eyeglob

“Hockey is a sport for white men, basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.”  Tiger Woods

“They call it golf because all the other four letter words where taken” Raymond Floyd

As many of my patients know, I am a golfer. Yes that is like saying I am a sinner… I have the golf tan, painful but true. Many of the patients I interact with on a day to day basis do not get the point of hitting a small ball to a small hole that is 430 yards away and triying to do that in 4 strokes or less.  Have you ever watch golf on television? if you are a golfer it is phenomenal, if you are a non golfer it is as much fun as watching the grass grow. Golf, you get it or you dont, there are few things in life where the gray zone is this small.

When I was growing up in Puerto Rico and with the influence of Chi Chi Rodriguez, I never got it, golf was something I’d never try to play. Unlike baseball, golf was never an appealing sport to me. It was something that was there, I knew was there but I never had any interest for. George Carlin once said “Why play a sport where the name sounds like someone swallowed the damn ball?”, that was my attitude. I didn’t get the clubs, the funny looking cart or those shorts!

25 years ago, when I was in college, part of the requirements was a physical activity class. Guess what, I choose golf. Afterall growing up playing baseball, how difficult would be to hit a bit smaller stationary ball? Surely it would be a lot easier than hitting a curve ball coming at you at 70 miles an hour… was I wrong!

Last Sunday it was my second time ever shooting under 80 (yes it took me 25+ yrs!). For me, that is a mayor achievement! I enjoy playing the game. I enjoy it because it’s challenging, full of history and tradition, I enjoy it because I get to concentrate on hitting that little ball that I have specially marked to identify it as mine, and I have done so in a strategically and well thought manner. In the world of golf nothing else matters but to hit that ball and hit it correctly. When I hit that stationary ball, my mind must be blank and honestly after I see the way the ball travels to the chosen target, I am happier than a child lost in a toy store. It amazing the joy I derive from making good contact with that little dimpled ball.

I have learned to recognize that golf for corporate America is a favorite way to help people close deals, have information shared without emails of cell phone calls. Golf is a way of the guys to bond in a sort of organized, primitive manner. The more I think of it the more I think golf is slowly becoming a recognized religion. Guys pray to the “Golf Gods”, and pray on every par three for that elusive three letters with one meaning accomplishment, they holy “Hole-in-One”. Golfers pray for that one, single put, close approach, par round and monster drive.

Golfers also pray in other ways to the “Golf Gods”. Smoking their favorite cigar while enjoying anything from a beer to a nice glass of tequila. High fives, fist pumps, ball markers, casino chips and clean clubs are just part of the rituals.

I am sure I will continue and edit this post further, but for now enough blogging!