Four

This weekend holds the wedding of my good friend Justin Doty. He has asked me to be one of his groomsmen, and I am very excited for that opportunity and for all of the festivities ahead. Rehearsals and rehearsal dinners are always a lot of fun, I can’t wait to see some of my old friends, we are going golfing Saturday morning, and of course the wedding and reception.

These activities are filling up my free time this week mighty quick. Liz’s car is in the shop and we will have to pick that up, pick up a tux, a hockey game, bible study, Thursday is Jubilee day in Mechanicsburg, Friday is the rehearsal, and somewhere in there I need to learn how to golf again. Not to mention Liz and I only have 3 episodes remaining of West Wing, which clearly takes precedence to all the aforementioned events.

To be honest, I am more concerned about picking up a golf club this weekend than anything else. I know that is silly because no one cares, and they guys I am playing with aren’t that good either, but I still want to do well. If you don’t golf regularly, than you may be unaware that golf is one of the hardest activities to pick up again when you haven’t played in a while. It is frustrating to no end when you can’t properly hit a ball resting sedentary on the ground, especially when you could at one time do it with ease.

There was a time that I counted myself good at golf. Between the ages of 18 – 20, I could strike a ball pretty well and turned in scores that would make other amateur players fairly jealous. Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to play 3 – 4 times a year for the past 3 years, and I have completely lost my swing. For example, every year my family has a huge (70-80 person) golf tournament. Everyone gets split up into teams of 4 with each team having an A, B, C, and D player. I have been an A player since I was 19. When I was 21, I led a team to first place with a score of -4. At the age of 22, I led a team to dead last with a record losing score of +12. There were a number of other factors that played into those scores, but the bottom line is, I am no longer a good golfer.

That family tournament is less than 3 weeks away and this weekend will surely be the only round I play between now and then. Like I said, I need to learn how to golf again. I hope to get to a driving range at least sometime this week to get some practice in. I don’t think that will do the trick, but at least it will be something. My only other solution is to watch the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” Matt Damon learns from Will Smith how to find his swing and “see the field.” I’m going to focus on the field and take a few practice shots, and I’m bound to be at the top of my game by Saturday.


… Or this could get ugly.