Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Golfing

As far as I'm concerned, golf is the ultimate exercise in futility.




For example, if a score of "par" is supposed to be "average", why is it that you have to practically be a professional to achieve that score over the course of 18 holes? And sometimes even the pros can't shoot par!

This is on my mind because I played golf for the first time in a few years last Saturday. Granted, it was a four man scramble, so I can only guess what my score had been playing solo (120?). But even if I were to play regularly and take lessons, the chance that I would ever be able to shoot par for a round of golf in my life would be roughly equal to the chances of my picture being on the cover of a body building magazine.

Right before I quit playing altogether a few years ago, I had adjusted my perception of "average". Double par had become my new par. If par on a hole was 3, I expected to be able to put it in within 6 strokes. If par was 4, I'd be happy with an 8.

So, on Saturday, my expectations were low. If I hit the ball straight, I was happy. It didn't matter if it went 10 yards or 250 yards. Straight = Good.

Or, if I hit the ball long, I was happy. Whether it was straight or not, I could celebrate distance.

If no one was hurt when my ball came to rest, it was a successful shot.

And, finally, if I could find my ball after my stroke, I was happy.

Hey, laugh all you want. All I know is that I was happy more often than not, and my team won the scramble. Never mind that they only used about 3 or 4 of my shots...

6 comments:

Mike Morton said...

HEY... but at least they used some of your shots! :-)

Not to rain on your parade... I shot an 84 at Fred Couples place today... Kelly Plantation. It was a very nice course and I had a lot of fun.

M

John said...

I have played twice in the last week and a half. I shot an 80 (+9) at South Lakes (from the yellow tees--2nd furthest back) and a 91 (+19) playing the tips (back tees) at LaFortune. I've shot even par once at Woodbine, which was actually a drag because i was like 2-under for most of the round before dropping to even with a bogey on 18 (Terry can verify that by the way).

Also, technically par is what a 'scratch' golfer should be able to do on any given hole, and that is assuming that the USGA or PGA of America hasn't come in and made the condition ten times harder to score on then normal. For most of us that means that realistically our 'par' could be one or two shots higher than what is on the scorecard.

John said...

Also--just curious--what course was the scramble at?

Shane Coffman said...

We played in Kingston, Oklahoma at Lake Texhoma.

So, I've always wondered what exactly a "scratch" golfer was. Can you explain?

Toni Burns said...

Shane, Kim Rush wrote and told me that you were at Memorial!! I was glad to hear about you. She said that she has heard only good things about you. Do you know that Jason is my twin sisters Brother in law? She just moved to Broken Arrow a few weeks ago - they close on a house today. I am sure that we will run into eachother since I will now be visiting Tulsa. Are you still in contact with anyone from OSU? Have you heard from Wes? What is he up to? Glad to make contact with you - Toni

Shane Coffman said...

So great to hear from you, Toni! I saw your picture on Tim's bog a couple of days ago and sent him an e-mail. Sounds like word made it around.

I'm a little slow, so I hadn't made the connection about Jessica yet even though they've been coming to Memorial the past couple of weeks...d'oh!

Yes, I've been in contact with Wes. He's in the Atlanta area with Oksana. I'll let him tell you more - he stops by here on occasion so I'm sure he'll read this soon.

Congrats on a husband, 3 kids, and a great mission team with Tim and Kim. Sounds like you have been blessed greatly!

(Tim can give you my e-mail address so we can talk further "off the board")