One very early last season, the other mid way through.
The first a university professor in his early 50s who, though athletic, doesn't play any other sport. The other a part time musician & factory worker in his early 40s who was once a ranked kick-boxer.
Neither had ever played golf before, both have become absolutely obsessed with the game and fallen in love with it -- and both are improving remarkably quickly. (They spent 3 days a week at the local golf dome all winter long. I started them both with two extra sets I had of older Hogan irons and Taylormade woods.)
As close to true newbies as you can get, with no previous knowledge of or interest in gca.
Here's what I noted by the end of last season:
1. They like to see the ball bounce and bound along the fairway after it lands, and want to go back to the courses that provide that (and not to ones that don't) -- and when a faded or hooked drive keeps rolling into the rough they blame themselves, ie their (current) ball striking.
2. While they don't mind rough (they call it 'long grass', as if someone just forgot to cut it) bordering the fairways, they hate 'long grass' close to and around the greens.
3. They really like golf holes that 'curve', ie gentle doglegs, and enjoy them bending in both directions -- to the right they get excited because they can 'see' the shot coming off, to the left they get focused because they want to try to draw the ball.
4. They don't like Par 3s, because they 'don't get a 2nd chance', ie a bad mis-hit off the tee immediately brings bogey into play (whereas on Par 4s they feel they have a chance to recover and still be putting for birdie if they can make a great 2nd shot).
5. I've never heard either of them even once mention fairway width or lack of it, or note/complain about tree lined courses (or courses without/with few trees): they simply don't seem to notice these things or to think about the game/courses in those terms.
6. Both can really hit the ball hard and long, not just for beginners but compared to most average golfer their ages; and yet, they both shy away from playing the blues (eg 6400-6500 yards) and always want to play the whites, ie 6100 yards.
6. They don't like uphill approach shots, especially long ones and ones that are very uphill.
7. They don't mind fairway bunkers at all (and don't complain about the very mixed results they achieve hitting out of them) but they do mind greenside bunkers a lot, and complain constantly about all manner of problems with them, real of imagined.
8. They are in love with the high flop-shot type recovery (and play those shots quite well, and better than I do - me who doesn't 'see' that shot and rarely play it) but marvel that I choose low running chips and pitches using everything from a 6 iron to a hooded sand wedge.
9. They have taken to really disliking flattish greens, which they call 'greens that don't break'...and every time they miss a putt they moan/remind themselves that "these greens don't break!!"
As I say, this is probably OT, but I thought I'd share my experience with two brand new but totally committed golfers re gca.