I’m not a good golfer, and I’m certainly not an experienced golfer, but I’ll say what I think, and it’s there, open to critique.

Golf on the green, or good, poor golf there anyway, isn’t about precision, but about shortening distances. Back at the start of the hole, when I step up to the tee, I plan on gracefully driving the ball a good distance toward a goal, but I don’t (hopefully) tighten up with any responsibility for getting it exactly to a goal; similarly, when I’m on the green, it seems wise to putt toward the hole, but not hold the burden of dropping it in the hole.

If I average two or more putts per hole (I average far more than two putts per hole), then I think I should always be “two-putting”— that is, before every putt (even my third or fourth putt), I should perhaps be aiming more precisely than the last (unless my distance didn’t shorten!), but still allowing my mind another putt: In the end, aiming toward that center of the hole, but Banking on reaching that goal only with my next putt (with my very limited ability to be precise). In this way, I can focus more on my body, or nothing at all, and less on my brain.

This helped me a lot today— I enjoyed my putts, and I putted much better.

So I bought a new driver— an Alien Ultimate Driver for $39.95— I had a Big 5 gift certificate that needed spending, and whenever I’m in there I end up going back to them, noticing how light those modern drivers are, how nice the soft grips are, how big the face is, and wondering how well I’d hit a ball with one. Well, I found two things: (1) If I swing anywhere near the ball with this thing, it’s going a long way— it might slice, but not anywhere near me, and (2) I could swing it all day and not get at all tired.

It seems that I can hit further and easier with a bigger club (obviously), and that I can avoid slices by hitting with a club with more loft (and a smaller club), and so the plan is: to practice decreasing my slice with the driver, and increasing distance with the 5wood (which is somewhat heavier), and then, in that way….dial in on the 3. Continue to stick with the three clubs and a putter game, which I like a lot. Perhaps someday I’ll be hammering them consistently straight and great with the 1, but I’m not in any rush— it’s almost too easy swing anyway— crazy.

“George Brett on his short-game woes, his winning week at Pebble, and the art of hitting (a golf ball)”

www.golf.com

The other day I was watching an episode of Northern Exposure— the 1990’s show about a small town in Alaska. In that episode, one of the heroes, Ed, was overwhelmed by an endeavor to create an Orson Welles film festival. His problem was resolved by an idea from Welles’ biggest movie, about a newspaper publisher, CITIZEN KANE: “I think it will be fun to run a newspaper.” That’s a good idea to apply to a lot of things in life, and of course to golf. Simply, “I think it will be fun to play some golf”— something to keep in mind out there.

And how to explain folly on the course? “I don’t know how to run a newspaper, Mr. Thatcher, I just try everything I can think of.”

(1) With every swing I can make a forecast, or prediction of where my ball will end up. And after each swing I can get a better picture of the error on my prediction.
(2) From one club to the next (say from 7-iron to 8-iron), my best-guess prediction should change by some distance (eg 140 yds to 130yds, respectively).

As long as the range of my prediction error is much greater than the range of the best-guess between clubs, it seems reasonable to carry just one of those clubs, save myself the weight, and focus on lowering the range of my error with it. This is a little bit like an idea from the economist Richard Ashley.

To give you an idea of how good a player I am, I added my third club last week.

Green grass, Blue skies, Some sunshine, Birds, A walk, Some tools and a toolbag, All those golf smells, Hope, A graceful swing, A good swing, Lightness, A good flight, A good landing, A good putt or three, Repetition… Maybe a coffee or beer after it all. All good and good for you. A best waste of time. Not much more than that.

To enjoy golf, you don’t need to have a good game; you only need to have a serviceable game, or even a poor game, and to enjoy the two things that every person enjoys: nature and art.