buying a game
When it comes to golf, I am guilty of something I used to accuse others of, but I find myself doing it, and that's trying to buy a game.
I don't play enough to be good, but I do try to practice, and get close. I try to at least go to a driving range every weekend. The thought is, I may not have 4 or 5 hours to devote to a round, but I can hit balls for an hour and try to get better. The truth of it is, I actually enjoy the driving range. I like running through the progression of clubs from pitching wedge up to driver. I like picking out different targets on the range and seeing how close I can come. Part of all this is it does keep me somewhat close to the ability of friends who do play every week when I get the opportunity to play, so I'm not holding anyone up or anything.
Part of it though is sometimes, and sometimes not listening to people who tell me "It ain't the arrows, it's the Indian". In other words...you aren't good enough for equipment to make a difference. You make the difference. Your equipment doesn't. I used to live by that, until I hit someone's clubs which were far more expensive than mine (and we all know more expensive means more better), and went...wow. I want something like this. I need to buy something like this. That's called buying a game. So that was my Christmas present a little over a year ago...new, better clubs. They, along with some lessons, made a difference in my game, though it didn't make me good at golf. It did make me less bad. That makes it harder to resist the temptation to buy more of a game, because it actually worked...some. The thing is, I can't be going there. They call those people club whores and I don't want to be one. It's a hobby I don't really have the money for. Still, I have been reading, and people say a better shaft in your driver can make a world of difference. How much can a shaft be? I know I'm not making a ton of sense. I'm a man in conflict.
With all this in mind,Saturday, I went to my favorite golf store, and started talking to the owner. I like him because he's fairly honest. If a new shaft won't do me diddly, he'd tell me. If the shaft in the club now is as good as it gets for my swing, he'd say so. So he told me to get my driver and he'd take a look. He told me the shaft could be an inch shorter, because while I'm tall, I have long arms. He had me swing it a few times on this tee, which is hooked up to all kinds of monitoring shit that can tell you how fast the club hit the ball, and at what angle, and what angle the ball was launched at, and what you had for dinner the night before. The result....I don't need a shaft. I need...lessons. Oh, big surprise there. I'm not that good. His rationale is if I'm going to spend an hour a weekend practicing, I could use a little more direction on what to practice doing. Makes sense. He doesn't do lessons, but he recommended someone who does. I see him at 2:00 Saturday for an hour...instead of the range. We'll see where that takes me.
I don't play enough to be good, but I do try to practice, and get close. I try to at least go to a driving range every weekend. The thought is, I may not have 4 or 5 hours to devote to a round, but I can hit balls for an hour and try to get better. The truth of it is, I actually enjoy the driving range. I like running through the progression of clubs from pitching wedge up to driver. I like picking out different targets on the range and seeing how close I can come. Part of all this is it does keep me somewhat close to the ability of friends who do play every week when I get the opportunity to play, so I'm not holding anyone up or anything.
Part of it though is sometimes, and sometimes not listening to people who tell me "It ain't the arrows, it's the Indian". In other words...you aren't good enough for equipment to make a difference. You make the difference. Your equipment doesn't. I used to live by that, until I hit someone's clubs which were far more expensive than mine (and we all know more expensive means more better), and went...wow. I want something like this. I need to buy something like this. That's called buying a game. So that was my Christmas present a little over a year ago...new, better clubs. They, along with some lessons, made a difference in my game, though it didn't make me good at golf. It did make me less bad. That makes it harder to resist the temptation to buy more of a game, because it actually worked...some. The thing is, I can't be going there. They call those people club whores and I don't want to be one. It's a hobby I don't really have the money for. Still, I have been reading, and people say a better shaft in your driver can make a world of difference. How much can a shaft be? I know I'm not making a ton of sense. I'm a man in conflict.
With all this in mind,Saturday, I went to my favorite golf store, and started talking to the owner. I like him because he's fairly honest. If a new shaft won't do me diddly, he'd tell me. If the shaft in the club now is as good as it gets for my swing, he'd say so. So he told me to get my driver and he'd take a look. He told me the shaft could be an inch shorter, because while I'm tall, I have long arms. He had me swing it a few times on this tee, which is hooked up to all kinds of monitoring shit that can tell you how fast the club hit the ball, and at what angle, and what angle the ball was launched at, and what you had for dinner the night before. The result....I don't need a shaft. I need...lessons. Oh, big surprise there. I'm not that good. His rationale is if I'm going to spend an hour a weekend practicing, I could use a little more direction on what to practice doing. Makes sense. He doesn't do lessons, but he recommended someone who does. I see him at 2:00 Saturday for an hour...instead of the range. We'll see where that takes me.
John put this out here at 9:19 AM
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