Golf. No other sport creates an obsessive desire for perfection, and it all begins with one shot. The shot. The shot which changes everything. Golfers all have the shot. The shot hooks them and refuses to let go. The shot creates a feeling a golfer forever seeks to recapture. The shot for me was the first shot I ever hit on a golf course, and I have been hooked on the game ever since.
I was seven years old when I hit the shot. Golf wasn’t a sport I thought about. I was into baseball, football and basketball like most seven year old boys who loved sports. Baseball was my favorite and best sport. My Dad was filling in for the high school golf coach and took me to the course with the team. I asked my Dad if I could hit a shot. He tossed me a ball and handed me a club which was way too long for me. A 7-iron. He had me choke down almost onto the metal shaft, and I swung. The shot wasn’t anything majestic. It didn’t soar through the air and land near the hole. I don’t even remember how far the ball traveled, but it left the ground and flew straight down the fairway my eyes wide with excitement as they followed the path of the ball. I have been chasing the ball down the fairway ever since.
But the shot keeps coming, keeping us hooked on this exasperating and rewarding game. We remember the first the shot, but we also remember the shot for every round.
For those of us hooked on this game, we are forever chasing the shot searching for a perfection we can never attain. Nearly every round, no matter how bad we played that day, there is the shot. The one that keeps us coming back for round after round even after we swore we were done with the game. Sometimes the shot doesn’t happen until the 18th hole. Sometimes there is more than one shot in a round. Sometimes we find the zone and every shot feels like the shot. Sometimes the shot doesn’t happen at all, and we find ourselves searching the internet for swing fixes to get the shot back.
The shot can be a perfectly struck drive or a long putt or chip in or perfectly struck, crisp iron to 5 feet. And none of us know when it will happen, but we know it when it does. There is no other feeling in sport quite like the shot. It feels like perfection.
The shot is what starts us down the path, and it is the shot we continue to chase. Throughout the world, as you read this, there will be golfers experiencing the shot and becoming forever hooked on this crazy game. Others will be experiencing the shot which will bring them back to the course again. We all have the shot which started everything, and the shot which keeps us coming back for more.
As we search for the shot and the feeling of perfection, we experience frustration and satisfaction, sorrow and joy, anger and elation. We take lessons. We hit countless balls on the driving range. We buy new clubs hoping to find the perfect set. It is the passion we have for the game because of the shot.
My passion for the game has continued for fifty years. I have been a PGA Golf Professional and played professional tournaments as a club pro and on mini tours. I currently work training golfers as a Titleist Performance Institute certified coach to help golfers of all ages and abilities get more physically fit so they can enjoy the game more. This substack will cover all things golf from my personal experiences, thoughts about the state of the game, training, practicing and playing. I’m looking forward to helping all of you enjoy the game we all enjoy so much. And if I can leave you with one thought to hold onto, be thankful every time you set foot on a golf course in pursuit of the shot. It is a privilege to play this great game.