10 trees

So I took off from a work a little bit early today and and decided to take advantage of the weather and hit the golf course for the first time of the year. Exciting times, first time to use the new bag, the new shoes, and two new clubs, a 3 and 5 wood, respectively. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, just perfect golf weather, and all things considered, I didn't play that bad. Somewhat unusual for me, I thought that I played better than my score. Hit the ball solid pretty much every time minus a handful, maybe 4 or 5 times where I didn't have solid contact. Biggest problem was where I was hitting it.

I didn't have any problems with slicing or hooking, rather, I was either just aiming very poorly or just hitting it straight at an angle to the left or right. I noticed about half way through the round that I was opening my left shoulder during the swing, which I think was contributing to the inconsistency. When I was able to fix that on an occasional swing, I had better luck with the ball going straight in the right direction.

Granted, to make the title of this post makes sense, I need to start talking about trees. Its the one thing on golf course I don't like. I know they are aesthetic, and its supposed to make the course more difficult, but my ball just seems attracted to hit them, compounded my problem with the various caroms they provide. So, in the course of playing nine holes, I hit ten trees today. And when I mean hit, I don't mean the ball passed through some branches. I mean the tree redirected my ball, always in a more unfavorable position. The price I pay for not being very good at golf.

But the best thing about golf, is that I won't remember all this stuff about my round today. Beyond today, I won't remember the trees; I won't remember the times I couldn't find the ball; I won't remember the times I hit a grounder, or overshot the green by twenty yards.

Nope, I'll remember that on the 176 yard par 3 sixth hole, that I landed my tee shot on the opposite side of the green from the pin, had a 50 foot putt or so miss the cup by about 2 inches as it rolled by, but then sank a 6 footer for par. To get a par, my first time out for the year, after having the handful of times I played last year being the first time I played in seven years or so, that's what I will remember. That's why golf is so addicting to me...its utterly frustrating at times, but there is something just pure, just down to your core perfect, about hitting that perfect shot, about sinking that long putt, about getting par, getting birdie. That moment of perfection is always just there, right there for the taking. So many little moments of perfection waiting. For a terrible golfer like myself, getting par is as good a taste of that pure moment I'll get. And it keeps you coming back for more.