Golf Spelled Backwards Is Flog
I've been taking golf lessons lately. I will admit readily that I am not a good golfer, nor do I play a lot. However, I've been motivated to improve what game I have by three factors: 1) On the rare off day that I will have once I start grad school, I can take advantage of the free golf that the local country club offers students of my chosen university, 2) My brother-in-law has informed me that my 9-year old nephew could probably beat me now (and he's probably right), and 3) I have this weird idea in my head that I've already got the short game because I play a terrific round of mini-golf.
Yeah, that's pretty silly, but give me something to hang my hat on; I don't have much. I just happened to have a 9-hole run of a lifetime on a recent evening at the local mini-golf course, getting a hole-in-one on 6 of the 9 holes. And this isn't just some Podunk Putt-Putt course, these are tricky holes. I was this close to making the record board at this particular course.
Okay, now while I wait for the real golfers to stop laughing their butts off, I KNOW that being good at the mini-golf course doesn't mean squat on a real golf course, and I've played a couple... only a couple. I've spent most of my time at driving ranges and it is there that I learned that I have serious and ingrained problems with my golf swing, which can be quite frustrating. It got to the point that on one particular range, I WANTED to hit the ball in the water because it meant I was hitting the damn thing straight. On the course was another issue altogether. When I hit a tee shot, it would be nice for it to not do either of the following... slice or fail to get off the ground. Hit it straight and up, that's all I want. We'll worry about shaving strokes off my game later.
And so it is that I've been taking golf lessons the last few Monday nights. The club pro is definitely a likable guy, the kind that tosses out one-liners and follows them with, "That's as funny as I get," just to make sure he gets a laugh out of you. Plus, he knows his stuff. See, I was originally taught how to play golf some 10 years ago for my PE credit in college, and while the teacher may have thought he knew what he was doing... well, it didn't work for me, and the club pro got that immediately. He looked at my grip and said, "You slice." See, he knows his stuff! Plus, he built us up piece by piece, one week being one step and the next week going a little farther. I saw immediate improvement, and this is when I discovered the other part of game improvement...
See, once you're doing well from a physical standpoint, your confidence builds and then the mental standpoint improves, and your nerves settle, and it just becomes muscle memory. Next thing you know, you may have reached zen... or at least as close to zen as you can get on a golf course. Mind you, I'm still just chipping balls with a 7-iron, so don't try hoping for inner peace when you're in the middle of an intense round of 18; I'm sure it doesn't work the same. Still, when you work a job as stressful as mine has been lately, with all the other assorted hassles of the day, something like this is MUCH appreciated. I managed to have this great feeling the first two weeks, so I was eager to build on it tonight.
Well, tonight I took a step back. But I needed that. See, the opposite of inner peace happens when you lose the ability to hit the ball the way you were hitting it the previous two weeks. That's when you start thinking, and as any good golfer will tell you, the key is NOT to think. Once you start thinking, you focus on all the things you think you need to do differently instead of the simple routine of just hitting the ball. But here's where the club pro's advice came in handy once again. He waited for us all to think we could come out shooting (and I actually did, but after a few perfect shots, it fell apart pretty quickly) and after we fell on our faces, he told us all the CORRECT way to start a warm-up. And it makes sense... break down the swing back to elementary and build up from there, a few balls at a time. Pretty soon, I was back in business.
Now time will tell as to whether or not all I have learned will translate to an actual round of 18, but I feel more confident about my game already, and once that happens, you can take advantage of the real reason why people play golf... to HAVE FUN. Let's face it, you're not going to take several hours out of your weekend to willingly do something that is not fun (note I said willingly). So maybe there is hope for me as a golfer, and if there is hope for me, there is truly hope for us all.
Yeah, that's pretty silly, but give me something to hang my hat on; I don't have much. I just happened to have a 9-hole run of a lifetime on a recent evening at the local mini-golf course, getting a hole-in-one on 6 of the 9 holes. And this isn't just some Podunk Putt-Putt course, these are tricky holes. I was this close to making the record board at this particular course.
Okay, now while I wait for the real golfers to stop laughing their butts off, I KNOW that being good at the mini-golf course doesn't mean squat on a real golf course, and I've played a couple... only a couple. I've spent most of my time at driving ranges and it is there that I learned that I have serious and ingrained problems with my golf swing, which can be quite frustrating. It got to the point that on one particular range, I WANTED to hit the ball in the water because it meant I was hitting the damn thing straight. On the course was another issue altogether. When I hit a tee shot, it would be nice for it to not do either of the following... slice or fail to get off the ground. Hit it straight and up, that's all I want. We'll worry about shaving strokes off my game later.
And so it is that I've been taking golf lessons the last few Monday nights. The club pro is definitely a likable guy, the kind that tosses out one-liners and follows them with, "That's as funny as I get," just to make sure he gets a laugh out of you. Plus, he knows his stuff. See, I was originally taught how to play golf some 10 years ago for my PE credit in college, and while the teacher may have thought he knew what he was doing... well, it didn't work for me, and the club pro got that immediately. He looked at my grip and said, "You slice." See, he knows his stuff! Plus, he built us up piece by piece, one week being one step and the next week going a little farther. I saw immediate improvement, and this is when I discovered the other part of game improvement...
See, once you're doing well from a physical standpoint, your confidence builds and then the mental standpoint improves, and your nerves settle, and it just becomes muscle memory. Next thing you know, you may have reached zen... or at least as close to zen as you can get on a golf course. Mind you, I'm still just chipping balls with a 7-iron, so don't try hoping for inner peace when you're in the middle of an intense round of 18; I'm sure it doesn't work the same. Still, when you work a job as stressful as mine has been lately, with all the other assorted hassles of the day, something like this is MUCH appreciated. I managed to have this great feeling the first two weeks, so I was eager to build on it tonight.
Well, tonight I took a step back. But I needed that. See, the opposite of inner peace happens when you lose the ability to hit the ball the way you were hitting it the previous two weeks. That's when you start thinking, and as any good golfer will tell you, the key is NOT to think. Once you start thinking, you focus on all the things you think you need to do differently instead of the simple routine of just hitting the ball. But here's where the club pro's advice came in handy once again. He waited for us all to think we could come out shooting (and I actually did, but after a few perfect shots, it fell apart pretty quickly) and after we fell on our faces, he told us all the CORRECT way to start a warm-up. And it makes sense... break down the swing back to elementary and build up from there, a few balls at a time. Pretty soon, I was back in business.
Now time will tell as to whether or not all I have learned will translate to an actual round of 18, but I feel more confident about my game already, and once that happens, you can take advantage of the real reason why people play golf... to HAVE FUN. Let's face it, you're not going to take several hours out of your weekend to willingly do something that is not fun (note I said willingly). So maybe there is hope for me as a golfer, and if there is hope for me, there is truly hope for us all.
posted by Dave | 10:20 PM
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