Jim's Day

This past weekend we celebrated Jimmy's birthday! We got together with some friends for a feast of a meal and libations. Afterward we all came back to our house for a little Nascar. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad. My husband works really hard and loves to play really hard as well. We stopped down at his auto body shop after dinner to see what he's been working on lately. He must have had about twenty cars in bays, all mangled and damaged. It's truly amazing the work my husband does with his hands. He restores things back to their original state. He's a true craftsman. He enjoys the challenge and he enjoys the rewards that come along with that kind of hard work.

Which reminds me about personal challenge and rewards of another kind.

It's that time of year again here on the East Coast. Springtime! Yayyyy! Everything's blooming, the sun is getting closer and warmer. You know what that means don't you? Challenge + Springtime = Golf of course!

Both Jim and I play golf and we love it. We play as often as possible, wherever possible. Jimmy is a natural. All of his years of hockey playing help him tremendously. I, on the other hand, had to learn all of it from scratch. We learned together. We play together. We compete against each other and we welcome others to come and play with us. It's really a blast. We spend the day outside in the park, together, driving around on a golf cart chasing two tiny white balls. It's pretty funny how one minute you can be laughing and joking and then the next be so seriously upset about a little white ball. There is really nothing like it.

We held our biggest drivers in our hands the other night (after a few cocktails - which is not a very smart idea- but we did it anyway). We wanted to show our friends who've never golfed what our golf bag of tricks was all about. We took a couple of swings on the lawn and it felt great!

It's very interesting indeed when people who don't know anything about golf express their thoughts - they usually get it all wrong and Saturday was no different. People's instincts when it comes to golf are to force the ball into submissive motion with a lot of 'power'. Our friend Kevin said exactly that...."you have to swing really hard...it's all about the power". Nooooooo Kevin, it's not all about the power. That's wrong. If that were the case, everyone would play golf and be good at it.

Have you ever gone to the driving range and watched all the people getting frustrated swinging and missing the little white ball? They are not focused on hitting the ball. They are not really even looking at the ball. They are swinging so hard, putting their spines out of alignment and still, they miss the ball. Probably because before they ever even swing they are looking down the fareway for the ball...but they've not even hit it yet! That's very typical with new golfers, but truthfully, it happens to best of us. That's the biggest mistake in golf.

Golf lesson number one. You must keep your eyes on the ball. Do not EVER take your eyes off the ball. Got it? Good.

We're planning an outing to the driving range shortly. If we had gone to the range Saturday Kevin surely would've been missing the ball. We would've witnessed our friend getting all red faced and frustrated. Why? Because golf is challenging. No, wait. Golf is hard!!! You have to learn how to play golf, learn what the different clubs are and how to use them, how to hold them, how to keep your eyes on the ball throughout your entire swing, how to swing, how to hit the ball with the face of the club, how to control the ball and place the ball where you want it, how about spinning the ball??? how to keep score, proper golf etiquette and attire, and so on.

Some people think "oh you just get up there and swing...how hard could that be?"

Well, if you've never been, you must go golfing. Count your swings. Count your misses. You'll see it's anything but easy. It feels anything but natural in the beginning. That little white ball will go exactly where you tell it to once you take into consideration all the many changing variables....consider the terrain, the weather, the clubs, the distance, the sand traps and other obstacles including people, golf carts and animals, the wind, the sun, the grass. More than likely, by the time you hit the ball into the trees you will throw your club clear across the fairway in complete frustration! Yayyy! Now you know what golf is all about!

Golf is about challenging yourself. Golf is about overcoming. Golf is about practice. Golf is about patience. Golf is about finesse and okay Kevin, maybe a little bit of power...if you can par, birdie, eagle or get a hole in one....yes Kevin, there is a lot of power in that my friend.

I love the fact that I play golf. I also love the fact that some men still find it infuriating that women play golf. They can't hide their disappointment when a young lady (or not so young) comes onto the course. Poor old bastards trying to keep everything for themselves...well those days are over and women can and will do everything. Hopefully, Hillary will get a chance to show everyone. I wonder if she plays golf?