Golf is Lonely

I believe golf to be one of the loneliest sports in the world. OK, every now and again, the average Joe gets to play with a caddie and the pros have thousands of people walking behind the ropes with them in support of a good shot, but when it comes down to the crunch, that 0.0005 seconds that Craig Ray referred to in Compleat Golfer of March 2005 comes down to just one person, you. No one really cares how you hit your shot. Your opponents are more worried about their own tee shot, where it is going to go and where it went. The crowd would actually rather see you in the rough, so they are hoping that you duff it and your caddie doesn’t really care as he will carry someone else’s bag again tomorrow who can probably play better than you do. Even the best in the world, with all of the trainers, private jets, homes on 5 different courses, when it comes down to it, they are all alone. You, the ball and a club I your hand.

I got to play in a tournament for the 1^st time at the Telkom PGA Pro-Am and it was a major wake up for me. We played the Modified Stableford scoring method with the best 2 of 4 shots counting. Suddenly golf wasn’t so lonely. What you did on the course affected your team mates. If you put your ball in the drink the pressure fell onto the other three to finish off the hole well. If I put my ball a couple of inches from the hole, my putt would count and the yips had to be ignored as I was going to score the points.

My partners support carried me through the 18 holes of the Woodmead course at Country Club Johannesburg, as setup for the Championship, my 24 handicap helping the team every now and again. When I shanked one into the water, it was always, “hard luck” or “better luck next time”. Tough rules of golf were explained to me instead of being criticized for slow play, I was encouraged to take my time, work through the shot and learn from the better players.

Every now and again, I would send one off to the other fairway and golf would get lonely again but a great recovery shot would bring back to the team and all is well again. No wonder the best women golfers come out to South Africa for the World Cup. They become a team not lonely individuals fighting for a prize. If you ask them, I am sure that they will answer that the prize it nice, but being in a team and representing their country is more important to them.

Thanks to the Pro-Am, I am not so lonely anymore.