Well, it may be summer someday.  Before I start, let me say that this winter has been the meanest I have ever seen.  If summer does ever come, a lot of you will play golf. There were a few years when the worst score I would shoot is 75 and had many rounds in the 60’s.  

I did not get that game early in life.  I became a two handicap when I was about 32 years old.  One thing that changed my game to the positive side was learning about “staying behind the ball.”  I always had heard “stay down”, but that wasn’t the exact answer. I think back about my baseball days.  I never struck out but had no pop. I could not hit a baseball out of my shadow. Stay behind the ball when you hit it.  You want to make contact out in front of you—yes there are exceptions, as in hitting the ball to right to move the runner along.  When I played ball, I remember making contact behind my head. I hit everything to right field. If I had been taught. I remember letting go of the bat with my right hand after my swing which my coaches very much disapproved of, but now it is the correct method of hitting. But that is baseball.  Now for the toughest sport ever invented. Golf.

One thing you need to know is that this is the ultimate brain game.  And you are so very much alone out there. You can’t hustle your way through tough times.  I set high goals for myself. I wanted to be the city champ—I failed often in that battle. Then I got it, and I do not know why.  I was a virtual machine. I hit every shot with a divot that went left but the ball faded back. I did not hit it long, but back then you did not have to.  I would hood the face of my irons and hit the cut shot without fail. Soon I was in the finals and I would wear anyone out, and I did. When you hit fourteen fairways off the tee—250 yards out—it is tough to lose.  Now what I never did well was putt. If I had a fifteen-foot putt for birdie, I would lag my brains out. Now when I had a six-foot par putt, I would jam it in. See? Don’t overthink this game!

What I did not like were doglegs to the left.  When you hit the ball left to right, a dog leg left is tough.  We had one on my home course—hardly enough to cook me, but I did not like that hole.  Some courses are made for “cutters” and some for “hookers”. Just so you know the talk here.  A “cutter” is me—hit the ball left to right. A “hooker” moves the ball right to left. The best pros in the world can work the ball either way, but they have a preference and they will stay with that preference.

Now with all that success I began to obsess with hitting the ball “right to left.”  Once I started fooling with that, my life was over on the golf course! To hook the ball, I would close my stance a bit, bring the club back to the inside and made sure I stayed behind the ball.  I learned to hook it but then I could not fade it. I never saw my divot go left again, and all I knew was how to hit it was right to left. There is a saying in golf. You can “talk to a fade, but not a hook”.  The last time I broke 70 I played a hook on every shot—and I can not fade the ball to save my life.

I played golf entirely with my hands, and that is not how to do it.  Tom Watson has a picture-perfect swing and can play today. Remember Lee Trevino?  All hands and that does not stand the test of time. Still I won two city championships and I learned golf as a caddy.

You should have a favorite club.  It is good for your brain. Mine was the 6 iron.  I just loved it. In my finals I was down bad. My opponent hit his iron on the green.  I was looking at 180 yards, with the pin tucked right. I needed birdie. My opponent was going to make par and that was not going to do it for me.  Still, chasing pins from 180 yards is not good for your health. I grabbed the six iron and I trusted my swing. It was “all world.” A soft fade. It was all over that pin and as the golfer, you hope you have the right distance.  It hit six feet short of the pin and it rolled six feet by. Now the shot was great, but I needed that putt. I had to make that putt. It was slippery. Fast and broke left to right. A three putt was very possible. Although I am not a good putter, I learned to hit a slippery putt of the toe of the putter.  Center cut! I birdied the next hole and the eighteenth. We had another 18 to play but that little run did it for me. I had always wanted the trophy and it was mine.

I won the next year and then lost in the semis.  I never even attempted it again. To win those trophies I had to practice six days per week.  I had a family and I quit the game as I had known it. I also had a huge foot injury and missed a year.

If you get this game, enjoy it because it will not last!