26 years!

I'll be damned if Man can invent a sport as challenging, as intrinsically infallable, and as rewarding as the game of golf! Robin Williams summed it up best in a comedic diatribe, but even though I've been playing for 26 years I still haven't come close to tiring nor mastering this little passion of mine.

Let's face it, I run a golf course, have been solely responsible for my current acreage for 4.5 years now, and during the season the last thing I want to do is play my golf course. It's an over-extended mindset to play your own golf course. Being your own worst critic, it becomes work. You see something you missed during the day, something you'll take care of first thing in the morning, something to add to the "to do" list, it gets really annoying...really fast! I barely make it through two holes before my mind has shifted from shot making into task making. I love the challenge of golf, and I love the challenge of managing a golf course, I just hate doing both at the same time...and it shows.

In college and as an Assistant Superintendent I played golf at least 6 days a week, and it showed. Not to toot my own horn, but I was good; a scratch golfer for 7 years. I never strived to achieve wealth via professional golf, I knew the stats, I knew the rigorous schedule, and frankly, I'd rather be competing amongst friends for a few bucks rather than nitpicking over every shot in preparation for the next day's match. I played competitive golf in high school and enjoyed the hell out of it. There wasn't much to impede the thought process back in those days. I've moved on, I'm past the competiveness, it has now morphed into an internal struggle that now dictates my practice regime.

I took a HUGE step for nastalgia's sake today, took a half day at work, convinced two of my good friends to do the same and went back to my old stomping grounds Mill Quarter Golf Course in Powhatan, VA and did what I had done on so many days for so many years growing up and I walked 18 holes, carrying my own bag, and more or less focused on enjoying the game instead of getting frustrated with my rustiness. This sounds so common, but about 80% of the last 100 rounds of golf I've played have been done so with a cart, a cooler full of ice cold beverages (smuggled or purchased on-site), and a schedule. Not so today, just the opposite.

I'll just add a little footnote here: Most golf courses average around 7,200 yards in playing length (not including distance from green to the next to tee that ='s approximatel 4.5 miles. A typical golf bag, clubs, balls, etc. weigh in between 30-45 lbs...it's a great workout!)

I'm hoping my New Year's Resolution will finally come to fruition: (Speaking to myself of course) Get back to enjoying the game you love, not the game you've become accustomed to playing.

I didn't play well today, I didn't expect to, I haven't expected myself to play well in almost 4 years, sometimes I do, and I really enjoy those days, but that's golf. I hit enough shots today that make me want to try to recreate them. I hit enough shots today that make me want to try and avoid them. Idle post-round talk was, "we need to do this more often" but I left with a sense of accomplishment and a definite sense of invigoration.

My course is closed until April 1, 2009. I'll play it before we open, as I typically do, to get the "Member's View" about a week before to polish up on things we might not have noticed. My goal this year is to play my course at least twice a week, I want to play at least 4-5 times a week, but that includes other courses. I really think it will help my game and my career. It's tough to make yourself play golf at your course in the middle of a self-mandated 65 hour week, but I think it's more than an often overlooked opportunity. I've got friends in the industry who suffer from the same frustrations that I have, and with a little cajoling, they'll become my other 2 rounds per week.

Golf is free to me and my industry peers...it's a "good ole boys" club, you pay your dues, you give free golf, you get free golf. If I play a public course, I generally pay the greens fee out of respect for their revenue stream, I generally don't announce my position in these cases, I just pay like every other patron. It's not the cost of the game that is keeping me from playing, it's the mental stuff that clouds the opportunity.

I'll delve into my absolute love of agronomy (and all Life Sciences for that matter) in subsequent posts, this one is to serve one purpose, and one purpose only...Tee it up!