JohnnyDee
Tour Winner
As a young teenager I played a bit of golf. Mostly on day tickets to local courses in Ireland and also on a little 9-hole par three course where I picked up the rudiments and had attained a reasonable level of proficiency. Not brilliant or indeed in possession of an official handicap, but I was a comfortable 22ish society player I'd guess.
In my mid-teens I got a guitar and there then followed many years when that was all I did. It was a crazy rock and roll existence playing in some bands to semi-pro touring level and really loved every minute of it. I still had the odd game of golf, but mostly through corporate golf events at a rate of maybe no more than 1 or 2 per year; nothing more than that. The swing was getting rusty as time passed by.
So then, came a day, when playing at the Tesco Golf Day as a guest (I think it may have been at Welwyn Garden City or perhaps somewhere like Hoddesdon?, but the passing of the years and the shame of the day has made me forget the actual facts) I stood in front of a reasonable group of fellow hackers about to tee off.
I didn't feel particularly nervous thinking - so there's a crowd but it's not a biggie. It's not as if I'm going to miss the ball. I can handle this - I was a bit wayward with a driver always cutting them right so never used one, but I had a persimmon 3-wood that I loved and this was always my weapon of choice on the tee.
In due course I was announced by the mush officiating on the tee and I then teed my ball up. It was probably a Penfold Commando or perhaps a Top Flite 2000, even then I had aspirations towards the big time, and silence descended. I swished the air and addressed the ball.
It's all a bit of a blur after that but without a word of a lie the upshot of my first stroke was that I completely missed the ball!! Honestly, I did. The silence became deafening and I felt my face beginning to burn bright red. I swung again in a total daze and this time made contact sending a reasonable shot up the fairway.
However the damage had been done and I trudged up the first wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. I wasn't a serious golfer back then but even now I turn cold at the memory. I've thankfully never done it again and would never want to.
So that's my true story. Have you ever done the same or maybe you have an even worse tale to tell?
In my mid-teens I got a guitar and there then followed many years when that was all I did. It was a crazy rock and roll existence playing in some bands to semi-pro touring level and really loved every minute of it. I still had the odd game of golf, but mostly through corporate golf events at a rate of maybe no more than 1 or 2 per year; nothing more than that. The swing was getting rusty as time passed by.
So then, came a day, when playing at the Tesco Golf Day as a guest (I think it may have been at Welwyn Garden City or perhaps somewhere like Hoddesdon?, but the passing of the years and the shame of the day has made me forget the actual facts) I stood in front of a reasonable group of fellow hackers about to tee off.
I didn't feel particularly nervous thinking - so there's a crowd but it's not a biggie. It's not as if I'm going to miss the ball. I can handle this - I was a bit wayward with a driver always cutting them right so never used one, but I had a persimmon 3-wood that I loved and this was always my weapon of choice on the tee.
In due course I was announced by the mush officiating on the tee and I then teed my ball up. It was probably a Penfold Commando or perhaps a Top Flite 2000, even then I had aspirations towards the big time, and silence descended. I swished the air and addressed the ball.
It's all a bit of a blur after that but without a word of a lie the upshot of my first stroke was that I completely missed the ball!! Honestly, I did. The silence became deafening and I felt my face beginning to burn bright red. I swung again in a total daze and this time made contact sending a reasonable shot up the fairway.
However the damage had been done and I trudged up the first wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. I wasn't a serious golfer back then but even now I turn cold at the memory. I've thankfully never done it again and would never want to.
So that's my true story. Have you ever done the same or maybe you have an even worse tale to tell?
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I eben looked down the fairway after it. It wasn't the worst tee shot of weekend though so it was quickly forgotten.
