Little White Dimpled Ball

Quote of the day:
“Other than my acne, my need to work for a living would be the first thing I’d remove from my life.”
--Timothy “Speed” Levitch

Last Thursday I was idly surfing through a few TV channels and came upon the Masters golf tournament. I was taken by the beauty of the Augusta golf course and watched for a few minutes.

Then I saw that Tiger Woods was playing, so I watched him make a few shots. Then I noticed how good some of the other golfers were. Next thing I knew, I had seen the whole first round, and Merrie had gotten involved, too.

I wondered when the tournament would continue on Friday, so I checked the listings. Why not check it out when it comes on, I asked myself. I did.

You know, I tuned in again on Saturday and Sunday. I watched the whole Masters tournament. Why am I bringing this up? It’s the first time I’ve watched a golf tournament. I don’t play non-miniature golf. And I always thought people who watched this stuff had some sort of maladjustment.

The thing is, there was something affirming and restful about the Masters. Maybe the reason was that the visuals were extraordinary, Or maybe it was that golfers “compete” against themselves and the course, and not each other. It is extremely difficult to hit that little white ball 200 yards with precision. It’s almost as hard to hit it 2 yards across an unpredictable green.

As many folks have written over the years, the game of golf teaches us a variety of things. It’s clearly 95% a mind game. And one thing I noticed is that younger golfers tend to be better at long shots and older golfers tend to be better putters.