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The
season is getting into full swing. That word swing is one I use
multiple times every day in my teaching because it is the most
important word in learning to play. When you get with one of
our fine PGA of LPGA teachers, have them explain the difference
between swinging through something and hitting at something.
Its big!
I
am writing this while seated in the locker room at Trump International
Golf. It is the morning after a deluge hit South Florida flooding
Palm Beach and dumping 23 inches of rain in Boynton Beach. That's
right!...23 inches, as much as some countries get in a year.
Yet, here I am at the course the next morning, where several
groups are playing (walking) and more are waiting until noon
when carts will be available. Area courses are flooded and closed.
Thanks to Jim Fazio, the architect, Trump has an amazing drainage
system.
Golf is a great game, but
can we make a case for it being "The Greatest Game,"
as proposed in both a book and movie by that title. Lets consider
some possibilities.
Starting with the rule book
of golf you'll see that before any mention of a rule is made
there is an opening section called ETIQUETTE. That's right etiquette---manners,
courtesy, consideration of other players and care for the course.
Sports like baseball, football and basketball have rule books,
but believe me, none of them start with etiquette.
Another fact supporting golf
as "the greatest" is beauty. Golf can certainly qualify
as the Sistine Chapel of sport venues, and Trump International
can confirm that statement. Golfers talk for months in advance
about playing a course that esthetically is a work-or-art. Then
talk for years after they have played. Compare that to tennis.
Imagine two tennis players talking about an upcoming trip to
Myrtle Beach. "I can't wait to get there," says one,
and play on court #18 where the lines are so white and straight."
Tennis is a fine sport but can't compare to golf's beauty.
But the number one reason
why I believe golf is "the greatest game" is because
of the friends you make during your career of playing. The great
Harvey Penick, author of The Little Red Book, the largest selling
sports book in history, made it very clear when he said, "If
you're a golfer you're my friend." Go alone to play any
public course in America or elsewhere and you will be paired
up with a stranger who may, by the end of the day, be "your
new best friend."
While in Scotland several
years ago I was a single on the first tee of the "Old Course,"
golfdom's shrine to the game. I was paired with a friendly ruddy
faced Aussie named Charles Bennett who was a cattle rancher and
the newspaper publisher in the small town of Dungog, New South
Wales. Golf was followed by a drink, dinner, and later, several
years of Christmas cards with a visit to their cattle station
outside their town. This was just another great friend made through
golf, though halfway 'round the world.
For all of us someday, there
will be a final round. When that happens and we look back at
our golf experiences, what we value the most won't be a trophy,
a shot, a score, or some place we played. It will be the people
we met and the special friendships that were made by playing
golf. That is the best of what the game is all about.
Gary Wiren, PGA Hall of Fame,
World Golf Teacher's Hall of Fame
Gary Wiren, PhD
PGA Hall of Fame
www.GaryWiren.com
World Golf Teacher's Hall of Fame
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