Golf.  I love it, I hate it. It can make my life better or, it can be a dagger to my heart.  When I am playing well (for me) a four hour round seems like it took about an hour and a half.  When I am playing poorly (which is most of the time), it seems as though a four round just took 6 hours. I have quit the game at least 50 times, maybe a 100 times.  I have hit range balls until my hands bled. I have tried to smile when almost everyone who sees me swing belittles me, my swing, and my ancestors. While I am smiling on the outside, I am screaming on the inside.

I have read hundreds of instruction books, articles and tips.  I have had lessons from at least 10 different teachers.  Nothing seems to stick.  Each book and article seems to contradict each other one.

 I have asked damn near a thousand people how they start their take away or the down swing. Once I past a homeless woman in Sat Lake City who was pushing a shopping cart they held all of  her worldly possessions. I almost stopped her to ask her if she thought I should cock my wrists on the back swing at some point or just let them collapse. I have a tendency to play too stiffed wrist.  Then I overcompensate with an early wrist cock.  I have blogged before about how to start the down swing.  Not only I have I never quite figured out how to start the down swing, I also don’t know when or even if to cock my wrists on the back swing. 

So you know you are pathetic when you don’t know how to take the club away, once have completed the take away, you don’t know how to start the downswing.  I am getting to the point where I have uncertainty as to which pair of golf shoes to wear for any particular round of golf and once I have selected a pair, then which shoe goes on which foot.

Years ago, I didn’t think about anything when I swung the club.  I had an ugly swing but I just did it and my handicap got down to a 10.  I can live with a 10.  But over the last 10 years, I have had some back problems the last few years and I have lost flexibility. Over Christmas I played 5 or 6 rounds of golf.  For me I played pretty well and my handicap dropped from a 16 to a 14. I thought I had it figured out.  However, I returned to Utah after Christmas and did not play golf for about 10 days.  When I played again in Palm Desert over the second weekend in January, I was horrible. Whatever I had been doing over Christmas was no longer in my brain or my muscle memory.  When I returned to Utah I looked for a bag lady with whom to discuss the mechanics of the golf swing.  Unfortunately I did not see one with which to discuss this matter.

I need to follow the advice included in the book Golf in the Kingdom: 

"Oh, golf is for smellin' heather & cut grass & walkin' fast across the countryside & feelin' the wind & watchin' the sun go down & seein' yer friends hit good shots & hittin' some yerself. It's love & it's feelin' the splendor o' this good world."

I am ready to play again.