Not actually Chorus.
LPGA Tour Pro Paula Creamer.
Unabashedly, unashamedly, undeniably... I love golf.
Let me go back about three years, before WH and I were dating, but after I started thinking that I might like to be. This was around the time he first suggested that I should come out to the course one day and he would give me golf lessons. Being that I thought he was pretty nifty, I let him talk me into it. We got to the driving range, he handed me a club and a ball and said, "Here. Hit the ball with the club. That's your lesson."
From that date until last summer, I accompanied him to the course a few times, played horribly, swore a lot, whined like a baby, cried at least twice, and hit maybe 3 good shots. What I was playing was quite a lot more like glorified croquet than golf.
Then last summer, things changed. But this requires some background. WH and I had originally booked our wedding reception at the golf course at which WH is a member. Six months after we had made the booking and paid our deposit, we received word that the golf course had double booked the space, and we were second in line. It was horrible news, and we had a very difficult time finding a new place to host our reception on such short notice. Fortunately, we did find another (and better and cheaper and altogether fantastic) location, so it all worked out in the end. But as you can imagine, the first course was eager to make amends, so they gave both of us free golf memberships for the year. So I got a chance to play much more often than I had been.
The week after our wedding, we had contemplated sneaking away to the mountains for a little mini-honeymoon, but decided instead to stay home, relax, put our house back in order, and just be peaceful. Oh, and play a lot of golf. The week after our wedding, we played 72 holes of golf. I think it was our second day on the course, on about the 12th hole, that things changed. WH had already hit his drive. I teed mine up, set my club, relaxed, and swung. Ka-BOOM. It was an absolutely beautiful drive, and as the ball bounced well past WH's on the fairway*, I could hear him laughing from the cart behind me. And I managed to hit really well off the tee for the rest of the week! My game improved steadily from there... my putting got better, I hit more good drives than I did bad ones, and I came close to getting par on a couple of holes. I was officially hooked.
Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of swearing, and I know that when I step back on the course this year, there will still be regular and frequent moments of frustration. But the knowledge that I can do well, and that I'll only get better, is incredibly motivating.
WH is heading out to the course to play his first round of the year today. I can't wait to play mine.
*To be fair, I was tee-ing up off the women's tees, so I had several yards' advantage.... but still.
2 comments:
My husband loves golf as well - but I haven't been able to convert. :) However, there might be hope for me yet, as I had enormous fun playing Wii golf for the first time last night.
Hope you enjoy the golf season together!
I'm a golf lover, too--haven't played much lately, but used to be in a work league and got decently good at it.
Favorite story: Kris (my golf buddy) and I were playing 18 at a course that paired us with a father-and-son combo (retired and middle-aged, respectively). They were sort of quaintly charmed to be playing with a pair of "ladies," and kept offering unsolicited advice.
And drinking beer. A lot of it.
A few holes into the game, it was clear to Kris and me that they didn't have a lot to teach us about technique. By hole 9, they stopped; at hole 8, after one guy landed in the water off the tee, and the other in the sand, Kris & I both drove the green.
New topics of conversation were found in the second 9 holes. :-)
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