I golfed today for the first time since I’d broken my arm. I had to be half talked in to going to the very pleasant, pretty, and laid back Ponderosa Golf Course in Truckee. Not without some trepidation did I approach the first tee, both because it had been well over a year and a half since I’d golfed and, more importantly, because I feared screwing up my arm if I hit the ball fat.
So I stood over the ball on the first tee with a four iron and said to myself, “Hold the club loosely, and swing very, very easy, just move the ball down the fairway.” And of course, what followed was an absolutely gorgeous shot, long and dead center of the fairway. While I had my moments of ugliness (mostly around the greens), my swing was, for the most part, well above average almost the whole day. They say to swing easy, and I always tried to do that, but today I had a more personal reason for following that advice. So while I wouldn’t recommend shattering an ulna just to improve your golf swing, it worked well for me.
I played with Suzie, Paul, and my son Will, who was a delight to be with, keeping his temper in check notwithstanding some horrible shots (not an easy thing to do). Some pictures of the day:
Will Looking in Good Form
Suzie Has Nice Form but Hits the Tree
By the way, click on the photo above, then view the large or original size, and see if you can see the ball. Answer is here.
Will and Paul on the Tee at the Ninth Hole
That’s right, no pictures of me, just as I planned it. There are several more on my Flickr site, including another one of Suzie showing fine form.
I’d forgotten how fun it was to play, especially on a gorgeous day, on a pretty course, with no one holding you up and no one pressing you from behind.
There’s only one downside to all this … any hope of getting additional handicap strokes from Boyd are now gone. On the other hand, if I can keep swinging easy, maybe I won’t need them.
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