The Layoff
Forgive me father for I have….. Well I haven’t played in nearly two months, haven’t picked up a club. Was it the four successive crappy rounds in Bermuda in early December. Could it be the tendinitis in both hands, I am not a doctor nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but that is my non-professional diagnosis of the pain. I probably played 70-80 rounds last year and sometimes I get the same feeling with golf as I do when I quit drinking for a couple of days. I will never do this again. I challenge myself but I am invariably a weak and pathetic person, surrounded by like-minded people so I breakdown and have a few. However with golf it is different. I totally take it out of the realm of possibility that I would simply quit. It isn’t like Mother Nature isn’t helping with her single digit temperatures and weather conditions best fit for the Iditarod, the thought of playing never enters the equation around here.
The thing with golf is that when I do start thinking about playing I automatically have a panic attack that I won’t be able to break a pane of glass. Scenes of Chip Beck at the Ryder Cup flash before my eyes and I think he was at the top of the world and he was never heard from again. I just worry I can’t play anymore. I think this is because I took up the game later in life. I worry that my handicap, which is ridiculously low for my ability, will balloon to where I will be playing with the guys who fart when they mark their ball and drive their carts over the greens.
I write this article in anticipation of my annual trek down to Florida. This is when I find out how rusty my game is. Unfortunately, this trial and error period comes at the expense of playing in some pretty good pro-ams. I guess my question is for those of you who are snow-bound; what occupies your mind when you haven’t played in several months? Let me know, would love to hear from you.
Music pick: Artist: Foster the People Song: Helena. Click link for free download.
