I miss golf

What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive. ~Arnold Palmer

My favorite tournament of the year took place over the weekend. The Masters, at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, GA. It was great to see Tiger win again, and in such dramatic fashion. Every time the Masters rolls around, I get such a huge desire to go out and play.

In previous years, when the Masters takes place, my golf clubs left the closet and went straight to the trunk of my car where they stayed until Fall. But over the past few years, this hasn't really been the case. And I severely miss having the freedom to frequent a golf course.

I got my first golf club for Christmas from my Aunt D when I was 7 or 8. Her husband J was an avid golfer and he cut off one of his clubs and had it regripped for me. He showed me how to hold the club in the kitchen of my grandparents' house right there on Christmas day, and my love for golf began.

I had a decent sized yard growing up, and I spent many hours out there knocking golf balls to and fro. A couple of years later, my uncle J gave me a few more clubs to go with the one he already gave me. It was at this point where I began to develop a "feel" for the game. I learned that the different clubs would hit the ball different distances with the same amount of force.

Throughout this whole time period, I never played on an actual full sized course. My play had been restricted to the front and side yards of my house. I had a friend in high school that played on the school's golf team. She encouraged me to try out for the school team right before my sophmore year. I was very excited about this and I jumped at this opportunity. I played my first round of golf when I was 15. I played with other kids that had been playing their entire lives. I beat almost all of the kids that were my age on my very first try. I shot 99, while most of them shot over 100. The coaches couldn't believe it, and thus my love for golf skyrocketed. From that day through the end of the season, I played almost daily, getting better and better.

I played several times through the winter months and on into the spring and summer of the following year. I couldn't wait for the next golf season to start. Two or three seniors had graduated, which opened up some spots on the varsity team. When tryouts were over, I had made the varsity team and would be playing in all of the matches throughout the season. It was very exciting. When my senior year rolled around, I had moved all the way up to the #1 spot on the varsity team.

After graduating, I got a job at a local golf course, which I've talked about before. I would golf in the morning and work in the afternoon, or vice versa. I worked there for 2 years. So counting the previous 3 years of high school and those 2 years in college, I played golf almost on a daily basis through the spring, summer, and fall months. It was at this time that my golfing ability was at its peak. My handicap was in the neighborhood of 5. When I had to quit working at the golf course, my rounds of free golf had come to an end. And I'm sad to say that I haven't been able to play near as much as I used to, and I'm not near as good as I once was. Golf is just too expensive to play very often!

I'm hoping that once the wife and I get settled into a house in Bowling Green, that I'll be able to join one of the golf clubs there so I can start playing again. I miss it sorely. There's just something about the smell of freshly cut grass, the dew in the early morning, a pleasant breeze on your face and the feel of a shot hit squarely on the sweet spot that just cannot be topped.

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#12 at Augusta, one of my favorite holes. It is my dream to play at Augusta someday. How exciting it would be to walk across the Ben Hogan Bridge, where so many other golf greats have walked. Who knows if it will ever happen, but I will be forever grateful to anybody that can make it happen for me (as you have to "know somebody" in order to get in there).