For All You Golf Fans Out There...

It's always cool when you manage to do something, accomplish something, that you've never done before in your life. It's trebly cool to do it once you're older. I mean, 49 isn't OLD old, exactly...although I would have told you it WAS twenty years ago...and am now hearkening back to a great comment a golfing bud up in WV made a few years ago. He had just turned fifty the previous month and I asked him how he handled it. "Well," he said (paraphrasing), "that number certainly gets your attention. By any standard, you're now on the back nine of your life when you turn fifty."

So, right, you're about to make the turn on your life, and you do something you've never been able to do before. It gives you hope. It inspires. Such was the case in my round of golf on Saturday, on the back nine, ironically.

I hit all nine greens in regulation.

For you non-golfers, that means my ball was on the putting surface in two shots less than the standard score ("par") for each hole. On the par 3s, my ball was on in 1. On the par 3s, in 2, and on the par 5s, 3.

What does it take to accomplish this? Basically, you can't miss a shot. Meaning, you can't top the ball, or chunk it, or hit a bad slice or ugly hook. You have to hit the ball straight and solidly on every shot. I wouldn't call it perfection, but it's getting there.

And golf is such a hard game. SUCH a hard game. All those muscle groups, large and small, from the glutes to the little stringy whatevers in your fingers, they've all got to cooperate and work together as they move in one direction to bring the club back, and then pretty much the opposite direction as you move the club forward and strike the ball.

Oh, and I did this off the blue tees...which is no huge shakes when the blues only play to 3,300 yards at The Woodies. But I normally play off the whites, so this was like jumping off the big diving board at the pool when you normally jump off the little one.

So before this post completely disintegrates, the point...the key...it IS aimed at golf fans, already...

Distance control.

Every single iron I hit was within a pace or two of the flag, distance-wise. They weren't always on line, but their weights were about spot-on. There wasn't much wind, which helped alot, but I REALLY worked hard on calculating distances, pin positions, and even elevations between the ball and the green surface.

And at least for the average golfer, the weekend duffer, whatever, that may be a bit of new news. I play with them alot, and by and large their number one goal on approaches is to hit the ball STRAIGHT. Time and again, their shots are straight, but short...or less frequently, straight and too long. And what I perceive is that they look at the distance and think, "My best shots with a (fill in the blank, let's say nine iron) go X yards. I have X yards to the flag. It's a nine iron."

NO!

How far does your AVERAGE shot go with this club?

That's the crucial question.

I had those decisions twice, on that beautiful back nine. Perfect sand wedge or average pitching wedge? Both times, I selected MORE CLUB, the PW, and made the assumption that I would not hit the ball perfectly, but perfectly average. Both times, doink! On the green.

I had two birds, one three putt bogey (the F word had to have been invented by a golfer after a three putt bogey), and shot 35.

Easy game, right?

Nah.

I had 47 on the front, with two OB. I couldn't play dead on the front.

Hard game. SUCH a hard game. Fun game, though. REALLY fun when you play well. Inspiring, even...