Now there’s a statement that will forever elude consensus, but the evidence seems overwhelming to me, a golfer who sucks.
Ok, not all the time, but I string together moments of brilliance and combine them with episodes of total ineptitude. I am, unfortunately, heavier on the latter. On one tee, I smack it 250 yards right down the middle. Next tee, same club, only the ball’s flight resembles a banana as it rockets into the woods. Go figure.
Tennis is a tough sport, requiring skill, quick reflexes and stamina. However, one forehand is about the same as another-the simple variety of shots is limited to a reasonable number. In golf, there are NEVER two shots exactly alike. You can play the same course a thousand times and you will never play the exact same shot. Even on the tee, you can play your ball at exactly the same place, tee it to the exact same height –BUT, the wind will be different, the weather conditions overall not the same, the moisture or lack thereof on the grass also affecting conditions.
If you’re not a golfer, you simply don’t understand. No offense!
That’s why non-golfers cannot fathom the near “worship” of Tiger Woods. Each and every player on the Tour is a phenomenal golfer, better than ANYONE we see or play with at our courses. Nevertheless, even they are astounded by how incredible Tiger is. He has already won 14 majors(17 if you count his 3 Amateur titles, which he does) 67 PGA Tour victories, just 6 behind Jack Nicklaus and 16 behind all-time tournament winner Sam Snead. There is no doubt that he will own all records and most observers already call him the greatest golfer of all time. Jack himself agrees with this.
In a game that is so hard, Tiger makes it look easy. And he makes the pressure putts when he needs to. It is often said that “golf doesn’t build character, it reveals it”
I’ll try to remember that the next time I’m hurling clubs and screaming obscenities after another errant shot. Actually, I’ve grown beyond throwing/breaking clubs-and am comfortable that I can actually become a BETTER golfer as I grow older, a quirk of the game that is not usually present in other sports. After all, it is finesse, not raw strength that determines one’s level of play. I could fit both Sergio Garcia and David Toms in one pair of my pants-and they’d still have room to invite friends over. Yet, each of these diminutive players can out-drive me by triple digits!
As it is U.S. Open week, I am into WATCHING the good guys on TV and try to pick up some tips (and no I don’t mean a tip like “take up tennis”)
Here’s a short video of some of Tiger’s best shots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gKSxUer_3I
FORE!
If you’d like my blog in your box daily, just let me know!! Tim.moore@citcomm.com
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