Monday, May 09, 2005
I Love Golf
Yes, I love the silly game where grown people hit a little white ball around. I am not a "good" golfer but then good is a relative term. I am better than some that play the game and I am worse than others who play and I don't care. Of course, I like to play well when I do play golf but how well I play is not the important part of playing. The playing is the important part. Just for background, I usually shoot a little over bogey golf, that's 90s on most full size courses. Sometimes, I'm in the 100s and I have been in the 80s.
Yesterday in Gainesville, Florida the temperatures were in the mid 80s and the sky was mostly sunny and there was a slight breeze blowing. It was a beautiful day in paradise. When I lived in Hawaii, there was a phrase the locals would use which makes absolutely no sense to people who do not or have not lived on the islands. The overused phrase was, "It's another shitty day in paradise!" Great weather in Hawaii is so commonplace that one had to basically lie to describe it.
Great weather in Florida is pretty common, too, but the humidity here makes the paradise moniker not quite so realistic. Hawaii has the Tradewinds blowing almost non-stop. Florida drips with moisture. I lived in Wahiawa, in the center portion of Oahu, for over 3 years. I closed our windows exactly one night, I think the temperature fell to 49 degrees. Brrrr! I turned on our window air conditioner exactly one day, when I was trying to get some daytime sleep while my company was out sightseeing. Hawaii truly is paradise and Florida simply aspires to be.
But I digress. Back to golf. I love golf because it gives me a chance to know the simpler things about whoever I am playing the round with. I like the casual relations that form on a golf course. I love the feel of a gentle breeze blowing, giving me a little chill even as the sweat drips down my back. I adore the sound of a cleanly hit drive and I love to admire the long, rising and falling arc of a golf ball as it travels 200 plus yards straight down a lush, green fairway. Heaven is on a golf course. I shot a 94 yesterday. I was happy. I hadn't played since last August but it didn't feel like it.
Recently a few of us hardier souls from work tried playing basketball. Now, I am 53 years old and I thought I could run with the younger guys, in their 40s. I was wrong again. I was about to collapse after about 4 or 5 minutes. What a physically demanding sport. Art, a friend who is 47, I think, put us all to shame. He plays the game like a 30 year old. I admire someone in such great shape. I thought I was in good shape, at least. I am not. Basketball humbled me big time. I have a new respect for all basketball players.
Golf, on the other hand, is not a physically demanding sport. Golf is, however, a mentally demanding sport. This is one game where your frame of mind is more important than the fundamentals of hitting the ball. Get your head into the game and it will improve. My head was in the right place yesterday. It's hard to keep my head in the right place for very long. It seems it has a mind of its' own. :<)
Seriously, I could play golf every day and not get tired of the game. It really doesn't matter that I'll never be good enough to go on tour. Not many people are. I simply enjoy the game. I hope I will be able to continue to enjoy the game for many, many more years. After all, I still haven't achieved the ultimate goal in golf; a hole-in-one.
I will always dream of making a hole-in-one but I realize that the odds are not in my favor, aside from the putt-putt courses. But I always sense the chance whenever I tee up on a par 3 hole. Shit happens, they say. Anyway, I think my odds are better of getting a hole-in-one before I die than of winning a lottery. Especially since I don't even play the lottery.
OH
Yesterday in Gainesville, Florida the temperatures were in the mid 80s and the sky was mostly sunny and there was a slight breeze blowing. It was a beautiful day in paradise. When I lived in Hawaii, there was a phrase the locals would use which makes absolutely no sense to people who do not or have not lived on the islands. The overused phrase was, "It's another shitty day in paradise!" Great weather in Hawaii is so commonplace that one had to basically lie to describe it.
Great weather in Florida is pretty common, too, but the humidity here makes the paradise moniker not quite so realistic. Hawaii has the Tradewinds blowing almost non-stop. Florida drips with moisture. I lived in Wahiawa, in the center portion of Oahu, for over 3 years. I closed our windows exactly one night, I think the temperature fell to 49 degrees. Brrrr! I turned on our window air conditioner exactly one day, when I was trying to get some daytime sleep while my company was out sightseeing. Hawaii truly is paradise and Florida simply aspires to be.
But I digress. Back to golf. I love golf because it gives me a chance to know the simpler things about whoever I am playing the round with. I like the casual relations that form on a golf course. I love the feel of a gentle breeze blowing, giving me a little chill even as the sweat drips down my back. I adore the sound of a cleanly hit drive and I love to admire the long, rising and falling arc of a golf ball as it travels 200 plus yards straight down a lush, green fairway. Heaven is on a golf course. I shot a 94 yesterday. I was happy. I hadn't played since last August but it didn't feel like it.
Recently a few of us hardier souls from work tried playing basketball. Now, I am 53 years old and I thought I could run with the younger guys, in their 40s. I was wrong again. I was about to collapse after about 4 or 5 minutes. What a physically demanding sport. Art, a friend who is 47, I think, put us all to shame. He plays the game like a 30 year old. I admire someone in such great shape. I thought I was in good shape, at least. I am not. Basketball humbled me big time. I have a new respect for all basketball players.
Golf, on the other hand, is not a physically demanding sport. Golf is, however, a mentally demanding sport. This is one game where your frame of mind is more important than the fundamentals of hitting the ball. Get your head into the game and it will improve. My head was in the right place yesterday. It's hard to keep my head in the right place for very long. It seems it has a mind of its' own. :<)
Seriously, I could play golf every day and not get tired of the game. It really doesn't matter that I'll never be good enough to go on tour. Not many people are. I simply enjoy the game. I hope I will be able to continue to enjoy the game for many, many more years. After all, I still haven't achieved the ultimate goal in golf; a hole-in-one.
I will always dream of making a hole-in-one but I realize that the odds are not in my favor, aside from the putt-putt courses. But I always sense the chance whenever I tee up on a par 3 hole. Shit happens, they say. Anyway, I think my odds are better of getting a hole-in-one before I die than of winning a lottery. Especially since I don't even play the lottery.
OH
# posted by OH @ 9:52 AM 
