Golf basics

The game, explained the way a friend who plays would explain it.

These articles are for people who are new to golf or who've played for a while and never had the basics spelled out. They cover the questions that come up in the first couple of seasons: how to start without wasting money, which rules you'll actually need on a Saturday morning, what people expect of you on the course, how the scoring and the handicap system work, what clubs to buy and how far they should go, and how to practice so the practice sticks.

None of it needs an app. Where filming your swing helps with something, the article says so and points to the guides on filming and reading your swing, which are written for an iPhone and a cheap tripod. Where it doesn't help, the article doesn't pretend it does. Everything here is written by one golfer in Arizona who makes Impact Reel and films every range session, and it's checked against the current Rules of Golf and the USGA's published figures.

Starting out

Scoring and handicaps

Your game

Already filming your swing? The golf swing video guides cover where to put the phone, which angle and frame rate to use, how to add a shot tracer, and what the lines and the ball flight show. Impact Reel is the iPhone app that cuts a range video into one clip per swing.