FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- For potential golfers who may wonder how to get started with the game, the Fort Jackson Golf Club may have a solution.

The club partners with Play Golf America to offer Get Golf Ready classes for beginners. The class consists of five lessons, which introduce the new players to fundamentals as varied as the rules of the game, etiquette, how to dress for the game, and, of course, how to play.

One of the recent class participants is Paul Holbert, who works with the Network Enterprise Center. Holbert had never played golf before participating in the class, but has been interested in the game since the emergence of Tiger Woods as a top player.

However, stepping out onto the golf course took a while.

"Before, there was always an excuse like, 'It's too expensive,'" Holbert said. "It's almost an intimidation factor."

He said he learned about the classes from an email message and decided to sign up.

"I think the class was pretty good. They catered to those of us who had never touched a golf club before," Holbert said. "I think the instructors were really good, and it was a good pace."

Paul Tabor, a golf professional at the course and one of the teachers of the Get Golf Ready class, said people like Holbert are exactly the audience the class is trying to reach.

"The main thing, the biggest thing is trying to get folks to realize that golf is not as intimidating as everybody thinks it is," Tabor said.

Tabor said working with newcomers is rewarding for instructors as well.

"Most folks with Get Golf Ready and Play Golf America have barely even touched a golf club," Tabor said. "With them being brand new, it's actually more fun for us as teachers to teach the beginners. They don't have any bad habits, and their expectations are kind of low, so we can start from scratch and build them up from there."

Linda Sterne, whose husband is an Army retiree, said she decided to learn the game when she realized that almost everyone around her is a golfer.

"My husband has been playing golf since he was a teenager. He's very dedicated. All of a sudden, I looked around, and I have all kinds of friends -- women friends -- who play golf. So I thought, 'Well, I need another sport in my retirement.'" Sterne said. "I like the way they taught the basics without any pressure on us. It was basic. They were patient. They explained basics over again. They showed us how to do it. I thought that made it easier to understand."

Sterne and Holbert both said they are planning to continue playing.

"This has been a lot of fun," Sterne said. "I'm glad I did it. I might come back to do some more classes."

The next Get Golf Ready class starts today.

For more information, call 787-4344.