I don't know where to start really. I've been threatening to take up golf for years now but never got round to taking the plunge. I had knocked a ball about when I was a boy, but's that's about the extent of my experience of this amazing but mysticsal game.
I say mystical because I always thought there was an element of mystery about the game. I was always intrigued about what all the big fuss was with golf. To be honest though, football has been my choice of sport since a kid (sorry). And like I said, I had only ever knocked a ball about as a young boy. I remember it well, although the memories aren't that fond.
It all kicked off in my Grans 'special' cupboard, which was full of old 'bits and bobs'. There was always an old set of clubs sitting in the corner which belonged to my uncle, who I'm told was pretty good but never took it any further.
I asked if I could borrow them one day, and was told "Go ahead son". It was like a hero's welcome when I showed up in front of all my freinds with a set of golf clubs. Now when I say a set of golf clubs, you can imagine the scenario. I mean, this was back in the late 70's early 80's, I was about 8 or 9yrs old, these clubs were about the height of me and probably heavier. I think it was three or four clubs, a 5 and a 7 iron, and a couple of wedges.
I can clearly remember the shafts were brown in colour, like painted solid steel (felt like lead). The grips were like a shiney leather strip which had been spiralled round and were hanging off where the glue had came loose. My Dad got out the hack saw and cut them down to size, filed down the rough edges and made new grips out of electricians tape. Ouch!
Anyway, we thought we were the 'dogs bo***cks', and I was everybodys new best freind. We went about our business redesigning the local recreation park, which was four grass football feilds that we turned into a 7 holer. This was done by digging our own holes with our 'new' clubs, using them as an axe/spade. My only memories of actually playing the game though were of me loosing my temper, throwing my club across the park and almost breaking my wrists on more than one occasion.
Sorry guys, getting off track a bit here. Back to today, and it's no wonder I subconciously avoided taking the game up. But as you probably know, the further you get into adulthood, and the more people you meet, the more the subject of golf keeps cropping up. And as I said earlier, I was always quite intrigued about what was so good about this great game that only brought up memories of me looking for my club in the bushes.
I had listened to freinds and collegues arranging and talking about their games. In particular, my two brother in laws who play regularly (not together though). I kept hearing their stories seperately about how good or bad a round they'd had, or what new 'gear' the had been buying. I kept hinting that, "Hey that sounds great, I'll need to come out for a round some time".
Funnily enough, I never got an invite, until recently. Well to be honest, I invited myself. I think deep down they were terrified of taking the chance of being seen with me. And as luck would have it, their fears were realised. Well, this was the case for one of them anyway. My brother in law Andy agreed for me to go out with him because we stay quite near each other, and true to form I played up to his fears. I shared his clubs, which I think was what he feared most.
He tee'd off first with what looked like a half decent shot. I'm thinking, "That looks easy, how hard can it be"? Thinking, I'm a big boy now, the clubs are smaller and lighter. Not taking into account that he'd been playing for years. So, me up next, and I never thought it was possible to hit a ball so hard and make it land behind you. Surely that goes against the laws of physics or something.
I must admit , looking back, I do feel a bit sorry for him. As he tried his best to coach me with three other guys waiting to tee off, I could see the beads of sweat getting bigger on his forehead. No matter, we lined up the ball again. This time it actually went forward, for a bit at least, then took an extreme left into the trees.
The three guys waiting had stopped chatting by now and were looking over, quite concerned as we tee'd up another. This time, less power, more direction. This seemed to help, I at least got it straightish, and off we went. I could almost feel Andy breath a sigh of relief inside his own head.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the game ended with me pulling a muscle in my back at the 5th hole. You'd think this would be enough for me never to want to go near a club again, that on top of my childhood experience's. For some strange reason though, I enjoyed it. I found myself wanting to get back out there and conquer this game, weird.
I thought I might as well go about learning or reading up on some stuff while my back cleared up. So I went about sifting through the mountains of info online. Each one seemed to be as good as, if not better than the next. However, I decided on what's turned out to be an absolutely brilliant aid for me, an ebook called 'The Simple Golf Swing'.
I read it beginning to end and back again, and couldn't wait to get back on the course and put the techniques into practice. I had visions of me leaving Andy for dead on the course. Obviously this wasn't the reality, but what an amazing difference. The simplicity of just adjusting your foot or the angle of your wrist maybe only half an inch. I just found my movement was more fluid and comfortable. Everything seemed to slot into place. I like things explained clearly to me, simplicity.
That's what i liked about the book, as well as all the amazing free bonuses that came with it. I'll be honest, I'm not at the stage yet where I'm knocking a dozen or so strokes off my game, but more important to me at the moment as a 'newbie', is that my game is comfortable, my shots are cleaner, much cleaner and the distance is improving.
And with this, comes the confidence. I'm realising that everything has a knock on effect, and I'm loving it. I've even got Andy implementing some of the ideas and he's pretty impressed, and has since knocked 4 strokes off his game.
So, that's me, I'm hooked and the wife is thrilled (not). I can't recommebd this little gem of a book enough. The simplicity of it and how easy it was to put into practice is the key to making it work on the course. So if your thinking you could do with shaving your game a bit (who wouldn't?), then I'd get my hands on a copy if I were you, a great resource to have.
You'll get a copy at http://www.justforfun2holeinone.com/
Anyway, I think I've rammbled on enough guys. I look forward to hearing your comments and thoughts.
Chas.
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