Did The Game Of Golf Save You?
posted in My Golf Stories |Have you ever wondered what the game of golf has meant to your life? What would you have done different, all of those hours that you have devoted to the game for so many years. When I look back over the 47 years I have played golf and count all the time that I have spent playing, practicing and day dreaming about a better swing or a better club, the time really mounts up. There is hardly a day that goes by that I am not hitting balls, playing or thinking of golf in some way. When I first picked up a club so long ago, I have been fascinated by the challenge. The game is such a mind game, and it has always kept me coming back for more.
I don’t know that the game saved me, because I am not sure what I would have done different if it weren’t for the game of golf. I love to hunt and fish and tried a little snow skiing, but nothing has ever caught my fascination as golf. If I had spent more time doing more productive things I would probably have more money and a retirement home on the lake. A lot of the sun spots would probably not dot my face and arms from so many hours playing and practicing in the hot Texas sun. I have never given too much thought to what else I would have done with those many, many hours, because I was always looking forward to the next time I could hit one more ball.
The hours standing on a practice tee have never been boring. I have met a lot of interesting people, most who were not accomplished players, but average people who were also fascinated and challenged by the game of golf. There have been many times when I would see someone that was really struggling just trying to make contact with the ball and I have enjoyed giving them a tip or two. It is interesting how a small helping hand on the driving range can bring total strangers together. Of course this helping hand has to really help, or you may stay strangers.
So many friendships, companionships, business relationships have all come from golf. The game of golf has a unique way of bringing all of us closer together. If the word love had not already been in use before golf came along, then maybe we would be calling it the game of love. The game is played world wide by all ages, sizes and colors. I think it is fun to look at a lot of the guys on tour and try to imagine them doing something different. Gary Player probably would be in a gold mine in South Africa, Arnold Palmer would never have made all of those Pennz oil commercials on that old tractor and I don’t know who would have made the Rolex commercials. And what in the world would Levitra have done without the Golf Channel. Golf has provided so many opprotunities for so many people. It is hard to imagine what a lot of our retirement communities would be like without golf. Even a more intriguing thought is what would all of these retired couples do without golf.
Do you know someone where golf has been a life changing experience? I would like to hear from you if you know of someone that has had their lives changed by this wonderful game.
See you on the next tee.