Novice Photographer lost in the world, please help me hit a golf ball

[The_Traveler]

Along with everything about the light being so distracting, the composition is off, imo. By putting him so far to the left, that leaves a big space to the right and that brick column then becomes something to look at. (I added some along the left, quite roughly I'm afraid)
Since controlling the light is so difficult in this situation, controlling the color is vital. I would always go to B&W to be able to manage what attracts the viewers' eyes.

I would manage the color as best as possible then make the conversion. It doesn't work as well on a small image like this but.

 

[imagemaker46]

From what I looked at, you're further ahead than you think you are, a lack of confidence seems to be a bigger issue.

 

[Ballistics]

Most shots outdoors are going to be disappointing unless you take them an hour before sunset or an hour after sunrise. It's called the golden hour for a reason.

Put your camera down for a bit and study the hows and whys of the light. This info is on the net too btw

If you're taking disappointing photos all day, it's not because of the light.

 

[vintagesnaps]

This one looks like maybe the exposure was off; it might be best to leave it and come back to it later on, you might see a way to make it better - or decide it's one that just didn't quite turn out the way you wanted.

There's so much information online and much of it isn't necessarily accurate (or seems to just be repackaging info. from elsewhere) that you might be getting into overload and need to take a break and process it all. You could look thru your photos and do some self-editing or self-evaluation - think about which are good, which you aren't happy with, and what you did that worked (or didn't) - I've discovered many times what not to do next time.

Practice I think is important; I got to the point some time ago that holding a camera seems like an extension of myself, that taking photos seems second nature - I think hours and hours of taking pictures does that.

If people didn't look at your photostream (which I did too) and see some talent they probably wouldn't be this encouraging so I hope that tells you something.