As most working class, inner-city black youth, my sports of choice were basketball, football and baseball. In my early 20's I was fortunate to be introduced to the game of golf by a group of friends that had not too long picked up the game themselves. It didn't take long for me to become completely in love with the game (my wife sometimes refers to golf as my 'other woman'). A lot of my childhood friends scoffed and snickered when they heard that I was a 'golfer'..
What's wrong with you? What are you doing playing that 'white' man's game?
Golf?! Golf ain't no SPORT! The ball is just sitting there..all you have to do is hit it, get back in your cart and drive off!
I took all of this chiding in stride..I was used to doing things that strayed from my peer group, so the ribbing didn't bother me at all. Instead, I chose to try and recruit more of my friends into the game..
Yeah, I know you THINK golf isn't a sport, but let me see you lug a bag around for 18 holes and see how your body feels. Its not an aerobic activity, but you have to stay in shape if you want to perform at your peak level. You don't need to round up 9 other guys to play golf, its an outside activity and its a wonderful venue to network. And best of all..its something that you can play with your grandparents and grandchildren and still have a competitive game.
As a former high school baseball player, I figured that hitting a golf ball couldn't be nearly as hard as hitting a 90 mph fastball...boy, was I wrong. My first golf experience was at a municipal golf course in Houston, Texas...Hermann Park. I had purchased a set of clubs from K-Mart, watched Jack Nicklaus's videotape, 'Golf My Way' and I figured I was ready to set the golf world on fire as the newest phenom. While we were warming up on the driving range, I quickly realized that golf is a lot harder than it seems to the observer. There I was trying to hit a 3-wood in my stall, but instead of going out toward my target, the balls were careening directly down the stall line hitting other patrons on the driving range. After I had shanked about 10 balls in a row like this, my mentor and childhood buddy exclaimed, 'At least you're consistent'.
Although I was unable to record a score (ran out of balls on the 16th hole) that day, I knew that I was hooked. Every since then I've spent endless hours on the driving range, damaging furniture in the house by practicing my swing in a mirror and I've used pretty much every curse word that I know when that d'mned little white ball just won't do what I want it to do. All it takes is that one pure contact on the ball to make you keep coming back for more. I was fortunate to have a group of friends on compatible portions of the golf learning curve as I, to keep me challenged and inspired to get better.
My first golf books were Ben Hogan's Five Fundamentals of the Modern Golf Swing and Harvey Pennick's Little Red Book. I would definitely advise any beginning golfer to read those 2 books, take the time to find a qualified PGA golf instructor to guide you along, and above all else..have fun. My days of filling the lane on a 3 on 2 fast break are coming to a close..but my time out on the golf course hustling my buddies in our Tuesday afternoon skins game are just beginning. Besides...how many retirees do YOU know that still play basketball?
