Learning to Love Golf

Yep, I play golf, and nope, I am not an old guy, and I definitely do not own plaid pants. When I started playing golf in fourth grade I had no idea how much it would change my life. I have found that it has helped me become more balanced in my sports and academic life. Soccer was starting to get more competitive, and school was starting to get more challenging. I really needed something fun, and not so serious, so that is when my dad suggested that I should try playing golf. I was very skeptical of the idea at first because I did not know very much about the sport, but once I started playing it a lot, and became more comfortable with it, I started liking it more and more.

I have learned that golf is just as much a mental game as it is a physical, if not more. Playing golf is like being on a rollercoaster. One second you’re bounding with joy, and the next you’re about ready to throw your golf club across the lake. That's what makes golf such a mental sport, because it is important to have the ability to forget a bad shot and move on to the next, or “flush it” as my dad says, because if you dig to far down into the hole of negativity, it is almost impossible  to climb out.

One of the things I love about golf is that my whole family plays, or at least engages in it. It is the perfect family activity because you can play golf no matter what age you are. Also, if you are visiting a new place, you can always explore the golf courses nearby because that's the beauty of golf, no golf course is the same!

From when golf was invented to now, there have been many advances in golf technology, including the invention of the golf tee. It started out that instead of using tees (because they had not been invented yet) golfers used mounds of sand to tee up the ball. This became a huge mess because people started using the sand from the bunkers so there was no more sand left! That is when Percy Ellis created the first prototype of the golf tee in 1892. This lead to Mathews' invention of the “Victor Tee” in 1897, and then to Dr. George Grant's invention of the first tee including a spike in 1899. The tee that was the first sold to the public was the Reddy Tee, invented in 1922 by William Lowell. The tee was the closest, of the four types, that looked like that modern tee today.

Even though I was doubted golf when I started, I still stuck with it and it has been one of the best things I have done in my life. I hope this is a good life lesson that even though something does not seem fun or interesting it can always catch you by surprise!

Credits:

History of golf tees and image credit

Image credit