By Scott Thompson
Watch out! Heavy title leading to major self-analysis upcoming! Not really. I just found some fun quotes in a book and wanted to comment on them. Remember, the key to enjoying this game is to laugh at yourself and with your friends as much as possible. This game is brutally honest in its ability to expose the hidden parts of our inner workings. Keep your golf realities realistic! Let’s get started:
“Baseball reveals character, golf exposes it” -Baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks
Different sports draw out different responses lurking deep in one’s soul. There is nothing like golf to test how well you think you know yourself.
"Gimme: an agreement between two players who can’t putt”-Jim Bishop
Now, at last, we are turning over some real ancient burial plots while digging for personal truths. How short or long is an allowable gimme? In days gone by it used to be the inside of a putter length minus the grip. Now that can be almost 4 feet with the new long ones. Again, this is a massive grey area subject to a group decision. Or as my group of golfing friends say, it has to fall inside our ‘circle of friendship’. Hmmmmmm, the longer the friendship, the bigger the circle? A justifiable injustice?
“The score a player reports on any hole should always be regarded as his opening offer”-Thomas Mulligan
Both this quote and the name of the author are worthy of comment. Any man with this name was either born to play golf or be a nasty PGA tour official. All out or all in. With that name you have to either hold up the absolute highest standard of honor in the game or you have to allow a diverse interpretation of all the rules. The quote itself touches on one of the true heartbeats of the game. Negotiations among playing partners or as I call it ‘Honor among Thieves.’ Don’t get me wrong, I am not a hardliner, I just love what this game exposes in me before, during and after. Before: how bad do I want to win? During: how much do I want to bump a poor lie? And after: what score should I really post?
Now please relax and enjoy a good chuckle at my expense. My thoughts are mostly done tongue-in-cheek, or as I sometimes see myself, foot-in-mouth. I’ve got one more quote that will not only bring this ramble to a close, for it holds the answer to solving all the mysteries of the golf universe. Finally, the revealing of the ultimate golf truth……
“If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.”
This amazing truth was penned by no other that our new immortal friend, Sir Thomas Mulligan. It seems fitting to give him the last word……..
Remember to have a chuckle over this as you re-tee……..again.
Scotty
2 comments:
Haha! I enjoyed this a lot, even though I do not play golf. Never thought about the self-scoring aspect of golf. It really does depend on a player's integrity and self-discipline doesn't it? That makes me think it must be a pretty cool crowd that would choose such a sport.
Well...I don't like to talk about it...and we call penalties on ourselves, imagine that.
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