Golf – again, really?

I have to make 10,000 steps every day. Why? Well, because i’m useless and I need up my fitness from the hole I’m in. I thought of just walking. Even tried it a few times, but I can’t do it. I get bored, melancholic. Can’t do that.

To be able to do mundane tasks like walking one needs a very deep and interesting internal life.

I can talk to myself for hours, but I figured that if I can walk and hit something every now and then, it will be much less mundane and maybe even enjoyable. I was right.

I am getting slowly obsessed with golf. I used to play a few years back. I never was any good at it and I gave up. It just didn’t make any sense to me that I could not hit the ball well enough or consistently. And one needs to hit the ball well and consistent to really enjoy the game. I’m pretty good at any sport I play, like tennis, badminton, table tennis, but golf remained a mystery and a skill I could not crack.

Now that I need the steps, I found my old clubs, dusted them off; even my shoes still fit, which was a nice surprise. I went to a local golf shop to stock up on goodies. New golf balls, tees, gloves, pitching tool, etc… Not that I really needed them, I just wanted new shiny things.

I started going to a driving range. The one in Hudson Park, near the Flemington markets. They have a range and a very short and easy par 62 golf course.

The prices went up since I last played there. I think I used to pay 15$ for a large bucket of balls, now that bucket is $25. On the other hand, I used to have to queue up behind someone to get a spot there on the weekend; this time the place was almost empty. But I also play mostly weekdays, so that made a difference too.

So far I’m as bad as I expected. I can hit the ball with my short irons, but going longer and driver its too embarrassing to talk about it. I usually hit a small bucket and go on the golf course. It’s mostly par 3s and they are not very challenging. Good for the ego, and good for about 7000 steps, so I’m happy.