On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I get my lazy college junior butt out of bed at 9am (usually after going to bed at 2am), try to look respectable, put on some pearls, and drive down to Taconic Golf Club, which is the golf course owned by Williams, for golf lessons.
I take these lessons through Williams, and so they're free and satisfy one of our four physical activity credits (I know. Why am I suddenly back in high school?) It's actually a really great deal because to take lessons with any of these guys individually, it'd be like upwards of $100 a session.
So anyways, I'm taking these lessons because L. is a pretty good golfer (he was captain of his high school golf team), and I'd like to be able to do this with him since golfing is a pretty big time-suck. 5 hours to play? I can't think of the last activity I spent 5 hours doing. Maybe hiking, which L. would never do with me. Thus, I am forced to meet him in the middle. Or, on the green, I suppose.
I know what you're thinking. Men learn golf so that they have an activity that their girlfriends/wives don't know how to do, thus they have an escape mechanism when said girlfriends/wives drive them nuts. Well, phooey, says I. I have two responses to this: 1. L. genuinely wants me to learn so that we can play together, and 2. I never drive him nuts. (Okay, maybe like, once a month, I will rile him up to the point where I might be able to catch the glimpse of a frown, maybe. But that's it.)
Plus, I really want to learn. C.'s dad has said that one of his biggest regrets in life is that he never learned to golf better, because he misses out on a lot of business opportunities when he can't go on the outings. I'm not sure if English Literature professors go out golfing with the deans or President of the schools at which they teach, but if they do, I'm gonna be a damn good golfer by then!
So, I think I've been doing alright. We've had three lessons: putting, chipping, and pitching. Putting was a breeze because I'm only, like, the best mini-golfer ever. Chipping wasn't bad either because it's basically like putting, but if you're really angry and want to whack the crap out of the ball. Pitching was very, very tricky. My hands are still achy as I type this from the blisters I got, and that was only an hour's practicing. How does L. do it for 5 hours?!? Anyway, pitching with the wedge is kind of exciting because when you thwack the ball a satisfying chunk of green flies up with your ball, making the whole thing pretty cool. I think I probably chopped up more of the green than I was supposed to, but at least for me it seemed like the more green you take up, the nicer arch your ball has.
I bet I looked just like that. (Lie.) So anyway, after practicing the pitch shot Drew, our instructor, decided we were going to simulate playing a hole. Side note: Drew is amazing. Imagine Vince Vaughn teaching you to play golf, but also asking you how your weekend was and making bad golf jokes. Today's: Drew: Why do golf professionals always tell you to keep your head down? Me: Why? Drew: So you can't see them laughing.
=( Thanks, Drew.
Anyway, we simulate playing a hole. I'd imagine it was a par 3; we just started about 50 yards up (we haven't practiced driving yet). I did it in four. I WOULD have done it in three, but I used my 6 iron for my first shot rather than my wedge. (That's a bad thing.) Totally made up for it in my short game though because, like I said, I am legendary at putting.
Thursday we start working on driving. I think I've got some Tiger in me. Let's find out!
[Images from Links Magazine, Top 100 Golf Courses, Golf Today]
I take these lessons through Williams, and so they're free and satisfy one of our four physical activity credits (I know. Why am I suddenly back in high school?) It's actually a really great deal because to take lessons with any of these guys individually, it'd be like upwards of $100 a session.So anyways, I'm taking these lessons because L. is a pretty good golfer (he was captain of his high school golf team), and I'd like to be able to do this with him since golfing is a pretty big time-suck. 5 hours to play? I can't think of the last activity I spent 5 hours doing. Maybe hiking, which L. would never do with me. Thus, I am forced to meet him in the middle. Or, on the green, I suppose.
I know what you're thinking. Men learn golf so that they have an activity that their girlfriends/wives don't know how to do, thus they have an escape mechanism when said girlfriends/wives drive them nuts. Well, phooey, says I. I have two responses to this: 1. L. genuinely wants me to learn so that we can play together, and 2. I never drive him nuts. (Okay, maybe like, once a month, I will rile him up to the point where I might be able to catch the glimpse of a frown, maybe. But that's it.)Plus, I really want to learn. C.'s dad has said that one of his biggest regrets in life is that he never learned to golf better, because he misses out on a lot of business opportunities when he can't go on the outings. I'm not sure if English Literature professors go out golfing with the deans or President of the schools at which they teach, but if they do, I'm gonna be a damn good golfer by then!
So, I think I've been doing alright. We've had three lessons: putting, chipping, and pitching. Putting was a breeze because I'm only, like, the best mini-golfer ever. Chipping wasn't bad either because it's basically like putting, but if you're really angry and want to whack the crap out of the ball. Pitching was very, very tricky. My hands are still achy as I type this from the blisters I got, and that was only an hour's practicing. How does L. do it for 5 hours?!? Anyway, pitching with the wedge is kind of exciting because when you thwack the ball a satisfying chunk of green flies up with your ball, making the whole thing pretty cool. I think I probably chopped up more of the green than I was supposed to, but at least for me it seemed like the more green you take up, the nicer arch your ball has.
I bet I looked just like that. (Lie.) So anyway, after practicing the pitch shot Drew, our instructor, decided we were going to simulate playing a hole. Side note: Drew is amazing. Imagine Vince Vaughn teaching you to play golf, but also asking you how your weekend was and making bad golf jokes. Today's: Drew: Why do golf professionals always tell you to keep your head down? Me: Why? Drew: So you can't see them laughing.
=( Thanks, Drew.
Anyway, we simulate playing a hole. I'd imagine it was a par 3; we just started about 50 yards up (we haven't practiced driving yet). I did it in four. I WOULD have done it in three, but I used my 6 iron for my first shot rather than my wedge. (That's a bad thing.) Totally made up for it in my short game though because, like I said, I am legendary at putting.
Thursday we start working on driving. I think I've got some Tiger in me. Let's find out!
[Images from Links Magazine, Top 100 Golf Courses, Golf Today]
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