Tell me if you've been here before. Your group text with your foursome is chatting it up all week getting ready for your tee time Saturday morning. Shit talking has ensued, wagers are being placed, alcohol will be consumed. There's nothing like spending the late morning and early afternoon playing a sport you love with the people you like being around most. Am I right?
No. I am wrong.
Let me preface this with a bit of vital information. If you can relate to this, subscribe to this blog because you know what it truly is like to feel pain. And in that case, I want to know you. Maybe grab a drink sometime. Maybe not play golf together.
Anyway.
This vital piece of information is that I was, at one time, considered a decent golfer. I was accustomed to shooting in the low-mid 80's and could get around the course with pretty much any foursome. I was also 17 and played 18 holes 4-5 times a week. I must ask, in what shred of a perverted reality does an adult have that much time to play? I wasn't shooting those scores because I'm naturally talented. I'm actually naturally terrible, like the majority of the world. But, those memories never go away. The insane amount of power you feel when confidently stepping up to the ball and knowing where it's going to go. To not think about your swing, but to just naturally feel it and rely on muscle memory. Just typing those words makes me sad. Those are distant memories to me and tarnish the flubby 90 and 100 scores I post now as a paunchy adult.
But... you can drink and play...
Yes. Yes you can. And that may be the only way that my fellow golf mates can convince me to get on the course these days.
Just play for fun! The score doesn't matter...
It's fun to be good. And it's not fun to know what "good" feels like and to absolutely suck. And don't tell me to go to the driving range. God help me. If I can make it hitting 8 consecutive golf balls towards a sand trap 135 yards away and not want to end my boredom by that little cart that collects the balls mauling my unathletic body to shreds then please send someone to check up on me because I must have skipped on my meds.
No one cares about your score but you... just get out there and play your game.
This is true. I personally could care less about every single golf shot that is happening around me besides my own, but that doesn't mean I'm not hyper-focused on the skyscraping slice I just launched off the tee or the skulled wedge I just hit 110 yards on a 60 yard approach shot or my second 4-putt of the day.
Every golfer threatens to quit golf. Every golfer knows these pains I'm describing, yet we continue to pay $75 greens fees every weekend and come home dehydrated, smelling like booze, tired and angry. I actually did quit golf for 2 years and am going against my own beliefs by starting up again...
Is it possible to have fun while playing golf if you're absolutely terrible? Let me know in the comments Campbell.
Comments