Golf. Pt. 1

26.4.2008.

I've been meaning to write something on golf for a while. This is a game that, to me, is more than just about hitting a small ball into a small hole.   And I say this after many, many years of trying to do this in as few strokes as possible.

Firstly, I think golf is the only true gentleman's game remaining. Where in football you often see players "diving", feigning hurt, handling the ball and in general being dishonest, where in tennis and badminton players contest calls, and similiar other unfair tactics in many other sports, it is only in golf that a player would ever call foul on himself. 

Being an old sport, with written records and drawings dating at least 500 years, golf if still full of arcane rules imposed by only two governing bodies - the Royal & Ancient Golf Society of St. Andrews, and the USGA. To complicate matters, even these two don't agree on many of them. 

One of the rules is that once you address the ball, i.e. if you have placed your club behind the ball as your last move before striking it, and the ball, by some force of nature, moves, then you are penalised with a stroke. This being a game of strokes, the one stroke could mean the difference between victory or loss.The only person who can see this movement is the player himself. Yet in many a tournament where literally millions are at stake, golfers have owned up to this without hesitation.

Secondly, golf is like life itself. There bad lies and good lies, bad bounce and good bounce, open fairways and hazards and roughs, and fair weather and inclement weather. The golfer is supposed to take these in his stride. 

Thirdly, golf builds character, and at the same time reveals it. It teaches you to be patient, to focus, to control your emotion, to be considerate and courteous, and generally be level-headed. It teaches you, but it does not always succeed, of course. Because if you play a round of golf with someone, by the end of the 18 holes you would know his temperment - if he's short-tempered, impatient, inconsiderate, a cheat. Because of this, the game can be exasperating. One day you can do no wrong. You can hole all your putts from all over the green. The next day you can do no right. You can't even hole a 2-foot putt. 

The enjoyment of the game is acquired. Many golf addicts started as critics, or at least were unimpressed with it.Once they got the bug, you have a golfer for life. There is is simply no other sport that can be played at the highest possible level for as long as golf. Many golf clubs in this country alone boast many playing members who are into their 90's. What make golfers keep on playing is the simple fact that it is a game of unending improvement. Even the no. 1 player in the world is still trying to improve. The perfect swing is still not found. The correct way to chip and putt are many, and they all work. It is only the desire of the golfer that is limited. 

For me, the facination is with the enjoyment of learning, not of new things, but old teachings that suddenly make sense, and you say, so, that's how it should be done ! Every day, weather permitting, I'm full of anticipation of what new discovery of old ideas in golf I would find to-day. I'm excited about it, because I want to play better all the time. Otherwise, there is no point in getting up before daybreak like a school kid, and rushing to the 1st or 10th. tee, when at my age I deserve at least another 30 minutes in bed, unless there is something to be gained in my golf game. Or unless it's to try the new hi-tech driver that I've just bought.

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