Published: May 18, 2008 12:50 am            

Hooked on a new activity ... golf

I’ve finally done it. A few months ago, I finally started playing (or maybe I should say attempting to play) the game of golf. For years, I have heard of how great it is to play a round of golf and get away from the worries of the office. For years, I have heard I should get out on the course and give it a try. For years, my excuse has been that I have had too much going on both personally and professionally and I didn’t have time to take on another activity.

Well, Christmas rolled around and my husband decided to nudge me a little by purchasing a set of golf clubs for me as a Christmas gift. A few days after Christmas, I hit a few balls in the backyard, then put away the clubs to gather dust. When the weather warmed up a couple of months ago, I dusted off the clubs and went with my husband to the course and attempted to play. It was clear I needed to work on my game, but there were some shining moments. A few days later I played in the Blue Angel Golf Tournament at Ponta Creek Golf Course at NAS Meridian and, again, I was actually pretty decent for someone who had never played until the previous week. Based on advice from my golfing friends, I decided that it would be in my best interest (and those fellow golfers playing anywhere near me) to take lessons.

The next week, I told this story to my friend, Mary Lou Knight. She said she also wanted to take some lessons, so she organized a group of ladies to began taking lessons with Dave Atkins, the golf pro at Ponta Creek. Lessons one and two were awesome and I was beginning to wonder what was so hard about this game. I had a decent putt, I could swing the 8 iron pretty well and I was nailing my drives off the tee.

Then it all happened….Dave taught me how to swing the “proper” way. I choked. For the next two weeks I was lucky to dribble the ball 30 yards. It was not pretty and my patience was wearing thin. Athletics have always come naturally to me and, yes, I am fiercely competitive. I was really struggling with the fact that I was rapidly moving backwards at my new game.

Dave patiently continued to work with me until I slowly began creeping back to the point where it was acceptable to show my face on the golf course. Through patience and persistence, I now understand what it feels like to swing the proper way. That doesn’t mean I do it consistently, but I now know how to swing and it is up to me to practice regularly in order to get better. Now, on weekends when the weather cooperates and we aren’t traveling to some far-flung soccer tournament to watch my daughters play, my husband and I will sneak in a quick round of golf.

I must confess I am now hooked on golf. I also must officially apologize for mocking golfers in the past, ignorantly stating how easy golf must be and that it shouldn’t even be considered a real sport. After all, how can a ball that sits still on the ground — or, easier yet, on a tee — be harder to hit than a softball being thrown to you from a distance?

Hey, that gives me an idea – I can fit my old softball bat in my golf bag. Hmm… does anyone know where I can find some three-foot-long tees?



Crystal Dupré is publisher of The Meridian Star. E-mail her at

cdupre@themeridianstar.com

        

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