Baby Steps

When I finally began the process of learning to play golf, I found myself being incredibly impatient. I guess I sort of thought that I would learn how to swing, hit a few buckets at the range, and hit the tee box. I didn't expect to be Paula Creamer or anything, but how long is it supposed to take before you can say "I am a golfer?!?!" So very frustrating... After a couple of months (yes months) of hitting balls I was finally ready to play a round. The driving range with a lovely little 9-hole par 3 course is about two minutes from my house (total score). At this point I hadn't really done anything besides hit my 9 iron, but that was perfectly fine to use for almost every shot. I played from the forward tee's which made the already short holes seem like munchkin land. This was actually good because although I was chomping at the bit to play, I was completely freaked out!

I made it through and thankfully we didn't keep score (but I did birdie the 9th hole, which was a total fluke). At that point I didn't have any real expectations in terms of skill, I just wanted to be part of the club. My sweetie and I have been playing that little course for about a year and a half now. I have definitely improved, but again... I am not exactly a threat to Paula Creamer. We had also added a couple of other courses to my repertoire, but I just felt like I was sort of a pretend golfer... and that totally bummed me out.

I started harping on the bf about playing "big girl golf" a year or so into it. Bless this man for his patience! There was definitely a "whine" factor involved. He decided that I could play a full 18 with par 4's and 5's as soon as I shot a 36 at this little course. Eh ehm... easier said than done (damned putter). I have come pretty close, but sadly, no cigar. To make matters worse, every single time we played I would feel this overwhelming pressure to shoot the damned 36. Honestly, this started taking some fun out of it for me, and ya know... nothing wreaks havoc on your confidence like hearing "you're not good enough". Of course no one said these words, but I felt like I was this remedial golfer and assumed that I was the only person on the planet who loved this game as much as I did, yet couldn't graduate to big girl golf. In my head all I could hear was "you suck". Sigh...

I think that perhaps this was a little bit evident because one Saturday morning, we were heading out to play. I assumed we were playing at our second most frequented 9 hole and sat back for the short ride. Well, after yelling at my bf because "you missed the exit! Now we have to go across the Golden Gate Bridge!" I realized that he had a little something up his sleeve. We drove north for more than an hour and finally reached our destination. The course is called Northwood and although it is 9 holes it does have par 4's and 5's. It also happens to be in the top 3, 9 hole courses in the country and after spending the day walking down the fairway surrounded by redwoods I could see why. Oh... and we played 2 rounds which means: Yahtzee! Big girl golf!!

Patience is a virtue I've yet to find within, but if anything is going to drag it out of me, it is definitely this little game we call golf.