My Best Round
I’ve been playing golf since I was 9. I still remember my first round at a 9 hole course in Pittsburg, CA that I played with my dad. I shot 64 and I remember the one good shot I hit on a Par 3. I still have that scorecard. I think that’s one of the reasons I like golf so much. It’s memorable.
Golf is getting a bad rep these days. Golf is 45’s second favorite hobby behind tweeting. It’s biggest star hasn’t played much in years following a terrible scandal. And it’s very expensive to play which makes it hard to shake the tag of being an elitist game.
I was reminded this week of why I love to play. I played Harding Park Golf Course the other day, which is one of the best golf courses in this area and I would say in the entire country. It also happens to be 10 minutes from our house. It’s been in San Francisco for nearly 100 years and many great players grew up playing the course. It’s a glorious piece of land that weaves around Lake Merced. It truly is a beautiful place.
It happened to be a beautiful 75 degree day when I played. I was joined by 3 guys that drove in from out of town. They were golfing buddies and thankfully they were nice guys and were pretty good players which is always a good thing. They had never played the course before so I was able to help them a bit with where to hit their shots.
Golf is a very difficult game. It’s far more mental than it is physical, especially when you get good at it. Once you learn how to swing a club, your just have to repeat it over and over. What makes it so difficult is in the repetition. Getting your body to do the same thing each time sounds easy but it is maddening. One slight change can cause your golf ball to do unimaginable things. And once you hit one bad shot, you try to fix it and then you do something else wrong and it can takes months to get back to that original swing.
People hit hundreds of golf balls on the driving range to try and work out their swing. And if that doesn’t work, they pay even more money to go to a professional to have them fix it. Of course, that professional doesn’t know their swing, so they rarely can help, which leads to more money on more lessons. Eventually, golfers decide it isn’t them, it’s their clubs (or balls, or outfit) so they spend more money. It’s a constant cycle of throwing time and resources at trying to get your body to repeat what it once knew how to do.
Maybe that’s why I like the game so much. It’s about doing what you know how to do and losing your way and tinkering to find your way back. For me, life is like that. I know, for those most part, how to live my life, but sometimes I get off course, and I spend lots of time and resources to try and get back to where I was. The more I get off course and find my way back, the better I get and the longer I can go staying on track.
I don’t want to take the analogy too far, as I’m prone to do, so I’ll leave it at that and get back to the story of my golf round.
I played the best round of golf I have ever played at Harding this week. I didn’t shoot my best score, but I played that course like a pro. Every drive down the middle, every approach shot on the green. Each swing was just right. I didn’t hit a bad shot all day. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make a putt so I shot 74 instead of 68 or 69, but it was a very satisfying round. It was one of those days when everything was just right. The company (good golfers, nice conversation but not too much), the weather, the course, the city, etc. It was a day to remember. And I will remember it, especially the next time I play and I have no idea where the ball is going. But for that one round, I had it figured out.
So my plan is to write more. I think it will help me stay on track a little more. Some consistency, a place to share my thoughts. Maybe folks will read, maybe they won’t. But I think it’s good for me to think and process no matter what the subject. I’m sure there will be sports, politics, faith, living in SF and family stuff. What else I’m not sure. I do hope there will be more stories of me playing golf.