Thoughts on Golf
I learned to play in East Africa where Hippo’s from the lake left their footprints on fairways and greens and these were considered natural hazards.
The only golf course in Rangoon Burma (or Myanmar as it is now known) has had the benefit (or not) of my golfing expertise as has Tollygunge in Calcutta (or Kolkatta). I did play in a sauna that was a golf course in Bangkok. Wentworth in Surrey allowed me one par and I have never forgotten it..
I have played at dawn on a summers day and played the 18th in the gloom intent on finishing a game. Perranporth in Cornwall on a windy day was something else considering the number of blind drives the course has – my companion refused to ever play it again.
I have seen deer run across fairways on a dewy summers morning – nothing like being out first on a golf course, Hippos, Wild buffalo and dolphins swimming in the firth at Nairn near inverness. Nesting seabirds like the light rough and can be quite aggressive when protecting their young.
It is possible to bore for England on actually achieving a hole in one and recounting my lowest ever score stroke by stroke and hole by hole. The worst days and games are easy to forget. I have played year round in all weathers, made friends, travelled and won the odd prize. It’s a great game sometimes described as a good walk spoiled.
Some clubs are very serious about the rules as are some players. I am not – I just like to play as well as I can. My putter is as old as me and will never be changed and my clubs are 27 years old. I just wish I was.
The following ‘’comments’’ were given to me 10 years ago and even now I laugh at them because they are very true. Why we persist I don’t know!!
Don’t buy a putter until you have had a chance to throw it.
Never, ever, try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.
When your shot has to get over some water you can either:- hit one more club ( a club with a lower number) or two more balls.
Because you are a good golfer and you might reach the green ahead whilst the players on that green are putting out, you have two simple options. You can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball half-way there.
The less skilled a player is the more likely they are to share their ideas about the technicalities of a good golf swing.
No matter how badly you are playing fear not. It is possible to play worse.
The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of that one critical unconscious motion that was allowing you to compensate all your many other errors.
Golfers who don’t cheat also lie
A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponent’s luck
The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line – that happens to pass directly through the branches of a very large tree.
There are two types of bounces – the lucky ones and those that bounce just the way you meant to play them.
It is strange that you can hit a two inch branch 90% of the time and a two acre fairway only 10% of the time.
Rest assured that a ball lying in the rough 50 yards away is not yours.
When you look up and this causes an awful shot you will immediately look down again at the point you should really be watching your ball if you ever want to see it again.
Every time you make a birdie you will subsequently make two bogies which restores the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.
Golf is 90% mental - and 10% mental
Richard Nolan
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