It is that time of year again. School is over, the weather is warming up and there is no need to worry about homework. Along with all of that comes the itch to head back out to the golf course. Before I get to what makes golf so great, I just need to mention something that always puzzles me.
Every year when this time of year comes around, and I mention how I have the urge to play golf or that I was watching one of the majors on television, there are always a handful of people with the typical response: "I do not play because it is so boring," or, "I could never watch golf, there is nothing interesting about it." Nine times out of 10, these people have never even picked up a golf club aside from a mini-golf putter. So how could they possibly know that golf is boring? I assume they just hear that about this great game at some point in their younger years, and never give the sport a chance.
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But enough about the negatives — it is time to focus on the good. Let's start with watching golf. Sure, I do not watch golf all the time like I do baseball or football, but it is certainly not because it is boring. Watching golf is more of a time commitment, as a round for a player will take roughly four hours. Then add in the fact they are usually four-day events, going from Thursday to Sunday.
But that just means more to enjoy. You get to experience some of the most beautiful courses in the world and see the entire course countless times. Anyone who has ever stepped on a golf course knows and can appreciate what they are looking at. This alone makes it worth watching, even if you have no real interest in who is going to win. You can look at each hole and just picture yourself stepping up to the tee. How would you play each shot? Would you lay up in front of the river in the middle of the fairway or try to be Superman and hit it over? Which club would you play from each location that every player is hitting from? You can ask yourself so many questions and put yourself in the golfer's shoes.
With all of those questions you can also appreciate what the golfers are doing. They step up to a tee and you tell yourself you would need a five iron to hit the middle of the fairway. Meanwhile, you have Jordan Spieth stepping up with a seven and hitting it to the green. Then, of course, there is always the good feeling of seeing the pro hit one in the water or chunking it in the sand trap, just like you. Maybe you would have found yourself in the trees on a hole with a narrow fairway, but so did Rory McIlroy.
Then comes the competition. The first two days you can focus on the course and how you would play it, but come the weekend, the competition becomes more and more important. A close race between anywhere from two to 10 players down the stretch is just as fun and exciting as any other sport. Each shot these players hit comes with more and more pressure and importance.
So when someone says "Golf is too boring to watch," what they are really saying is, "I have never played, and I cannot appreciate the course or the difficulty of what these guys are doing."
This leads us to actually playing the game. Playing the game is what makes the sport as a whole so much fun. I am lucky enough to have had my dad teach me how to play roughly five years ago (Thanks, dad!).
The first thing that makes golf great is the course. There are so many courses to pick from, and each one offers something different. Each course offers 18 unique holes, each with its own challenge. Whether it be water along both sides of the fairway, sand traps surrounding the green or a sharp dogleg right, each hole is going to be special.
Then on each hole, there is always more than one way to play it. It is like a puzzle that you need to solve. But to make things more difficult, you need to execute on your plan to keep your plan going for the next shot. It is this thinking process that comes with each shot that makes the game so much fun in my opinion. Do you break out the driver to reach the green in one, but risk it veering to the side, or do you play it safe and hit a seven iron, sacrificing the distance to have a better chance of sitting in the middle of the fairway?
Now multiply that decision-making process by a few shots per hole for 18 holes over the course of several hours — all while enjoying the landscape of each and every hole and spending time with friends/family.
Do not forget you are keeping score because this is a game! So the competitive nature is also there. This adds into the creative thinking process for each hole, as you want to shoot a lower score than your opponent(s) on every given hole.
So if you have never actually played golf, I highly recommend getting yourself a set of clubs and finding the nearest driving range. Practice until you can at least hit the ball straight, as anyone can play as long as they are not constantly losing balls in rivers and trees. It does not matter how far you hit it, because if you keep going forward and stay in play, you can keep moving forward.
Do not miss out on this golf season. There is plenty of fun to be had this summer. Make sure you are in on it.
