Feedback and help appreciated in our new short survey focused on golf so far this year
Thanks in advance!!
‘Thoughts on golf in general?’ Who could resist such an invitation?
My main thought is ‘I miss it!’ But life conspired to persuade me to throw in the towel - First a three day coma after catching a serious form of ecoli in the USA, after travelling across the pond - entering their Seniors’ Longdrive Champs. I won’t mention in depth as that it was possibly my fault - karma after feeling sorry for myself with burst eardrums, burst eye blood vessels, and phlebitis induced by the flight. But the Yanks. looked after me.
After I struggled to make any connection with the teed ball (due to the above) a former world LD champ. helpfully (he no doubt thought) cried ‘You’re not properly prepared!’ A similarly loud tip was ‘It’s that blo*dy vegan diet. EAT some meat!’ My mind spun as to how I could possibly hit another 5,000 practice balls, and digest half a cow before my final few attemps? They were trying their best and I put the misplaced advice down to cultural differences.
That incident was quickly followed by (back home) falling into a highway’s pothole, shattering my left wrist, and then my local hospital bungling the repair leaving me with only 25% use in that hand / wrist. Still the case almost two years on.
And then finally the third incident - dying due to severe clots in my heart and both lungs. So how am I still here? That time I actually came out on top with the NHS - I whipped the sheet off my face - crying ‘I’m NOT dead you bugg*rs. I know it’s New Year’s Eve, but there must be a real doctor on duty?!’ If you keep a diary or notebook surely that’s a great (non-golf admittedly) tip to write down?
After that odd preamble let me answer Darren’s question:
First I’m pleased that not only is ‘Golfshake’ still around but it’s clearly THRIVING albeit in a very different format. I still keep in touch with Ian Payne. A gentleman, very solid player, and always great company.
Finally, When I first played serious golf in the 1960s (as a teen) for me it was a far more enjoyable sport.
At weekends one would meet both friends, and newly found friends, to make up four-balls. A three-ball at the weekend was the exception. Even though persimmon drivers were 100 yards shorter, the average handicap at a quality (i.e. not municipal) club was around 12, and the time taken to complete a round - 3 hours or slightly more if someone ahead lost a ball and one had stood around for a few minutes.
The thing which I loved most in those days at Erewash Valley G.C. was no political correctness, i.e. there was no problem about playing on frost covered courses. It did no course any harm and it served us all well - striding briskly and beathing out clouds of steam as Sunday church bells were heard in the distance. And, those paraffin fuel hand warmers were truly superb! I witnessed not one pair of trousers in flames.
Are there any major advantages to the modern game? Yes certainly, the main one being that nowadays most everyone can afford to play. In the 1960s it was an immensely expensive sport and I personally had to give it up for many years (at age 16) as at that age one became an adult player and membership and equipment equated to much more than my annual boy’s salary.
It was much cheaper to simply buy running shoes and train for endless miles. But occasionally with memories and tears running down my cheeks, and that never occurred during a round of golf except on the frostiest of early mornings!
P.S. Just figured out why no-one else has replied - one is supposed to reply by way of answer to a survey, albeit not immediately visible. Clearly my eyes/ brain remain bad.