With all the new house stuff, I forgot to talk about my golf clinic! I decided to go—I figured I had to, since this would be the decision-making event as to whether or not I was going to continue TRYING TO golf or not.
The first day was spent learning basic golf etiquette and safety, how to grip and putt (45 minutes) and how to grip and chip (45 minutes). We learned techniques for each, and ways to practice (little games), and I have to say I wasn’t too bad. I left feeling fairly positive, although I did let the instructors know they’d have their work cut out for them on swinging (I can’t swing to save my soul).
The second day started by me warning the instructors that it would be a miracle if they could successfully teach me to swing—the farthest I ever hit a ball was MAYBE 25 yards (and that was with a wood). They said they hadn’t had anyone they couldn’t teach yet. I said “We’ll see.” First we started with how to handle bad lies and then spent 1:30 on swinging. Man oh man is that HARD! There are SO many things to remember…keep your head down, keep your arm straight, keep your foot planted, swing like you mean it—just in case you actually hit the ball—all at once. But, I found, if you do those things…you’ll hit the ball! The golf pros/instructors were very nice…there were only 10 of us at the clinic and two pros, so you had pretty hands-on help and coaching. However, I wasn’t quiteup to par with everyone else—by the time they were done with their first bucket of balls, I had only managed to hit about four. But, as the instructor said, I WAS HITTING THEM…so he was right—he could teach anyone to swing! I joked that I should have been more specific—I had to be able to swing and consistently hit the ball! I discovered I either whiffed the ball or made a divot 75% of the time…the other 25% I made contact with the ball. So, I’m definitely better than before…but I definitely need practice. Good thing we now live on a golf course!