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G.O.L.F.
GREATEST OF LIFE'S FRUSTRATIONS GAME OF LIMITLESS FUN
By LANE H. LUOMA
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Lane H. Luoma
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-9785-0
Chapter One
WHAT A GAME!
What a game indeed! Do you think the venerable old Scotts of the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers had any clue back in 1744 what an amazing game they had created? No Way! How could they imagine something as simple as swatting a little ball around with some type of crude implement could have any long term appeal? Something this silly could never really catch on............. or could it?
Well, here we are some 267 years later and I believe it's safe to say it did catch on. In fact, an entire multi-billion dollar industry has been built around the game of golf. It is immensely popular all over the world and played in some 85 countries. There are approximately 25,000 golf courses world-wide and a mere 50 million or so people that call themselves golfers.
Golf is just one of many sports, games, hobbies, and pastimes our modern society enjoys either participating in or simply as spectators. Here's a list of some of the other most popular: football, baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, hockey, bowling, tennis, table tennis, racquetball, volleyball, badminton, cricket, rugby, lacrosse, polo, fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, boating , canoeing, kayaking, rafting, snow skiing, water skiing, swimming, racing, sky diving, scuba diving, bungee jumping, mountain/rock climbing, biking, running, walking, fitness, billiards, poker (card games), board games, puzzles, gambling, shuffleboard, bingo, crafts, video games, T. V., eating, drinking, smoking, and sleeping. Obviously, there is no shortage of activities to occupy our non-working time. All of these sports, games, and hobbies are certainly unique in one way or another. All are popular and entertaining to a specific audience, most are challenging to some degree, and most can be participated in by almost anyone.
As I reviewed the list over and over however, I couldn't come up with a single sport, game, or hobby that "holds a candle" to golf for pure entertainment value and uniqueness. There are just so many adjectives that are appropriate when attempting to define the game. Complex, challenging, complicated, multi-faceted, humbling, humiliating, and frustrating all apply, but so do entertaining, rewarding, fascinating, exhilarating, and addictive.
Let's take a look at what makes the game so special amongst all others.
First, it's a game for a lifetime. You can begin playing very young (two-three years) and continue to play until you are very old. There are many sports you can only play for a brief period of your life (football, baseball, hockey, racing, etc.). Certainly you can play cards, board games, and watch T.V. your entire life but there are very few physical games you can participate in for the same duration as golf.
It can be played either by yourself or with others. No partner or opponent is required. If you play with others, your skill level does not affect how enjoyable it can be (tennis, racquetball, etc.). You can also play golf with anyone: mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, great grandma, great grandpa, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandkids, great grandkids, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, outlaws, friends, enemies, or complete strangers.
Many sports are played on a predetermined regulation field or court defined by their rules (football, basketball, soccer, tennis, hockey, bowling, etc.). In golf, when you change locations, you are playing a totally different course with its own set of unique characteristics. There are an estimated 25,000 golf courses in the world and no two are the same. There are golf courses built in fields, forests, on mountain tops, in valleys, through marshlands, along seashores, and in the middle of deserts. There are courses located in the center of large metropolitan areas and then those that are in "the middle of nowhere" with no population in sight. No offense to any of the other sports but there are simply none that can boast about the variety of playing venues available to their participants. Football, basketball, and soccer can be played anywhere in the world and the fields/courts will always be flat with the same dimensions. There are thousands of bowling alleys in the U. S. alone, all slightly different, but the lanes are all regulation length and width so the game is virtually the same every time it's played. No such thing in golf. If you play a different course then the game is totally different as well. By the way, if you had the time and the financial capability to play every golf course in the world, one per day, it would take you almost sixty-nine years to complete the task not even allowing for travel and days off. Certainly with 25,000 courses played there would be similarities but no two would be exactly the same.
When it comes to complexity, diversity, and being multi-faceted, golf has no peers and here's why.
How about just the golf swing itself? It's so deceptive. When you watch an accomplished, skilled player make a smooth, seemingly effortless swing, it looks fairly easy. As a golfer, you think to yourself; "why can't I do that?" As a non-golfer you naively think; "anybody can do that!" If and when that same non-golfer attempts the golf swing for the very first time, there's generally a bit of an attitude change that goes something like; "how can anything that looks so easy be this difficult?" As with most things, over time, with instruction and practice, it does become easier, but very few ever come close to mastering it. Even the best players in the world never truly master it. They come close from time to time, but the elusive perfect swing cannot be held captive for long by anyone. All golfers understand the complexity of the swing. As a non-golfer if you're not convinced, just go to a book store and look at the myriad of books devoted totally to the topic of instruction. The old adages; "easier said than done" and "harder than it looks" must have originated on a golf course somewhere. Think of this, even touring professionals need golf instructors!
