When I step onto the green, I get the same feelings I got when I did the first time. Am I going to do well? Do I belong here? Should I be wearing funny golf t-shirts? The answers are always the same, really. I will do better than I did last time; I most certainly belong here; and I will wear whatever I darn well please. This is a game that has been dominated by upper-crust snobs for years. The common man is slowly taking it over, because that is what we do best. This is America, and exclusionism is not our way.
Those feelings of inadequacy are all the fault of the media. Film, in general, has shown the sport of golf to be highly exclusionary and aloof from the common folks. Middle class people, like my father and I, have historically not been welcomed with open arms onto private courses because of this image that media has portrayed of golf. Life imitates art, and it just became ingrained in everyone's mind that people in funny golf t-shirts shouldn't be playing the game. Well, I will go on record right now and tell you that this is most surely an untruth.
While not really prone to wearing funny golf t-shirts, Tiger Woods has been a huge inspiration for the common golfer. He was a child prodigy that came from roots that include a Vietnam war veteran golf enthusiast. He was a true golf hero for millions, and everyone knows his name and will associate him with golf forever. I had actually stopped playing since college, and it was his great triumphs that caused me to stir and desire to play again.
Golf is genuinely a game for gentlemen, despite the fact that idiots like me who wear funny golf t-shirts love the game anyway. I make jokes, but golf has taught me much about life outside of the game. It has taught me to treat others with respect, and that what they are doing in their game (or life), is just as important as anything I am doing. It has taught me to be patient with myself and to know that skill will come with much practice. Above all, golf has shown me that it is okay to have tiny balls, as long as you are swinging a long club.
I only want to say that without golf, I wouldn't be the well-adjusted sportsman I am today. My formative years spent playing golf with my father has ingrained in me some grand traditions. Some say that the origins of golf are shrouded in mystery, lost to the annals of time. The only history worth my time is the history I see when I look at old photos of me and my father on the fairway; my father grinning with his arm around my shoulders, and me smiling back with my funny gold shirt on.
Those feelings of inadequacy are all the fault of the media. Film, in general, has shown the sport of golf to be highly exclusionary and aloof from the common folks. Middle class people, like my father and I, have historically not been welcomed with open arms onto private courses because of this image that media has portrayed of golf. Life imitates art, and it just became ingrained in everyone's mind that people in funny golf t-shirts shouldn't be playing the game. Well, I will go on record right now and tell you that this is most surely an untruth.
While not really prone to wearing funny golf t-shirts, Tiger Woods has been a huge inspiration for the common golfer. He was a child prodigy that came from roots that include a Vietnam war veteran golf enthusiast. He was a true golf hero for millions, and everyone knows his name and will associate him with golf forever. I had actually stopped playing since college, and it was his great triumphs that caused me to stir and desire to play again.
Golf is genuinely a game for gentlemen, despite the fact that idiots like me who wear funny golf t-shirts love the game anyway. I make jokes, but golf has taught me much about life outside of the game. It has taught me to treat others with respect, and that what they are doing in their game (or life), is just as important as anything I am doing. It has taught me to be patient with myself and to know that skill will come with much practice. Above all, golf has shown me that it is okay to have tiny balls, as long as you are swinging a long club.
I only want to say that without golf, I wouldn't be the well-adjusted sportsman I am today. My formative years spent playing golf with my father has ingrained in me some grand traditions. Some say that the origins of golf are shrouded in mystery, lost to the annals of time. The only history worth my time is the history I see when I look at old photos of me and my father on the fairway; my father grinning with his arm around my shoulders, and me smiling back with my funny gold shirt on.
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