Tiger Woods Antics, Animated!

I don't normally comment much on the happenings in the world of professional golf.  Don't get me wrong I love to play golf and I love to watch a professional golfing event when I get the chance.  I especially enjoyed watching Darren Clarke win the British Open (I refuse to call it "The Open") recently.  Its just that the way I play the game and what they do on television are two totally different things to me.  I came across this animated video depicting Tiger Woods' recent struggles and I thought I would share it since it made me laugh.  I believe it is narrated in Japanese but it does have english subtitles.

Golf as therapy

You would think it would be frustrating.  Shanking balls into the woods, visiting every bunker and water hazard on the course, sending chunks of grass farther than my ball travels.  You would think it would be torture, but it’s actually a sort of therapy, as far as I am concerned.  I have been missing from this blog for the last little while dealing with the loss of a close family member.  While she has been on my mind constantly since she passed, the only times that I have felt at peace and relaxed is the couple times I have been able to get out on the course in the last few weeks.  There is just something about being out in nature, drinking beer with your friends and failing at a nearly impossible feat that just helps you to take your mind off of things.  The weather doesn’t have to be great and by the end of the round the beers don’t even have to be cold. All you need is a friend or two, your clubs, and in my case at least 10 golf balls.  Even if you are playing solo, or if you skip the beverages, you can still get a lot of benefit from golfing even if you do it badly. 

Golf has been called, and I’m paraphrasing, “Masochism outdoors” and at times I can see why.  But, as was said by the Irish author Robert Wilson Lynd, “It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place this world is when one is playing golf”. 

Maybe it is the friends, maybe it is the nature, maybe it is the self abuse and surely it is partly because of the beer, but golfing is the best form of therapy I have come across.  Both golf and life can be cruel, but in both cases you have to play it as it lies.

Double Snowman????

I have a daughter who is almost 4 years old and I live in Michigan.  I have made quite a few snowmen in the winter, and I have been known to make snowmen all summer long on the golf course.  Golfer Kevin Na did his best hack golfer impression and posted a double-snowman 16 on a par 4 at the Valero Texas Open.  I can honestly say that I have never carded more than a 10 on any hole that I have played.  I can also honestly say that I have never played with PGA officials assessing me penalty strokes and not allowing me to just give up after several attempts to get out of the woods and just write down a 10 on the card.  If I have a hole going that bad, I follow proper hack golfer etiquette and just pick it up to show mercy on those golfing behind me.

Ouch.