It's not just about swinging and hitting the ball either. There's so much more to the game than that. The ultimate goal is to get the ball in the hole with as few strokes as possible and in order to do that you really need to have knowledge/skill in seven distinct "games within the game": 1. Driving 2. Iron Play 3. Chipping 4. Putting 5. Sand Play 6. Trouble/ Recovery Shots 7. Strategy/Course Management. There is much more on the topic of the seven games within the game in Chapter 4.
Something else that is very unique to golf is how the game is scored. As mentioned above, "the fewer the better." Can you think of another sport where the fewest points wins? There are a few card games where this is the case, but in every other sport the most points or highest score is the goal. Although sometimes I wonder a little about soccer and hockey (do they really want to score or are they just out there for exercise?). No offense soccer and hockey fans, love you!
The single most unique characteristic that sets the game of golf apart from all others is the honesty and integrity associated with it. It has always been considered a "gentleman's" game and certainly a "gentle woman's" game. Don't get me wrong, there are golfers that cheat and bend the rules but by and large, it is a game of honor. You can see this everyday at the very highest level of the game, the PGA Tour, where players actually self impose penalties even when nobody else knows what transpired. Can you think of another sport where this happens? How many times do you see a basketball player agree with a foul call? Seldom. More appropriately, have you ever seen a player call a foul on themselves when the official missed it? Never! How often does a football player admit he was holding or illegally blocking or again, call that on himself when it was missed? How about the football or baseball player who traps a ball on the ground but claims he caught it clean? Games are literally won and lost by bad or missed calls. If your team won a game as the result of a missed call involving you and you say nothing, did you really win? Wouldn't it be cool if players could and would call penalties on themselves or correct bad calls made by officials in other sports? You simply don't see honor and integrity in those other sports to the same degree seen in golf. This alone makes it a very special game.
When you toss in all the other elements and factors involved in golf such as weather, natural and manmade hazards, club selection, distractions, and the thirty-four rules that govern it, you have one very, very, challenging game. In my humble opinion, there is not a more difficult game to master.
On the positive side of things, golf's complexity and difficulty are also what help make the game so great. When you do overcome the obstacles, meet the challenges, and hit a solid shot or have a good round, it can be incredibly rewarding. There can be an almost euphoric feeling of accomplishment with success in golf. All golfers will tell you there's nothing more satisfying than hitting a dead solid pure drive down the middle, sticking an iron shot close to the pin, chipping one in, holing one out from a bunker, or sinking a long putt. I've witnessed even the most stoic and or introverted of people have temporary personality changes when something exciting happens to them on the golf course. They may jump "out of their shoes", pump their fist in the air, or yell out something in pure uninhibited glee before they realize what hit them.
If you're lucky enough to make a hole in one, you're probably a golfer for life. If you have one of those days when you're "in the zone," and finish a round scoring below your handicap, you feel like "The Man" or "The Woman" that day and absolutely can't wait to play again.
Lastly, in the following chapters I will attempt to identify and define the frustrating side of golf but always with the underlying purpose of respecting the game and keeping it up on a pedestal where it belongs. Ironically the frustration involved with the game, which would seem to potentially undermine it, in many ways makes the game even more appealing. Non-golfers.... sound absurd? Golfers.... you probably get it, right? Everybody read on. By the end of the book you'll understand why golf may be the world's most frustrating game and yet most beloved at the same time.
What a game indeed! What a game!
Quote: "Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. It satisfies the sole and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind ever invented." *Arnold Palmer
Note: The game of golf is actually much older than 267 years. It was created/invented in Scotland in the mid 1400's. The first known set of rules to govern the game was established in 1744.
Chapter Two
FRUSTRATED.................. WHO ME?
G.O.L.F. GREATEST OF LIFE'S FRUSTRATIONS. I often get asked how I came up with such a clever and appropriate acronym for the word golf. After I get done soaking in the compliment for all it's worth, my response generally surprises everyone. It actually came to me while watching the very best players in the world. I'm not sure which PGA Tour event it was but during that particular broadcast the announcers used the words frustration, frustrating, and frustrated, over and over in describing shots and/or situations. It just hit me how appropriate that particular adjective was to the game, even at the highest level.
