By Alan Watson, President GOLF+ Dothan and Panama City Beach
If golf were supposed to be fun they would have made the hole bigger! That’s my opinion. When my wife asks me why I say I’m going out to have fun on the golf course but then return home in a bad mood, she makes a good point. Golf should be fun. Should be. Like a lot of things. And yet golf is one of the most difficult sports on Planet Earth for those who have tried. Sure, most of us can’t hit a major league fastball and yes, most people aren’t strong enough or fast enough to play in the NFL or NBA but golf…well golf looks like it should be the game for the masses. No running. No ridiculous amount of strength is needed. No height requirements. Gender doesn’t matter. And so on.
Then you actually play golf and find out a few things. One – it’s very difficult to make the same consistent swing over and over leading to shots that don’t always go where we would like. Two – the hole is only 4.25 inches in diameter and I swear it looks even smaller in real life. Three – every hole on the course is different and every course is different and there are different kinds of grass and believe it or not that makes a difference and wind and weather and on and on we go. Golf is hard.
At every soccer pitch, football field, basketball court, and swimming pool the measurements for competition are clearly marked and the distances are preset and determined by the governing body of the sport and have to be the same everywhere. The Kansas City Chiefs’ home football field is 100 yards, not counting end zones, and that is exactly the same as the field in Dallas and Las Vegas and Atlanta. The base path in Major League Baseball is 90 feet between each base – at every park in America. But in golf, oh boy. In golf, every course determines their own setup and layout. Some courses have more par threes than others. Some courses use the same greens for more than one hole. Some courses have massive changes in elevation while others use deep rough to penalize you if you miss the fairway. Once you have played golf long enough to have been to at least ten golf courses you will know what I mean: golf is hard, and it’s the variances that make it so.
The inconsistency from course layout to course layout means that even if you regularly play at one course as soon as you go to another you don’t really know what to expect. The only thing that is consistent is the 4.25-inch diameter hole at the end of each hole. It is maddening, trying to be good at golf when the course is always changing. Basketball players don’t have to worry about the rim height changing from court to court or the distance to the free throw line being varied. But as golfers we have to be ready for plenty of bunkers on one course, plenty of water on the next, and a forest lining each fairway at the next. The holes’ yardages vary as well meaning that you have to use all the clubs in your bag.
Maybe what makes golf so difficult is also the thing that makes it so amazing! I personally love the variance, particularly after a bad round. The changes mean that next time I play it will most likely be different holes, different weather, and a chance to play better than I did the last time.
Golf is an unforgiving game with no consistency and that makes it a great bounce back sport mentally for us. You played well last time – see if you can match it or do better. You played poorly last time – you really want to do better. You didn’t love the course last time and you lost three balls in the water – try and play the whole next round with the same ball. You made a hole in one – well that’s not going to happen again soon.
But golf is great regardless of the course and your skill and the way you play that day. And much like the hole size that never changes, our love for the game is consistent even when everything else about it is not.
