lmao i hate golf
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As a wise man said āforget your opponent, always play against Par.ā Golf is always about what you do you have control of your game.
no offense but as a member of #MatchPlayGang i strongly disapprove of this message
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Golf is an interesting sport. I go out and challenge myself to do better each and every time. I also love getting to the turn eating a hot dog (Turn dog) slamming a few adult beverages because I shot a 60 on the front.
something something camaraderie something something good game.
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I was a big team sports player growing up. Baseball is still my favorite sport of all time. As I have gotten older tho and those sports have taken their toll I still want to be in a sports environment and golf has become that sport for me. I started getting more serious about learning to play properly a few years ago. The transition from a baseball swing to a golf swing is insanely difficult by the way. 25 years of baseball swings engrained in my bones are tough habits to break. But the challenge and enjoyment I have gotten from the game is amazing. Improving more and more each time I go out keeps my edge alive. Golf has kept me competitive and I love it.
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Iām right there with you. Love baseball even though I no longer play it. Realized I didnāt have āitā in high school and decided to give the golf team a try. Since then, itās been the one thing I can remain competitive with. Such a different world to baseball and team sports in general. I could be anxious/excited for a game to start but once the first pitch was thrown I could rely mostly on instinct. Itās a challenge to adjust that mindset to standing over a drive/approach/putt.
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I hear ya with the baseball swing. Really hard to correct but I havenāt played ball in 5 years so itās starting to come around. Iāve lost too many steps for baseball to be fun which is really quite sad that i canāt play anymore. But golf is my competitive outlet now as well and I love it.
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I played baseball through college, played travel tournament softball until I was 30ish. Iām 37 now and have been focused only on golf for 7+ years and STILL fighting my baseball tendencies. When I get off track I cock my wrist at the top to get into baseball position which opens my clubface and itās disaster from there. Iāve got that down to 10-15% of my swings instead of 100%.
Thereās a reason all good MLB golfers are pitchers.
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Ha ha ha for sure. I have to have much more focus on tempo with my swing because of it. I could easily swing over 120mph but my golf mechanics go right out the window. I can swing it around 115mph and make great contact and dont lose as many golf balls.
I grew up around the game, my Uncle was a head pro in the Central Coast and then Palm Springs while I was in high school and my cousin was an Assistant Pro, but I never played. I would go to my uncleās driving range and hit a few balls, but I always got bored. Back then, chicks dug surfers and football players, and golfing was for geeks (even though my Uncle was my hero back then).
Then, a few years back I was invited to play in the company tournament and I was partnered with one of the āRegional Directors,ā the kind of guy that spends more time āmarketingā than working. Well, I caught one 5-iron flush and hit the green 4 feet from the hole and sank the putt. That made me think I could learn to enjoy this game.
On to the next job and a conference at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage. I was asked several times to go golfing with some people that I really wanted to get to know personally and professionally. But I passed since I really didnāt play.
So while I was there I met up with my Uncle and told him about the tournament and the conference. He went out to his garage and came back with a set of Ping Eyes 2, an old Big Bertha and said, āNow you can say you play.ā
So back home, I called my surf buddy who golfed and booked a tee time at the Lakes in El Segundo, a funky par 29 9-hole in between a waste water treatment plant and a refinery. And dammit, if I didnāt hit two perfect iron shots again. That was about a year ago this February. Since then I have played a round or gone to the range almost weekly.
I love to watch the ball soar through the air. I love the sound that a good iron shot makes as it hits the ball, then turf. I love that, like surfing, how you play is entirely up to you. I love that nature is required to play this game. I love that my 8-year old has a putting contest with me every night. I love the people I have met, the courses I want to play and the fact that I will be playing this game for the rest of my life. I didnāt say it the way I wanted, but this game has brought peace to my troubled mind.
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I grew up with golf, loved it, but was never any good. Iām mostly a cyclist, just love bikes and riding them. That consumed/s my life for 25 years. But with cycling, even if you are a really good amateur, the gulf between you and a pro is a yawning chasm.
That is, of course, also true for golf. But golf allows you a glimpse - for one shot can be played simply as well as anyone might have played it. And for most decent weekend hackers that will happen once or twice a round.
The simple matter of hitting a ball from one point to another - the fact that on any given shot you might be able to do that as well as any person on earth - that is the magical, wonderful and utterly addictive thing about golf.
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The feel of compressing the ball on the sweet spot.
When you look up and the ball is actually headed to your target.