Here's the point. You don't have to suck at golf to be a frustrated golfer you simply have to be a golfer. The only people that are not frustrated golfers are those that don't play. Anybody and everybody who plays the game at some point will indeed be humbled and frustrated by it, even the absolute best players on the planet. Exceptional players are no less frustrated than us mere mortals they are just frustrated at a higher level but frustrated none the less.
When it comes to golf, frustration is not just possible or probable, it is in fact, unavoidable and inevitable. Being classified as a frustrated golfer, however, is in no way a dubious distinction. It is not an admission of inferiority but only admission of being human. As humans we are vulnerable to frustrations of all kinds every day we wake up. This does not change when we play the game of golf. In fact, the odds of experiencing frustration probably increase significantly when we step on the golf course.
There are ten, yes ten, very distinct sources of frustration in the game. I, for one, have never played a round of golf and avoided all ten. Let's take a look at my "Top Ten." If you've played the game for any length of time, you've, no doubt, experienced every one of these frustrations many times.
FRUSTRATION # 1. There is that playing poorly thing. Whether it be one shot, one hole, one round, one year, or a lifetime. Non-golfers may ask; "if you're a lousy golfer all the time, why keep playing?" Stay tuned. It is an absolute certainty, no matter who you are, that it's just a matter of time before you experience one of those bad shots, holes, or rounds. It's unavoidable and inevitable for sure. One of the greatest challenges for any golfer is to be able to enjoy the game in spite of the bad stuff that happens. "Suck it up and play on" is much easier said than done. In Chapter 3, IS IT REALLY THAT HARD? I explain how, when, and why occasional poor play is, in fact, a certainty.
FRUSTRATION # 2. Just the sheer physical complexity of the game. As if the full swing alone wasn't difficult enough, you really have to master seven specific games within the game if you want to be a complete golfer. For most of us it is extremely rare, if not impossible, to play an entire round of golf without having one of those seven phases of the game frustrate us and probably more than once. Chapter 4, K.I.S.S. KEEP IT SIMPLE............ SURE! is devoted to the complexity of both the swing and those seven games.
FRUSTRATION # 3. The pure and simple element of bad luck. Every game or sport, and for that matter, aspect of life, is to some degree influenced by luck, good or bad. Some call it chance, others fate. Then there's karma, destiny, etc.etc. Whatever we choose to call it, a basic fact of life is, we just can't control everything that happens to us. When it comes to the game of golf, no truer words were ever spoken. In Chapter 6, IF IT WEREN'T FOR BAD LUCK ......., you'll discover just how out of our control the game of golf can be.
FRUSTRATION # 4. Fourth on our list is the grand old gal known as "Mother Nature." Golf is an outdoor adventure, and that means we are always playing in "her house," by "her rules," and are most definitely at "her mercy!" Any experienced golfer knows just how moody she can be and how often she can frustrate the heck out of us. Many more details are outlined in Chapter 5, MOTHER NATURE, NOT SO MOTHERLY.
FRUSTRATION # 5. Obstacles everywhere! Some are natural and many are diabolically manmade for the distinct purpose of making a most difficult game even more difficult. crazy physical stuff that stands between the golfer and his ultimate goals; a decent shot, hole, round and some semblance of mental health.
FRUSTRATION # 6. Distractions, distractions, and more distractions. The ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand is no doubt important in most endeavors. It is absolutely critical in golf but very, very difficult to achieve. There are so many distractions and outside influences we must endure during a typical round of golf that frustration is virtually unavoidable. The list in Chapter 7, BE THE BALL, will no doubt amaze you. It's my list and it amazed me!
FRUSTRATION # 7. Conditionally speaking............. Something very unique to golf is the widely varying conditions you face each and every time you play. Even if you play the same course every day, the conditions due to weather and maintenance can make that course play very different from one round to the next. If you happen to play two rounds on the same day but at different courses, chances are the conditions will be quite different. Chapter 9, NO FAIR! explains how and why conditions can indeed frustrate us from time to time.
FRUSTRATION # 8. Rules can be cruel, especially in golf. They are a necessary and vital part of every game but the thirty-four rules that govern golf can be excruciatingly frustrating. The sheer number of rules and their complexity can present a daunting challenge just to remember and understand. Then the consequences of breaking a rule of golf, intentional or not, can be very severe and seem unfair at times. Chapter 11, OVER- RULED? deals with this frequently frustrating aspect of the game.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from G.O.L.F. by LANE H. LUOMA Copyright © 2011 by Lane H. Luoma. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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