How I Learned Golf

For most of my life I had thought golf was such a dumb sport. Being a country gal I loved sports, even a short stint as lacrosse goalie in college, but golf seemed faintly ridiculous to me. Then around the age of forty a Brit male friend of mine, who loved golf, insisted that I go with him to a “pitch and putt” 9 hole course near my house. Using his clubs I learned to hold a club, the basic rules of the course, and how to attempt a swing. I had a lot of fun and found that actually, I could at least putt pretty well. I mentioned this at work the next Monday and before I knew it, the insurance company exec’s I worked with glommed onto me and drafted me to play the 18 hole course at Great Gorge with them, while we were attending an offsite there! Panicked, as I’d only held the clubs once and often could not even hit the ball, my Brit friend and I did a session at a driving range, and one more round of the 9 hole course.

So at GG we played “scramble” golf, which I learned was when teams of three compete, and for each hole, the score of the person who hit best counted. So they could in theory drag me along even if I never hit the ball. When I stood at the first tee off position I couldn’t even see where the freaking green was, the course looked so big. I worried about smashing the windows in the expensive condos nearby. I needn’t worry as I didn’t even hit the ball ha ha. Lots of air exercise before I finally made contact. So for the first couple holes I was along for the ride and the frustrating exercise. Then at the third green, I saved par by sinking a twelve or fifteen foot putt. Ha ha, I was elated (though they had to explain what “saving par” meant, as I didn’t know.) I wrote it down so I could tell people what I did after the game LOL! Remember, I’m also using borrowed clubs from the clubhouse so I’m not even like having my own gear, say nothing of knowing how to hold it. So now I’m beginning to actually hit the ball, and while I can’t drive worth beans, on the putting green I had a real chance. I think I did one other good thing before my “big shot.”

On the eighth or ninth hole, I can’t quite remember its number, it’s very difficult because the green is on top of a steep plateau, all surrounded by “rough” (tall grass for you rookies ha ha.) My two partners went first and it was incredibly difficult to get the ball on top of this high hill, on the green, without it going right over or rolling down into the rough. Both were way over par by the time it was my turn. They were resigned that we lost that hole. My shot ended up at the base of the green hill, deep in the rough. I don’t even remember what club I used, and I sure did not know what a “chip shot” was, but I used common sense figuring to try a hook shot to the basket, if you know what I mean. Well, I sank a fifteen or twenty foot (I've been trying to remember, it could even have been 25 feet, but no one was really watching me or measuring) chip shot from the rough and saved par. It went in a sweet arc right up and over the top of the hill and sank into the cup. The other teams later said they could hear the screaming as my partners could not believe my great shot. Ha ha, it was a great feeling. I wrote down what I did, with definitions, “chip shot,” “from the rough,” “saved par.” When we got back to the clubhouse, the final team on the course, we didn’t win but everyone was talking about how I HAD to take golf lessons and take up the sport, and how I was a “natural.” I did take lessons and get my own Callaway Big Berthas but that’s a story for another day. My friends gave me the nickname “the Putting Queen” because that continued to be my surest shots.