The solitude of playing alone.
The camaraderie of playing with friends.
The endless pursuit of better.
Not caring about score at all.
Walking with your clubs on your shoulder.
The early putter raise.
Golf in the mountains. By the ocean. In the park. In the desert.
New grips every spring.
Hitting the fairway, hitting the green, making the putt.
The anticipation of hitting new clubs for the first time.
Being the first one out. Being the last one in.
Walking to the car from 18 green knowing how lucky I am to be able to play.
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Iām a perfectionist when it comes to my other hobbies, like fly fishing, fly tying, writing, making videos, etc. With my job even, I have to be as close to perfect as can be (I locate utilities).
Golf lets me have fun sucking at something I can get better at. Every crappy shot has a reason why it sucked, and its a fun time figuring out why things went tits up when they did. Its fun sucking. And as I get better, Iām having more fun.
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My dad loved to play when I was very little, so it was an opportunity to spend time with him. Played on the course first when I was 4 and first par at 5 years old. Spent most of my life playing but started taking it seriously in high school. Somehow my love for the game continues to grow and grow. Now my son is totally addicted and has just started playing tournaments. What an incredible game!
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Because Golf giveth, and Golf taketh.
Iāve always hated being terrible. Iāve picked so many sports/hobbies/interests over the years that I sucked at and gave up quickly, but not golf. I continue to suck every time I pick up the bag and yet I still do.
I think it is because it so pleasant to be terrible at. There is time with family, a smattering of good shots, sunshine, cold beer, and all without breaking a sweat.
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Iāve always struggled to answer this until recently. Like many others I got into the game through my dad and I still love being able to play 18 with him quite often.
But I love golf because itās wildly unpredictable and itās up to me to deal with it. Bad bounces, rub of the green, etcā¦you control nothing after contact. Your swing can be perfect today and tomorrow feel like youāve never swung a club in your life. The game and the course owe you nothing. Hereās a tee marker, thereās the hole, thereās no one to pass to and no one guarding you. Figure it out. Thereās much beauty in the isolation golf presents.
I also love that golf can be whatever you want it to be as long as you respect it and others. My favorite rounds are when Iām playing for a score and really challenging myself. I also love grabbing a cart, beers in a cooler, and a speaker and playing twilight with friends, knocking away 4 footers because thereās only 30 minutes left of daylight and more holes to play.
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I love golf for any number of reasons, including the fact that one plays it in some spectacular places. But I think its obsessive quality comes from the fact that a couple of times a round, even rubbish players like me do something perfect. When I was young enough to play soccer, whatever I did could never approach what Pele or Zidane or Messi could do. I was a pretty handy cyclist, but could never generate the power or speed of Eddy Merckx or Hinault or Indurain. But on the golf course every now and then (and I do mean infrequently) I hit a shot that couldnāt be improved upon. So I go home feeling that really, somewhere deep inside, I am not the golfer that has just hacked his way round in 89, Iām the golfer that hit that sublime 6 iron to three feet at the 14th. Itās a bit like a rich fat old man allowing himself to believe that the beautiful young woman is interested in him for his looks.
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Golf is truly a study of duality. One thing being two at the same time. In that you love golf, love the fun it brings, but you also haaaate golf, and haaaate how your bad shots screw you.
Think about how a game of golf goes, and you can see how golf is truly a duality.
āTodayās a beautiful day.ā āThat drive was beautiful!ā āBest putt of my life.ā āOooookay, where did that shank come from?ā āNow where did that OTHER shank come from?ā āCmon! I could hit that green any day, why did I miss it today?ā āI hate this gameā āNow I love this game!ā āDriverās back in play baby!ā āā¦driver is now NOT back in playā.
Its the most bipolar sport there is. And I love it. Golf is like an abusive relationship. We know golf is gonna beat us with a whisky bottle again and tell the doctor we fell down the stairs. But we stay around and keep going back to it any way.
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I love the game because of the one or two flushed shots I hit per round. It is such a frustrating, difficult pursuit that I feel incredibly satisfied when I string together a couple decent shots. Iām a hack and I get unreasonably pissed off when I have back to back blow up holes, but Iāve never finished a round in a truly bad mood. I love walking a cheap muni at twilight rates and drinking an almost-cold IPA thatās been shaken up for 3 holes. My golfing buddies happen to be my bass fishing buddies and both activities provide the same sense of camraderie. No matter how Iām playing I canāt stop thinking about golf.
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