First of all I would like to thank Average Joe for the opportunity to contribute to the site. I was looking to start my own blog but thought that this would be better suited for me. This post is just to give you all a background on me and my golf game.
I turn 23 years old in October and have played golf since the summer of 2008. I have received my Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education and History from The College at Brockport, in Rochester N.Y. this past May. I work at the College’s Print Shop and have for the past 3 years now. I currently live in Rochester and am a member at Mill Creek Golf Club in Churchville N.Y. Here is the link to their website if you want to get familiar with the scorecard as this is the course I play most often: http://www.millcreekgolf.com/golf-course/championship-scorecard
Now a quick recap of what got me to where I am today in my golf game. My boss who has turned out to be more of an uncle/father figure starting asking me about golf as this was his sport of choice. He wanted to play in a golf league and had no one to play with. I told him how I wasn’t much of a golfer but was more than willing to give it a go. He offered to pay for my league dues so I had to take him up on it, seeing that I had nothing better to do. We went out together a couple weeks before the league started just to see if you could give me a few pointers so I could be ready for day 1. Well turns out I needed more than a few pointers. I couldn’t tell you how many times I wiffed/duffed/topped or just flat out hit the ground instead of the ball. I am a natural athlete that is good at almost any sport so my thinking prior to this little experiment is I will just pick it up as I go. WRONG!
I was beyond embarrassed and this was in front of just one person, how could I be this bad in front of the whole league??? So my boss hooked me up with an old sit of clubs that he had 10 years ago and told me I should probably practice a bit prior to the league. I don’t think he was prepared for what he had created in asking me to get better. I got a range pass for the year from the Brockport Country Club and a membership for a meezly $450. What a steal that was for me because I was there every single day rain or shine from the time I got out of work till it got dark and even earlier on the weekends. My girlfriend lived a good distance away and all of my friends left Brockport for the summers so I had all the time in the world to practice. Week after week my hands were blistered and bloody I even cracked a rib during the season. Everyone at the course knew me by name and they all were convinced I was crazy.
As for my golf game, it got better, but I was still horrible. The league was a 20 week (9 holes) season. My first week I shot a 58 and averaged a 54 for the entire season. I didn’t even carry a driver because I knew as soon as it touched my hand I would be hitting 3 in a matter of seconds (that or hitting 2 still standing on the tee…WhIFF). I had only 18 pars for the entire year and 22 Quads or higher. To say the least it wasn’t very encouraging.
I will get into last summer and this summer in my next couple posts. I will work hard to get some updates on my game at least 2-3x a week along with a pre-tourney post and a post tourney post on the PGA tour’s event for the week and other Golf related news. Feel free to comment and e-mail me @ bshaf1012@gmail.com in reference to anything golf. Thanks!
