Golf School UK

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A bit lengthy but something every golfer should read and follow. "As received from an old Commanding Officer who is now touching 90. Thought it might be of interest to those of us who enjoy this game:
*The Privilege of Playing Golf !*
_Written by a former golfer who can no longer play, but who has reflected on his years in golf and would like the rest of us to think about how we approach the game._ Powerful stuff.
Dear Younger Me:
I can’t play golf anymore. I tried to swing the club the other day, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. _The best I can do now is sometimes take walks on the course, but my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be so I don’t see much_. I have a lot of time to sit and think now, and I often think about the game.
It was my favorite game. I played most of my adult life. _Thousands of rounds, thousands of hours practicing._ As I look back, I guess I had a pretty good time at it. But now that I can’t do it anymore, *I wish I had done it differently.!*
It’s funny, but with all the time I spent playing golf, I never thought I was a real golfer. I never felt good enough to really belong out there. It doesn’t make much sense, since I scored better than average and a lot of people envied my game, but I always felt that if I was just a little better or a little more consistent, then I’d feel really good. I’d be satisfied with my game. But I never was. It was always "One of these days I’ll get it" or "One day I’ll get there" and now here I am. I can’t play anymore, and I never got there.
I met a whole lot of different people out on the course. That was one of the best things about the game. But aside from my regular partners and a few others, I don’t feel like I got to know many of those people very well. I know they didn’t really get to know me. At times they probably didn’t want to. I was pretty occupied with my own game most of the time and didn’t have much time for anyone else, especially if I wasn’t playing well.
So why am I writing you this letter anyway, just to complain? Not really. Like I said, my golfing experience wasn’t that bad. But it could have been so much better, and I see that so clearly now. I want to tell you, so you can learn from it. I don’t want you getting to my age and feeling the same regrets I’m feeling now.
I wish, I wish. Sad words, I suppose, but necessary. I wish I could have played the game with more joy, more freedom. I was always so concerned with "doing it right" that I never seemed to be able to enjoy just doing it at all. I was so hard on myself, never satisfied, always expecting more. Who was I trying to please? Certainly not myself, because I never did. If there were people whose opinions were important enough to justify all that self-criticism, I never met them.
_I wish I could have been a better playing partner._ I wasn’t a bad person to be with, really, but I wish I had been friendlier and gotten to know people better. I _*wish I could have laughed and joked more and given people more encouragement.*_ I probably would have gotten more from them, and I would have loved that. There were a few bad apples over the years, but most of _the people I played with were friendly, polite, and sincere_. They really just wanted to make friends and have a good time. *I wish I could have made more friends and had a better time.!*
I’m inside a lot now and I miss the beauty of the outdoors. For years when I was golfing I walked through some of the most beautiful places on earth, and yet I don’t feel I really saw them. Beautiful landscapes, trees, flowers, animals, the sky, and the ocean – *how could I have missed so much?* What was I thinking of that was so important – *my grip, my back swing, my stance? Sure, I needed to think about those* _*sometimes*_, but so often as to be oblivious to so much beauty?
_*And all the green – the wonderful, deep, lush color of green!*_ My eyes are starting to fail. I wish I had used them better so I would have more vivid memories now.
So what is it that I’m trying to say? I played the type of game that I thought I should play, to please the type of people that I thought I should please. But it didn’t work. My game was mine to play, but I gave it away.
It’s a wonderful game. Please, don’t lose yours. Play a game that you want to play. Play a game that gives you joy and satisfaction and makes you a better person to your family and friends. Play with enthusiasm, play with freedom. Appreciate the beauty of nature and the people around you. Realize how lucky you are to be able to do it. _All too soon your time will be up, and you won’t be able to play anymore_. _*Play a game that enriches your life.*_
Best wishes . . . *don't waste a minute of golf . . .* someday it will be gone!

What if you were playing in the club championship tournament finals and the match was halved at the end of 17 holes. You had the honor and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin. Your opponent then hits his ball, lofting it deep into the woods to the right of the fairway. Being the golfing gentleman that you are, you help your opponent look for his ball. Just before the permitted five-minute search period ends, your opponent says, “Go ahead and hit your second shot and if I don’t find it in time, I’ll concede the match.” You hit your ball, landing it on the green, stopping about ten feet from the pin. About the time your ball comes to rest, you hear your opponent exclaim from deep in the woods, “I found it!” The second sound you hear is a click, the sound of a club striking a ball and the ball comes sailing out of the woods and lands on the green, stopping no more than six inches from the hole. Now here is the ethical dilemma: Do you pull the cheating bastard’s ball out of your pocket and confront him with it or do you keep your mouth shut?

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Big shout out to my newest top fans! 💎 Vicky Faulkner, Kevin John O'Leary, Richard Mills, Phillip Floyd, Richard Engler, Bill James, Barbara Miller, Dan Schneider, Mark Purc, Kevin Thrasher, Antony Hollis, Trevor White, Nandakumar Natarajan, Torkild Petersen, Bernie O'Rourke, Joyce Crowther, Helen Bithell, Alfred J. Rochefort, Chris Squires, David Sipich Sr., Richard Marino, Walt Guenther, Gus Garcia, Paul Muir, Brian Paddington, Hans Shulz, Tom Miller, Peter Hearne, Alex Fernandez, Ray Turvey, Randy Sparks, David Reid, Issam Bahlawan, William Tyson, Doug Helm, Harold Bemrose, Bobby Burdette

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