What was the last unhidden treasure you discovered? By unhidden I mean something that has been around, you could have easily tried it, but never did. Then one day, for what ever reason you decide to give it a shot. By treasure I mean something that you have learned to love.
I have had several these unhidden treasures in my life. In my early 20's I decided to finally try Mexican food. Wow! What a discovery. I've had bad gas ever since, just ask my wife. In my late 20's I discovered Metallica. I was listening to albums they released 10 years earlier but they were all new to me. Metallica became my workout music, working music, driving music and some other things I wont mention. Early 30's? Lets see...ah yes, early 30's was work, work, work. I think I worked so much I didn't have time for anything else. Luckily, I love my work so things were good.
So now I'm preparing to roll to the big 40 and I've recently discovered a new hidden treasure. GOLF. Now golf and I have flirted with each other over the years. When I was young I would occasionally go to the local driving range and slice some golf balls with one of the ranges rental clubs.
When I was about 26 I actually golfed 18 holes for the first time. I hated it. So much so that I didn't do it again for 10 years. Not even the driving range. Why? Because I was absolutely horrible. I don't mean not very good. I mean horrible. What made it worse for me was that I was very good at other ball-stick games. I was an excellent batter throughout my life playing baseball. I had even recently started playing ice hockey and was immediately as good as most of the guys in my adult league who had been playing for years. Not Golf though. I couldn't understand why I was so bad. The stupid ball isn't even moving. It's just sitting there, and you have all the time in the world to line up your shot and hit the thing. Frustrating doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.
Then somewhere in my mid 30's I met some guys that would go play a crappy par 3 course and they asked me tag along. I hesitantly agreed. Somehow, I actually had a little fun doing this. Don't get me wrong, I was still horrible but I kind of enjoyed it anyway. Looking back I think I can identify a few contributing factors to this. First, this course was horrible. It was located outside Reno, NV and it was basically a dirt field with a few trees here and there. I've seen driveways with more grass growing between the cracks than this course had.
I think because this place barely qualified to be called a golf course, I didn't feel I actually had to be a golfer to be there. That's not the same feeling I had the first time I played. The first 18 I played was at a country club outside Seattle. Everything was immaculate on this course. I felt like I had to be Tiger Woods to be there. Also, the guys I was playing with this time were as bad as me, if not worse. This really lightened the mood and just made things fun. It actually became a contest to see who could get the biggest slice. Again a total contrast to my first experience where I played with 3 experienced golfers. Just because they kept giving me positive reinforcement and were trying to help me doesn't mean I don't know what those evil doers where thinking behind my back either. I could sense their frustration and lack of patience with me, at least so I thought.
I ended up playing that par 3 course a handful of times over the short few years I was in Reno. Then I moved to Huntersville, NC. No dirt courses here. All the courses here look like they could host the next PGA Championship. My golf career was once again put on the back burner.
I lived here golf free for a good 4 years. Then I took a job with a company that has a couple golf tournaments every year. One in the winter, and one in the summer. In all honesty the first one I played in I didn't enjoy at all. I didn't even want to do it. However, being the new guy and all I felt somewhat of a social and team bonding pressure to give it a shot. It didn't take to many holes to remember why I hated golfing. I actually missed the ball the ball on the tee with my driver on my first swing. Off to a great start. The only saving grace was the longest ball format they played. This greatly reduced my anxiety level, because at least I knew I wouldn't be holding up the entire tournament with my double pars on every whole.
Winter came and I again agreed to play in the tournament. I even went to the range a few times to see if I could improve my swing a little. Things were a little better the second time around. Not because I was any better, but because I knew what to expect. I knew there were a good handful of players that were as bad as me. In fact one of them was even on my team which really helped. I was no longer the worst hit ball on every hole. Just every other. Things were starting to look up. Unfortunately, this tournament did have a downside. I woke up that morning with a twitch in my neck. After 18 holes of golf I could barely turn my neck. The next morning I could hardly get out of bed. Three bulged discs in my spine. I won't go through all the details of this horrible 2 month ordeal. Let's just leave it at, "Lots of pain killers".
Note to self. If you have pain in your neck or spine don't spend 4 hours torquing it by swinging a golf club in the cold weather without stretching. You're not 18 anymore.
Looking back on it, I think this second golf tournament planted a seed somewhere in my head that if I gave golf a chance I might actually learn to enjoy it.
Fast forward about 6 months. Works summer tournament was coming up. I hadn't practiced a lot so I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. When another commitment came up that caused me to miss it, I wasn't all that disappointed. However, for some reason something changed at this point. I don't know why, but for some reason I decided that I was going to become a good golfer. I decided that by next summer tournament I wasn't going to be the same joke on the golf course I previously was. In fact, I was going to be a good golfer. I don't know what I thought the definition of a good golfer was, and I'm still not sure. However, I was going to be good, whatever I decided down the road that meant.
Now if there's one characteristic that I like about myself it's that when I put my mind to something, and I mean really put my mind to something I do it. This was how I felt about becoming a good golfer. It was (is) going to happen.
Looking back on it I sort of feel I knew this day would come. Even on that horrible day in Seattle where I lost 22 balls on the first 15 holes and had to start borrowing balls. Even when I could hit a curve ball better than a ball sitting still on a tee. I knew someday I was going to be a golfer. I just new I wasn't ready then. I knew golf wasn't like other sports where if you are a decent athlete you can just pick it up. Golf takes muscle memory, not muscle size. It takes a good pace, not a burst of energy. It takes an even temperament, not an attack mentality.
This blog is about my journey to becoming a good golfer. I'm no where near there yet. I golfed last week and shot about a 130 on a easy course. I say "about" because I know I messed up my score a few times by losing track of shots. Roughly though, that's what I shot. As bad as that is though it was good thing. I know where I'm at. I identified what parts of my game are okay (not many), and what things I really need help with (a lot). It's a place to start though. I'm golfing again tomorrow on a much more difficult course and I can't wait. I can't wait to see how much better I am a year from now, two years, five years. It's exciting having something like golf in my life right now. I am glad I waited. I am glad the time has arrived. I glad I found another unhidden treasure.
