Category Archives: Sports & Exercise

I did something yesterday I’ve never IN MY LIFE done before…I went golfing! My boss invited me and Tom to play in a local golf scramble with her and John…and we had a blast! I have always wanted to learn to play, but the one time Tom tried teaching me (way back in Lansing before we were married), there was so much arguing and yelling just trying to hit a bucket of balls that we decided it wasn’t in our best interest if we wanted to remain a couple. (He’s a righty and, although I’m right-handed, I’m a lefty when it comes to batting and putting, so it was quite difficult to try and teach me anything.)

So the main challenge of yesterday, aside from NEVER HAVING PLAYED BEFORE, was that I didn’t have any left-handed clubs—and the country club didn’t have any—so I was relegated to either playing right-handed (which was not comfortable at all and got quite a few laughs) or using my very own left-handed putter in lieu of a driver, a wood, an iron, or a pitching wedge! John had a nice driver that ended up working pretty well, even using it backwards. John is an avid golfer and Tom can hold his own as well, so we mostly used their shots! That said, regardless of me not having the correct clubs, I didn’t do TOO badly and got some nice, straight shots—and amazingly enough, we even used some of them for scoring!

Aside from having fun “playing” golf, one of the really fun things was driving the cart—I had a blast! Some of the course was a little hilly, so every time we went flying down the trail, I’d let out a little “Wheeeeee!” and we had a laugh. The only bad thing about the day was that it was quite hot and humid—if it wasn’t for the nice breeze, it would have been hell. So, when I was waiting for Tom to hit or whatnot, I’d drive around and around in the cart—it was the best way to get a nice breeze and cool down!

Anyway, throughout the day I kept thinking “I wonder how I could do with real clubs…??” and I really thought I would be interested in learning to play—or at least renting some left-handed clubs to see how it felt. So at the end of the day, we decided to look into finding me some clubs. We stopped at Sam’s to see if they had anything—nope. We didn’t feel like braving Walmart but hit Target and they had nothing for left-handers. We checked out eBay when we got home and seriously almost bought some—they had really great prices on new sets…but I told Tom we shouldn’t rush into anything. There’s a golf clinic coming up on base (that someone at the scramble told me about) so I figured I would do that…and if I still wanted to try golfing, then we’d look at getting some clubs. On the other hand, if the 4-hour clinic changed my mind, we wouldn’t be out $150 for clubs. Then I had an A-HA moment and thought “My dad is left-handed and I know we’ve talked about his clubs before. I wonder if he still has them and if he would ship them to me?” I called but there was no answer.

In the morning, we remembered a local golf shop—and were excited because they deal in new and used clubs. We asked about left-handed, and he said he didn’t have any women’s, but he had a men’s set—and since I was fairly tall, those would probably work fine. I got excited, but was leary because we had decided we didn’t want to spend money on clubs yet. Then he told us the price ($50) and the fact that as long as we kept the receipt, we could always return them and get credited for an upgraded set so I would basically be using the clubs for free (providing I liked it and wanted a better set)!! That was the clincher, so now I have my very own golf clubs and bag! He said we had perfect timing, as that set just came in yesterday—from someone who had done the same thing I did and was finally upgrading! I figure even if I end up not liking it or not playing very much, we only spent $50! (Well, $60—I got some colored golf balls!)

So we’re planning on going to the driving range either tonight or tomorrow and then I have the clinic at the end of the month. I’m really looking forward to this and I really hope I like it. I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated!