Why Golf?

At the risk of offending golf purists, I begin this blog with a simple core assertion: the game of golf is a flawless metaphor for life.  The corollary is, of course, that the lessons learned on the golf course perfectly parallel the lessons learned in a well-lived life.  And so, I begin.  I hope you'll enjoy and even join in from time-to-time on my voyage of discovery into the inner life of my golf game.

Let's be clear from the outset that I'm not a "serious" golfer.  I've never thrown a club into a pond or the woods and I've never finished a round wishing that I hadn't gone to the golf course that day.  I just don't take my golf game very seriously.  That may be because from the beginning of my relationship with the game of golf I've enjoyed the social dimension more than the technical aspects of the game.  That's not to say that I haven't (and don't) occasionally try to buy a good swing with a new club, or succumb to the seductive allure of the perfect golf ball that will automatically correct my problem de jour.  I confess to all kinds of etiquette breaches -- profanity (typically targeting missed putts), shirt not tucked in (pleading ease of swing), walking on another player's putt line (whoops) -- just to mention some of the more obvious and common offenses to the game's sensibilities.  Still, as with life in general, golf is a game that, when played with others, is most smoothly navigated  by some basic guidelines of civility.

I hope, as this journey with the game of golf unfolds, that you will feel free to share some of your own experiences, understandings, and insights, and that together we'll gain a clearer understanding of why we keep going back, week after week, beginning each round filled with hope and high optimism that this, today, will be our "perfect" round.