Hey Rick,
I'm a newbie too. I just switched to shaving with a straight a couple of weeks ago from 4 years with a hd/feather blades and I had the same experience during my first shave. At first I thought something must be wrong. It seemed to be pulling horribly. Since then I just keep trying to work on angle and touch and in a short time I'm already noticing a big difference. I think its just the natural learning curve in getting used to the difference between shaving with the straight vs the de. Just keep at it and Good luck. Also I think I may have gotten a bit better at stropping, maybe that helped as well.
Dan