The Last
time I played Golf I sucked
I remember back when golf was not an addiction and I had
gotten some expertise advice from my buddies who spent hours and hours on the green
bragging how good golf is for your health and all the exercise they got walking
and chasing that little ball all over the place. I couldn’t believe them but I had
to find out for myself if they were telling the truth so I invited them to
teach me how to golf.
I hadn’t
really considered how many people out there played golf but that day we went
the course was light and the mood was to simply play as relaxed as possible and
take as much advice as I could from these experts standing beside me. Knowing I
did not play this game well based on my poor performances on the driving ranges
I knew I was in for some heavy criticism. I tried not making an idiot of myself
but it seemed to happen naturally.
I think the biggest mistake I made that day was to listen to
these inexperienced yet well-bragged wannabee semi-professionals who seemed to
know everything about the sport. They were indeed filled with a few thoughts or
ideas how I could play better and do better than I was. Basically speaking, I sucked
but they insisted I had potential.
Now not to brag but I was often the champion putter on the
mini-golf courses in my area and I often challenged friends and neighbors to a
match. Of course, miniature golf is nothing like real golf but I already knew
that therefore I reserved my right not to play real golf. Having no background
on real golf I knew I didn’t qualify to give advice but playing with my buddies
there that day, it didn’t stop them from giving me all kinds of advice how to
play and analyze my style.
I messed up on the fairway as I couldn’t stay in the green
part. If there was a sand trap around I found it. If there was water nearby I dunked
the ball into it. My worst habit was hitting trees and losing sight of the ball
as it flew down the fairway either to the left or the right side but never down
the middle.
They said it was the way my stance was turned to the wrong
direction. They told me it’s my wrists and don’t bend your knees or keep you
head down and then telling me what golf club to use was the final straw. Yelling
don’t use your woods and hit the short with the irons got me bedazzled and
confused. I couldn’t keep all that advice under my hat and it exploded. I was a
better player than I showed that day but my frustration took over and the ball
won.
They said I didn’t understand the natural laws of the ball
in flight. They said fix your golf swing and don’t worry about the speed or
angle of attack on that little ball. Just be centered and make good contact. Lecturing
me on the curvature of the landscape I threw my hat off in disgust and decided it’s
over.
I am done slicing, pushing or pulling or hooking myself this
day and I never came back. I really don’t care what my buddies thought of me
once we were united and shared our day at the golf course. I knew I sucked.
Not being on any tour of any kind and the fairway being
fairly light, I thought I could do better is I slowed it down a bit. Putting and
driving and losing my balls was too much to handle that day. I was getting
flustered and it was too early in the morning to get so upset. It wasn’t
working with these experts around me telling me how to play golf so I asked
them all to just let me do my own thing. Obviously offended but not so much
they couldn’t stop making fun of me, they decided to go to the club house, have
a cold one and wait on me.
In the meantime, I had packed up my gear, found a trail back
to the parking lot and drove down to the nearest fast food joint to sit, relax
and eat something for breakfast. If I ever get the time to practice learning
this game, I could improve my golfing game but for now, I will put it on hold
for I certainly enjoyed the driving range much better than the fairway as
pounding on buckets of balls seemed to lower my stress a lot more than teeing
up with a bunch of hacks who know it all.
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