberate positively throughout the rest of a new golfer's game. The various levels - six in all - also give beginner golfers a road map for their own development as well as early feelings of encouragement and accomplishment when they move up a notch. We all know golf is hard and always will be, but Operation 36 provides checkpoints that help build a new golfer's confidence. That's crucial to helping someone cultivate a long-term love affair with the game.
GolfPass' newest video instruction series with Rory McIlroy walks golfers through several levels of Operation 36, with the four-time major champion providing insight into how he hits various shots from different distances. New golfers will learn a great deal from this series, but even avid players will want to pay attention to what McIlroy has to share.
Lauren Thompson hosts. She and McIlroy are joined by Maya Gaudin, a National Drive, Chip and Putt champion. Together, they walk viewers through the keys to conquering levels 1, 3, 5 and 6.
Watch Rory x Operation 36 on GolfPass
Level 1 | Level 3 | Level 5 | Level 6
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