My adventures golfing will likely be one of the most common reoccurring topics I write about.
I started messing around with the sport earlier this year. I expected to only occasionally hit some balls at the driving range just as something to do in my free time. Unfortunately for my wallet, I am too competitive to be bad at a sport.
When I started, the only thing I could do better than anyone else was slice the ball further than most would think possible. I have improved a lot since then, and I am proud of the fact that I can hit the ball straight about half the time now and when I don't there is usually just a small slice.
But I had to work hard to get to this point, much harder than I would for most other sports. I have always thought of myself as a coordinated person, so most sports just came naturally to me. I even think considering how short of a time period I have been playing golf I am better than most would be in that same time span.
Not only has my driving improved drastically, but so has my putting and chipping. My iron play has gone in the opposite directions however. While I am getting better, I realized while at the driving range Thursday that I don't think I will ever be as good at golf as I am at baseball or football, and I finally figured out why.
In baseball, there was never a ball I couldn't get to or a hit that I couldn't beat out -- at least in my mind. Even though I was usually the smallest person on the football field, I never thought there was an opponent too big or too fast for me to tackle, block, whatever. I would outhustle anyone on the field, that was my biggest strength.
Unfortunately for me, hustle has no place in golf. This realization has been damning to my psyche.
I still intend to spend countless hours, and dollars, on improving and being decent, but it is hard to accept the fact that decent is all I probably will ever be at golf.
But in the words of Roy McAvoy: "Golf and sex are the only two things you don't have to be good at to enjoy."
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