Disclaimer: The following is about golf.
Truth of the matter is, I have been lazy. This round of whining was written a couple of weeks ago but I just have not gotten around to actually clicking the PUBLISH button. You’re crushed, I get it, and I apologize.
A friend once told me that at my — or perhaps at our — age, our golf game does not get better. That whatever our scores were five years ago, are likely what they are today and that the odds say will be similar five years from now.
Part-time, weekend, golfers aged 50+ years are simply not going to improve significantly, if at all, unless the status quo is changed.
At this point in our lives, he said, it is just best to go out on the course and enjoy the time outside. Have fun. Laugh. Meet new people or solidify existing friendships. While in search of that perfect shot or that perfect hole, do not get upset over never achieving that perfect game. Apparently, it will never come.
Turns out, he was right. And it pisses me off.
These last few years I have hit thousands of balls at the driving range. I have upgraded all of my clubs. There have been quite a few lessons with three different golf pros (and that is not counting the actual green fees to play on the course). Golf is an expensive habit and while my bank account has surely noticed, the handicap has not.
Just when I think I have improved on one part of my game, another goes to shit.
- Short drives led to long approach shots.
- Improved drives resulted in horrible putting.
- When the putts started dropping, chipping within 50 yards of the green led to added strokes.
- A wonderful Gap Wedge lesson now has me slicing my drives. Unrelated, no doubt, but frustrating.
It is a never ending cycle and at the end of day — or perhaps after many years — my handicap remains almost unchanged.
Yesterday, I shot a 94 at Wigwam Resort Red Course (that would be 94 times I struck the ball during 18-holes of golf). After playing five full rounds at the same course over the past three years, the scores have been 94, 90, 95, 92 and 93.
In April of this year at Pueblo El Mirage Golf Course, a wonderful little course nestled inside a retirement community, the scorecard read a 91. April of last year? It was 93. Spring of 2023? A 92.
Little to no difference in three years.
That all begs the question(s): Do I accept this reality and live out my days enjoying the game I love but with no improvements? Or should I let the hypercompetitive eh-hole in me take the lead and go scorched earth until I consistently break 85? The latter is likely and I am sure you will all hear about it.
Though I should add that recently I played with a few retirees in Sun City (Arizona) and had a wonderful time. I played poorly but the time on-course and afterwards watching a bit of the Cardinals game in the clubhouse helped make up for the added time spent in the rough searching for my balls (uh, huh-huh).
