A couple of weekends ago, I spent some time with Melissa at the World Golf Village on the outskirts of St. Augustine, Florida. It was as part of a marriage retreat, and we stayed at the Renaissance Hotel there. It was also as if I had entered a foreign country with a fanatical following of the great sport of golf.
Oh, by the way, I have never golfed before. Unless you count my experience playing miniature golf (and I’m pretty damned good at it, thank you) or my childhood adventures with croquet, swinging a stick at a ball lying on the ground to make it go to a specific place has never taken off in my imagination. But I think I might get good at it were I to practice; I just don’t know. Anyway, I felt completely out of place at the World Golf Village, which naturally has a humongous course, practice holes, a golf hall of fame, and a couple of golf-themed restaurants. The stones comprising the floor of the nearly half-mile circle around which our hotel, the hall of fame, two restaurants (one of which has all of their many TVs tuned exclusively to a golfing channel), other golf-related businesses, and an IMAX theater were situated feature the names and signatures of famous golfing hall-of-famers from around the world. It made me wonder what I have been missing out on all these years, having basically ignored what appears to be such a significant and magnificent sport with all of its important heroes (most of whom I had never heard of).
I do know that golfing has quite its share of fanatics. Golfers I know tend to get pretty worked up talking about their recent outings, although they tend to only discuss their golfing with other golfers. Meanwhile, I can only eavesdrop and naturally have nothing substantial on my own to contribute to their weighty conversations other than something like, “Hey, I’ve beaten my family at miniature golf three straight times”. And I’m not dumb enough to do that, so I usually just keep my mouth shut.
So I don’t know about golf. I would like to engage in it with Melissa as a fun outdoors activity that the two of us could share into our retirement, but I don’t see myself spending an exorbitant amount of money on it or becoming a raving fanatical lunatic about it. And that World Golf Village was nothing if not fanatical.
Right now, my #1 golf experience was the vicarious pleasure I derived at watching James Bond have a “little fun” with Mr. Goldfinger by switching golf balls on him during a match. It would probably behoove me to delve a little deeper into the sport than that! But when?
Oh, by the way, I have never golfed before. Unless you count my experience playing miniature golf (and I’m pretty damned good at it, thank you) or my childhood adventures with croquet, swinging a stick at a ball lying on the ground to make it go to a specific place has never taken off in my imagination. But I think I might get good at it were I to practice; I just don’t know. Anyway, I felt completely out of place at the World Golf Village, which naturally has a humongous course, practice holes, a golf hall of fame, and a couple of golf-themed restaurants. The stones comprising the floor of the nearly half-mile circle around which our hotel, the hall of fame, two restaurants (one of which has all of their many TVs tuned exclusively to a golfing channel), other golf-related businesses, and an IMAX theater were situated feature the names and signatures of famous golfing hall-of-famers from around the world. It made me wonder what I have been missing out on all these years, having basically ignored what appears to be such a significant and magnificent sport with all of its important heroes (most of whom I had never heard of).
I do know that golfing has quite its share of fanatics. Golfers I know tend to get pretty worked up talking about their recent outings, although they tend to only discuss their golfing with other golfers. Meanwhile, I can only eavesdrop and naturally have nothing substantial on my own to contribute to their weighty conversations other than something like, “Hey, I’ve beaten my family at miniature golf three straight times”. And I’m not dumb enough to do that, so I usually just keep my mouth shut.
So I don’t know about golf. I would like to engage in it with Melissa as a fun outdoors activity that the two of us could share into our retirement, but I don’t see myself spending an exorbitant amount of money on it or becoming a raving fanatical lunatic about it. And that World Golf Village was nothing if not fanatical.
Right now, my #1 golf experience was the vicarious pleasure I derived at watching James Bond have a “little fun” with Mr. Goldfinger by switching golf balls on him during a match. It would probably behoove me to delve a little deeper into the sport than that! But when?
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