There. I’ve admitted it. I’ve confessed all. I’ve come out.
It all started with Groupon.
There was this offer for golf lessons at The Players Golf Club at Codrington, near Bristol.
As someone who never showed more than a passing interest in playing the game, I find myself astonished to find myself writing this.
I played the game now and then when I was younger, usually at the Pitch and Putt course at Ashton Court in Bristol, but I was very poor. One good shot per round was usually as good as it got. Sometimes it wasn’t even that good.
But along came Groupon.
At this time, I owned no clubs and had little intention of buying any.
I’d have the lessons and the bug would dissipate before it infected me all over.
No-one, I decided, would be able to teach me how to strike the ball.
Then I met someone I shall refer to only as Sam Hughes (because that’s his name). He is a proper golf pro, a coach. And, as I discovered, a brilliant one.
In the spring of 2012, I went for my lessons.
To my great surprise, my game needed only minor tweaks.
My grip was all wrong, my stance was all over the place, most parts of me moved as I went to strike the ball (assuming I managed to hit it at all), I was usually facing the wrong way, the ball was in the wrong place in front of me.
But apart from these minor issues, I had the classic action.
And so Sam, who was plainly invested with the patience of Job (and possibly that of someone who actually existed too), started to examine the way I played the game.
Worse still, he took video footage of the way I struck the ball.
He had plenty to work on.
I was playing by now on a Par Three course at Thornbury, north of Bristol.
My first round was a less than glorious 94 but the more I played, and more significantly, the more I listened to Sam, the scores began to get lower.
I broke 90 the following week and before long I was breaking 80. 80, for goodness sake!
I set myself a target. By the end of my first year of playing golf – which would be by 25 May 2013 – I would break 70.
My partner told me not to set myself too hard a target otherwise I might find myself disappointed but I began to think that a sub-70 round was attainable. If only I could hit the ball in the right direction for a full round.
I played irregularly to start with and carried on with scores in the 90s and 80s. Then some in the 70s as Sam’s teachings began to pay dividends.
Then, 10 months early on 24 July 2012, I broke 70.
I reverted to type in the weeks that followed, hitting scores in the 80s and 90s with monotonously regularity, but I felt I was improving.
My bad scores were usually caused by implosions at individual holes and lost balls.
Once I lost my mojo, my game was not resilient enough and I’d fall apart.
On 20 September, the impossible happened.
I struck the ball high into space (well almost) at the 113 yard 15th and the ball swooped onto the green, bouncing high and then disappearing. I assumed it had cleared the green and gone into the woods beyond. Just my luck.
I searched the surrounding areas to no avail. Where was my bloody ball?
I was about to play a drop – penalty – shot when I had a thought. “It couldn’t be, could it?”
I walked to the flag and my god it could. I had scored a hole in one.
By now, I was having further lessons with Sam and my scores were consistently below 80 and often below 70. Somehow it didn’t feel like it, but I had knocked at least 20 shots, often more, from my early rounds.
On New Year’s Day 2013, my friend Mark and I decided to brave the elements and play the course.
Everything I hit turned to gold and I returned a staggering 61. I would never better that.
But on 13th January 2013, I did.
I played with a guy called Bill from Filton. He was partially sighted but you will need to believe that the rest is true. He might not have seen every shot but I did.
I reached the turn (9 holes) on 32 which was a mere five over par.
How could I cock it up from here?
The answer was that I didn’t and proceeded to play the back nine in a staggering 28.
And I had a putt of around 10 feet for a 59.
So in May 2012, I was being told that I should set my sights realistically and by January 2013 I almost broke 60.
Funny old game.
The hobby had long become an addiction.
From playing once or twice a week, I took out membership on the Par and as of now – 29th April 2013 – I have played the course well in excess of 100 times.
My average round these days is 74 based on all my scores to date but I am usually much better than that.
And I’ve played on proper courses too. Only three times and occasionally with disastrous consequences, but they’ve been a real challenge.
I am having more lessons soon from Mr Hughes to see if he can help me break 100 on proper courses on a regular basis.
My game still has fundamental weaknesses in areas like driving, pitching, putting, bunker shots and just about everything else if I am being honest, but the scores from a year ago tell a story of steady improvement.
Above all, I love it.
It’s good exercise, it’s very satisfying when the ball goes where you want it to go, it sets your mind free and it’s more fun that going to the gym or running.
Whatever the weather.
