I left work at 3:50pm yesterday to play golf at my club. I arrived at 4:21 to see the range closed, so I put on my shoes, grabbed my clubs, and went to 10 which was completely open, usually a good sign. I drive one deep to the right, hit a wicked 7 iron through 2 trees that had a 6 inch gap, putt up to hole and miss a 6 ft par putt to finish the hole in 3 minutes. The next 8 holes were all wide open and I walked the back nine in 1 hour. I finished with 1 par, 7 bogeys, and 1 double.
That is playing golf. This past weekend I played 3 rounds and finished 0 of them. I could write an entire post on that experience but to summarize, there is no place for fast golfers on a slow course. I wouldn’t say I play abnormally fast, Bud says I do, but golf is not that complicated. You see where you want to hit the ball, you look at the ball, you hit the ball, then you walk to it, and do it again. When you get to the green, you look at the contour, and you try to hit the ball near the hole. You aren’t a scratch golfer where looking at every undulation is going to make a difference when you slam it 10 feet past. Fortunately for me, this was a refreshing change of pace, great pun, and what you hope to pay for in a country club.
Quick sport reversal. I got back in my car, drove home in 30 minutes and got ready for a playoff bowling match at 7pm. I’ve been bowling lights out for the past 2 months carrying a 210 in 1 league and a 202 in the other. My team starts by losing the first game, winning the second by 1 pin, and it came down to the final game. Bowling, for the most part, is casual in a rec league no matter the circumstance, but it gets quite fun when you’re bowling when it matters. It separates the good bowlers from the choke artists. Naturally, I wouldn’t be writing this post unless I succeeded. I start off with the first 4, throw a ringing 10, then rattle off the next 5 and finish with a 266 to help the team secure a victory.
Bowling and golf are two very different competitions. Golf requires a vast array of shots whereas bowling only needs a few. I haven’t been in many golf matches before, but I’d guess the pressure of hitting a great shot when it’s on the line is more nerve racking than bowling. Executing in golf is not as simple as throw it like you’ve done thousands of times before. It’s a different shot every time and this is why I’d laugh if anyone ever says bowling is more challenging than golf. However, if you ask is it harder for someone to roll an 800 series or shoot a 72, I’m not sure which way I would lean. I currently have never shoot a 72 and, frankly, couldn’t roll an 800 without extreme luck. I suppose the latter would be more obtainable, but I’m not even that sure.
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