How many of you are asked why you play the game of golf? I get asked that question a lot these days and my answer is simple. I love the game. But, why do I love the game so much and why do I play it? Let's take a look at this question for the ages.
I wanted to play sports when I was younger. I have to say that this didn't happen much as I was growing up. I did love to swim and I learned how to swim at the local city pool, but my parents also enrolled me at the local YMCA. I took swimming lessons there and participated almost every Saturday in their weekend activities for youngsters. I truly enjoyed my experiences at the "Y" and it did strengthen my body. I didn't lose much baby fat, but I was able to gain muscle. I still would not consider myself athletic at the time in any way.
Like all red blooded American boys, I wanted to play baseball. My parents enrolled me in the local Little League and I went out for their tryouts. I wanted to play second base in the worse way and did pretty well in the tryouts but was not picked on any team for second base. I was a chubby kid and they thought that I was not fast enough to play second. I do admit to this day I am pretty slow as far as my running capabilities. Running is not my strong suit and I hate to run. They said that they would love to have me play and offered me a choice of position. Take a guess at what position I was offered.
What positions normally does the chubby kid play? I could roam the area behind the plate as a catcher or take up residence where else-right field. I didn't have a catcher's mitt and didn't want to take the abuse of squatting up and down after every pitch at catcher. I chose right field-you know the song. One thing I could do though is hit.
I don't like basketball. I have very small hands and cannot put a basketball through the hoop if my life depended on it. You still have to run in basketball, so much for basketball.
I really thought that I wanted to go out for football. I thought long and hard about it, and then my strong sense of reality sunk in. I found out that there was something called "double sessions. Also, practice for football-a fall sport-started in August. It's hot in August in Fresno, California. I'm not talking about 85 degree heat. No, most August days are well over 105. my sense of survive ability was quite strong in telling me that this was not a good idea.
I also had to be a realist about what position I was going to play. Where do they put a very slow-coach wanted to time me with a calendar-chunky guy. Do they put him in as quarterback, wide receiver, or running back. No way was I going to play tight end. Yep, I was told I was going to play guard or tackle.
Come on guys, I was only five foot seven and weighed a whopping 160 pounds. I was told that my task would be to block defensive linemen who were a foot taller than me, much taller and heavier. They also were a lot faster than I was. I would rather run into a telephone pole at full speed. Did I tell you that you have to run at football practice? Football was out.
My way into golf was a bit strange. When you boil it all down, I was sold into golf for 50 cases of Wanda's Wonderful Pancake Mix. I won't go into the full story here and for that you will have to buy my book when it comes out soon, the title being Birdies, Pars and Bogies: My 55 Years In the Game of Golf. I started taking golf lessons and I found out that I really like this game. First, the ball is stationary and nobody is throwing it at you with speeds up to 100 MPH. You don't have to squat and catch a ball being thrown at you and you sure as heck don't have to knock over a guy that is twice your size. The game takes a lot of skill and creativity. Most of all, YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUN!
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