83 days. 1,992 hours. 119,520 minutes. 7,171,200 seconds.
Who was counting? Just every golfer in England …
On Monday 29th March 2021, Golf returned! Yes Golf, with a capital ‘G’ – Grass, Green and Gentle rolling fairways. Of course I woke up at 06:30 on the 24th to book my tee times! As expected, the website crashed but I emerged victorious, battered and bruised, with 5 tee times in the bag!
Who even are you if you didn’t clean your clubs and shoes two nights before!? It’s scientifically proven to improve your game. To be honest, I was going to try anything to avoid a shank off the first. My outfit was picked in advance, thank you Peter Millar – if you know, you know. But first, a day’s work.
Golf is a great motivator. My early evening tee time was drawing near. It was time. For once I was getting in my car and going somewhere other than Tesco. And what’s more, my clubs were coming with me, out in the beautiful sunshine no less. The poor things have only seen the artificial flicker of the fluorescent tube light in my garage, for far too long! I realise I have been very fortunate to be able to swing my clubs at all during lockdown (little ‘l’). It’s been a saving grace to be able to hop into the garage, whack on a podcast from the RACDG boys or the Cookie Jar gang, and swing away to my heart’s content. Still not knowing where the ball is going though …
Anyway, back to Monday. An overzealous cheerio to the family and I was off! Smiles all around. Even from my Mrs, glad to see me out the house for a few hours! I fear her delight in me losing myself for hours with my sticks will be short-lived. She hasn’t seen my Golf calendar.
Foxhills is a 7 minute drive. Ideal. I managed to get a bit of practice in before pushing my tee in the ground. Swing felt ok. Ball flight was familiar. What wasn’t familiar was my chipping action. Completely disappeared. It was in such a good place in 2020. Three short-game lessons did the trick and I was like a Spaniard. Not now. However, I knew the season was going to be long and a few duff chips on my first round back wasn’t going to kill me.
So my woke wooden tee went into the turf and I stared down the first. It wasn’t going to be a battle. It was going to be a friendly embrace. A big bro hug. A quick slappy swing and I was in the first cut down the left. Absolutely fine. Phew. Even found the surface and missed my birdie putt. All seemed normal. What wasn’t normal was the birdie on the second … I’ve never birdied the second and I’ve never been 1-under through the first two holes. Absolute scenes. I finished my nine holes one-over. 3 bogeys; 2 birdies. Couldn’t be happier. Fortunately for me I found the greens and therefore didn’t have to chip. My bad shots were only yards offline and I wasn’t in the ever-present pines of the Longcross course.
But Monday wasn’t about a score. Monday was about enjoyment and appreciation. Golf has given me so much and many of my favourite memories have been on the links. Having been away for 83 days, has made me appreciate what a great sport it is. We’re outside. We see nature. We create relationships.
Golf is awesome. Golf is back.
The Surrey Golfer 