To be frank – this could be the title of everything ever written about golf. Like many other sports or hobbies, it is an unstable experience, that is nonetheless insatiable and addicting. Quite fortunately, I got some instructional time included in my membership. I have been utilizing it, of course, with enthusiasm. However, it continues to remind me of a harsh truth – with technical activities, you get much worse before you get any better. As mentioned, I had a lesson about two weeks ago, and I won’t be modest, my swing aesthetically looks much better. My backswing is shorter, and therefore my arms are better able to come across my body, and be straighter at impact, following through towards the target rather than curling around me. I had an hour of lovely practice at the range today because I played yesterday, and sadly, I was absolutely awful. As mentioned – after you have a lesson, you get much worse before you get better.

I played around with “swing thoughts.” It’s an interesting concept because if you have too many, you psych yourself out, while if you don’t focus on anything at all (at least for me because of how new I am) I will forget to do certain things. During my last lesson we discussed focusing on feeling like only my arms were moving, so my hips would stop moving so much faster than my arms. Another way I thought of this today, was to imagine my spine was stuck in place, so my arms were swivelling on an axis, as well as sending the club face through towards the target. It worked when it worked and it didn’t when it didn’t. I had some amazing shots and some awful ones. But golf is hard…

It is shockingly hard not to get down on yourself. I struggled a lot with this yesterday. The book I am reading, however, called Extraordinary Golf by Fred Shoemaker, discusses how every single golfer has a fear of being embarrassed. When you release that fear, golf becomes a game of possibilities, rather than a game of trying not to look bad. Part of me worries that people will see me, a young woman at a prestigious golf club, and think I don’t belong. The magical things about golf, however, is EVERYONE belongs…and one day, I hope to outdrive the odd person that thinks I don’t…