Why We Play The Game!
It’s the way the first tee feels, alive with possibility.
It’s that feeling, out of nowhere, that comes as you’re lining up a putt,
letting you know that all you have to do is get the ball rolling and the
hole will get in the way.
It’s the thump of a well-played bunker shot.
It’s nine holes late in the day, when the sun is sinking and the shadows
are stretching, showing every bump and roll in a golden light that makes
you stop and look around.
It’s calling your shot and pulling it off.
It’s the eleventh hole at Preston Trail, the tenth at Whisper Rock
and the seventeenth at Wade Hampton , paintings with a flagstick in the middle.
It’s your Saturday morning game, with a little money on the line and no
haggling about the teams.
It’s the guys who look like they can’t play a lick then spend their days
around par, not needing swing coaches, just having a knack for getting
the ball in the hole.
It’s calling your own penalties.
It’s a kid with his bag slung over his shoulder, cap pulled low, hoofing
it down a fairway.
It’s nipping a wedge just right, having it bounce once and cozy up to
the hole the way Sergio does it.
It’s a bowl of peanuts and a cold beer at the end of the day, when
stories can be embellished, if only a little.
It’s the warm feel of a turtleneck in December, the first greening of
the grass in March, the thrill of hitting it a club longer in July and
greens as fast as the kitchen floor in October.
It’s the suntan marks left by your golf socks and shoes.
It’s Harbour Town in April, Quail Hollow in May and Pinehurst any time.
It’s having the sun behind you and catching a tee shot square, having a
moment to admire it as it’s framed against the sky.
It’s the small but sudden thrill of finding a new Titleist, even if you
already have a bagful.
It’s the clutch in your throat the first time you see St. Andrews and
the never-ending thrill of Amen Corner.
It’s the belief that the magic you’ve found in a new driver will
last forever.
It’s the scent of salt air, the faint taste of pine pollen on your lips
and the glimpse of a gator in a low country lagoon.
It’s standing over a 5-footer that doesn’t matter to anyone but you and
being thankful for the feeling.
It’s Tiger on the tee, Mickelson with a wedge in his hand, Nicklaus on
the property.
It’s the little places with pickups in the parking lot, ragged
grass, bumpy greens, worn-out golf carts, yellow range balls and a
spirit all their own.
It’s the way you practice your swing in the elevator riding down, the
way you put an overlapping grip on the rake and the way you see golf holes
where others just see fields along the highway.
It’s the way tournament golf feels, even if it’s just a little club event.
It’s the feel of new grips and the shine of new irons.
It’s playing with your father, your mother, your brother, or your daughter.
It’s listening to David Feherty, Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo explain
the game as only they can.
It’s the gentle creak of aging muscles in the evening, a good tired.
It’s a birdie at the 18th to win the press.
It’s having people who understand what’s important, whether
it’s renovating a course or reinventing a local tournament.
It’s going for a par-5 in two, trying to cut a corner and that
instant when you wonder if the shot is as good as it looks.
It’s golf.
And it’s why we play.
Article provided by William Buzz Gill, PGA
(Retired Palm Spring golf professional of 37 years)Â
To book your next tee time in Palm Springs CLICK HERE!
(Tell us why YOU play the game and we’ll take $5 off per person)
To book your next tee time in Palm Springs CLICK HERE!
(Tell us why YOU play the game and we’ll take $5 off per person)
5 Golf Book Titles To Celebrate
I have no awareness of why I have torn through five different golfing books in the past month. There have been no injuries, no layoffs from work, no two-week vacations on tropical islands with nothing to do. Simply put, in the time that presented itself, I became a voracious reader. Without delay, here are five worthwhile golfing books that you can pick up in a local new , used or online book store.
THE RUB OF THE GREEN (1988) You’ll have to find this one on abebooks.com or some other used book seller. Long out of print (the second printing was 1989), it shouldn’t be. The initial offering from William Hallberg, RUB tells the story of Ted Kendall, an Ohioan who absorbs his mother’s death and deflects his father’s inequities to earn a college golfing scholarship and PGA Tour card. He also earns an 18-month stay in prison. Hallberg tells parallel tales of Kendall’s prison and golfing lives. Suffice it to say that a life-changing event takes place within prison confines and that the two stories ultimately merge in a complex way. Hallberg has a wide vocabulary that enables him to not sound pedantic, ever. Reading this book is an easy undertaking, even with a few unfortunate holes along the way. The most glaring is, how did Ted Kendall become an agronomy expert? Other than that, a great volume.
