Golf is Such a Cruel Game

Golf is one of those games that defies the laws of physics. You know the trajectory of the club head is correct and you also know that your grip is not too light but firm enough to keep control. You have eyed the green in the near distance and lined up everything up in exactly the same way as you did when you hit that wonderful shot about a year ago. The breeze is gentle and warm and will not be taking a part in the journey of this golf ball through the air.

The club head slices through the air in a controlled arc and is every bit as good as professionals look on the television or at least that is what your head says, because your friends stood behind you are seeing a different picture. For them result is inevitable as they can see you are facing slightly to the right and that aged old excuse of I tend to bring the ball round doesn’t cut it anymore.

You can actually fool yourself right up to the point of impact that it is going to be a great shot as up to that point there is no proof of anything different. Once club and ball make contact then all bets are off and the savageness of your incompetency knows no bounds. The head of the club follows through in a manner that you practiced so many times in the past and your torso twists and the club head although nowhere near where you think it is does end up behind you. The ball however reveals the truth of how your stance and setup were all misaligned.

You could forgive yourself if the ball had gone a few yards right of the green as you were already facing away as your friends will repeatedly tell you later on in the clubhouse, but the fact that somewhere deep down in your subconscious you knew this mistake made for another problem. It’s a tiny movement but to compensate and your subconscious knew it had to, there was an adjustment mid flow. A slice had been produced. Now the ball already destined even with the perfect stroke to land a few yards right of the green has now developed a beautiful spinning action and arcs itself away from the chosen target and seriously threatens golfers on another fairway.

Little smirks appear on the faces of fellow players as their job just got easier, because it is one of the quirks of playing golf that if someone has made a mistake that you will never feel as bad as they did. Of course there will be a round of how unlucky and I thought you nailed that one. None of this course compensates for the complete lack of skills on display. Little reminders creep in about how you’re actually paying for this in cash. Sometimes you even look at the clubs and think it’s time you changed them especially when a friend hits the perfect shot with their brand-new club.

Golf is truly a frustrating game at times and it does seem to defy the law of physics, it certainly does not live up to the law of averages or at least how I play it anyway. Yet it is strangely addictive and it only takes one perfect contact with the ball to have you planning next week’s game.

There must be some life lessons to be learned from this but for the life of me I can’t think of any.

FORE!