"Golfing looks like a relaxing sport" - I said to myself
As I viewed golfing from afar, I would see people riding carts, smiling, and carrying on conversations as they played. Even those walking with their clubs on their back seemed easy going as they strolled along at a nice pace, chatting with each other. They always looked so relaxed.
I decided to try this relaxed looking sport. Here is a bit about that experience.
I stood on the T-box in my golf outfit, holding the biggest club in my bag, anxious to smack that ball and watch it fly (as I saw the woman before me just do effortlessly). I put my cute little martini tee in the ground, clean white ball on the tee. Okay ready to hit, what do I need to do? As the instructions started flying, I could feel the relaxation I had anticipated, leaving my body.
Hold the club this way in my hands (why is it don't I have a glove on both hands?) don't grip too tight, keep my wrists straight to keep from flopping, my head from looking up and my eyes on the ball the entire time (Can I hit now?). Not yet, place my feet shoulder width apart, and for this shot, the ball should be off the inside of my front heel (wait, what? just for this shot?). My knees slightly bent, extend my arms and place the club directly behind the ball (shoot I just bumped the ball off the tee, bend over, put it back on the tee, reset my set-up). Make sure my club face is square, not closed, not open. (how does one square their club face?) Take a full swing, but remember to drag the club back slowly, using my power as I come back through (shoot my grip is starting to get tighter as I anticipate that power, remember relax my grip). One last thing, make sure I keep my body balanced and moving forward through the swing, so as to not fall back. (Q: Did the woman I just watched, do all of these things in those few seconds before she hit the ball?)
This was only the my first shot off of the first hole, out of 18, I was the opposite of relaxed at this point. As I made my way through each hole, I quickly learned that each club had it's own purpose and forgetting even one of the several dozen things in the set up for that club, ended in the ball going too short, too long, skipping along the ground vs going in the air, out of bounds or in the water. By hole 13, I was almost out of balls and both physically and mentally exhausted! PS: who made the rule you can only use your Tee when teeing off?
Forget the thought of ever walking and carrying that bag, I was barely hanging on riding in the cart! By hole 18, I had gotten in and out of the cart, set up to swing the club, then actually hit the ball, 100+ times. That effort does not include the practice swings I took before those shots (note, do not waist your good swings on practicing, just hit the darn ball), my whiffs, or something called a mulligan that I was given when I messed up really bad. As getting the ball to the green is not hard enough, let's not even talk about digging that ball out of a sand trap, only to have it roll right back down to my feet after I hit it. Relaxing is not the word I was using any longer. Lesson learned.
Fast forward to today: While I will always have to think about some part of my set up, as I have gotten better the game has become more relaxing. Now I take less swings as my score improves. I have found exhilaration in that one rare shot I hit that the minute it comes off my club, I know I hit it perfect and I feel like a real golfer. As I have gotten better, I have found more of those moments. I also use little tricks to overcome some of the stressful moments. For example, some days one of my clubs may be so worthless at hitting the ball, I put in my bag and do not let it back out for several holes, until it decides to behave. Some days my ball refuses to go where I want it to go, so I switch to another brand of ball that is willing to go in the direction I aim. Unfortunately I only have one putter, that I cannot banish to my bag, as it is needed every hole. For me they have named the club perfectly for it's ability to putter my ball around the entire hole but never in it.
Golfing looks like a relaxing sport - said no one ever!