GOLFING WITH GOD (2007) Roland Merullo spins an other-worldly tale about a mission assigned to a dead club professional by none other than the creator ownself. Fairly contented in his cloud-side condo and challenging celestial country club, Hank Winston is shaken from his doldrums by an assignment: help God recover her/his game. Merullo seems unsure of certain fictional elements, such as how to handle platonic/sexual love between God and Winston. After all, the Christion god invites all to love her/him. The hints at sexuality between the two figures are awkward, adolescent, and either misguided or unneeded. Unlike Hallberg above, who describes two specific scenes of sexual encounter with expertise and confidence, Merullo embarks on certain tangents for which he lacks the confidence necessary to conclude. In spite of these flaws, the basic story is an unexpected and interesting one, and is also worth the investment of time and cash.
MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN (2006) Bob Mitchell must be a professor at some New England college or university. He imbues his protagonist, a professor of comparative literature, with all the characteristics of his own world, circles and life. There can be no doubt that writing in the voice of a completely different self is unnerving and demanding beyond all comprehension. Nevertheless, it is the mark of a great writer and great writing. Would that we might have such a taken risk here. MATCH is the story of a dying man given the opportunity to play a match against God for his life. On the first tee, instead of facing the Almighty, Elliott Goodman (really? couldn’t do any better than Goodman?) faces off against an unforeseen foe that is anyone but God. The Almighty sends emmisaries, famous figures of history, to combat Goodman. The novel employs a didactic technique to teach Elliott and the reader a series of life lessons. It never descends into preachy, superior tones. As one might guess, the selection of influential historical figures is limited to 18 (for the number of holes in the match) and could easily have excluded some and included others. Somewhat controversial and certainly readable.
JENKINS AT THE MAJORS (2009)Â Please take a moment to read the following series of quotes:
“It’s entirely possible that Dr. Cary Middlecoff gave up dentistry becuase people couldn’t hold their mouths open that long.â€
“And now hes was the PGA Tour’s first player to draw an indefinite suspension for using too many Elizabethan words in front of innocent listeners.â€
“Finally, on Sunday morning, the USGA felt compelled to make a citizen’s arrest of Bobby Clampett, a fine amateur, for conduct considered ‘demeaning’ to the Open.â€
“Pate had said to Ben, ‘Gentle, you’re my pick tomorrow. I believe you can rope-a-dope that old hook yours right into victory lane.’ It was noted by a listener that Jerry had put three different sports into one sentence, proving he’d gone to the University of Alabama.â€
“It was a wondrous moment in golf. Harry Vardon was inventing the grip again. Arnold Palmer was hitching up his trowsers again. Bobby Jones was impregnably quadrilateraling again.â€
I have at least six more pages marked for similar ejaculations but, really, can anyone…does anyone write this way, anymore? Does Dan Jenkins even write this way, anymore? No, of course not. Read this volume chronicalling and recapping 50 years of his covering golf’s majors and you will visit the bygone days of a bygone writer of immeasurable and unequalled comedic brilliance.
A DISORDERLY COMPENDIUM OF GOLF (2006) In the days of B.I. (Before Internet), you had to travel to Toronto to read Lorne Rubenstein’s thoughts on golf. Now, you can visit The Globe and Mail’s website and read his work any of seven days each week. It might not be something new, but it will be his own. For some unknown reason, Rubenstein and co-editor Jeff Neuman took it upon themselves to abandon their wives and write a misguided encyclopedia on the happenings of golf. The thing is a beast and can be read in so many directions that it feels like a work of magical realism by some over-tall Argentine writer named Cortazar. This is not a bad thing. On one page, you’re reading about Harry “Beer Bottle†Bradshaw and WHAMMY, on you go to 1899 Rules of Etiquette, Golf’s Myths Exposed and (say her name three times fast) Jenny Chuasiriporn. The COMPENDIUM is the perfect bar room tome for settling bets, creating dares, and challenging curmudgeons. If you have only one golf reference work on your book shelf (you should purchase many, but far be it from me to tell you what to do), this one is my winner.
Mo’ Golf
Brief Bio-Mo’ Golf is a very experienced golf travel writer having written for some of the leading golf publications. He is also the man behind Buffalo Golf, a great site dedicated to golf in the greater Buffalo Area.
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