Golfing World According to Chad
Golfing World According to Chad, a Beginner:
It has been said “to play golf is to spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk.” Whoever said that has obviously played golf with people similar to Chip “No No No No” Robertson and Trevor “Stutter Putter” Rebello, who have the unique talent of transforming an enjoyable walk into a very long walk. On the plus side, playing with these two and other members of the SOS Tour, you do get to visit parts of the golf course you never knew existed.
In truth, the following quote rang true for me for the longest time, “why chase a white ball around, when you can go straight to the 19th and reward yourself with a cold one / few?” In fact, that’s exactly what I ended up doing: waiting patiently for my mates to finish their round of golf, so I could join in on the drinks at the respective clubhouse. There always seemed to be something missing though, even though the conversation didn’t revolve entirely around their recently finished 18 holes, a large percentage of it contained stories of the mishaps that ensued during the day’s play, followed by large outbursts of laughter and endless teasing of one another. To me, this was great fun too, however at times extremely frustrating. Having to constantly picture the scenario in my mind, instead of experiencing it first hand, often left me speechless round the table, like an observer feeling a tad on the outside.
Halfway through last year, Bernie the “J Bomber” gave me a call, asking if I was keen to join on a boy’s weekend away. I immediately said yes, but after Bern said it was a golfing weekend, I was a bit hesitant. “Come boytjie, it’s gonna be a lekker piss up… it’ll be rad… trust me.”
And that’s that as they say; even though my golf was shockingly bad, my weekends thereafter consisted of trying to find a friend who wasn’t playing golf, so I could use their clubs for the day. THE GOLF BUG HAD BITTEN. I must add as a side note, I did eventually get my own set of clubs. So do yourself a favour and stop in at The ProShop Woodmead – they have great golfing equipment, friendly staff, great prices and good discounts.
Ok, so back to the title of this article. I’ve come to realise that there is something incredible in simply walking a golf course, whether it be early morning Sunrise Golf at Wanderers or a Sunday afternoon round at one of the featured SOS Golf Tour courses. During the round you forget about the scorecard, the occupations of work and family life; a peace that settles over you, which is then abruptly shattered when you send your ball straight into the bunker, water or trees and your Tourette’s Syndrome scatters the Hadeda’s. But really, it’s an incredible game in which you’re constantly challenging yourself and continuously having a great time with people you enjoy being around.
Another great thing about golf is that anyone can play: young, old, men and women. You don’t even have to play well (thank God for the handicap system) or be well liked, for example, we keep “Marsehole” Du Plessis around – although we are thinking of replacing him with someone a little more popular – perhaps Lance Armstrong. I actually think Lance Armstrong would fit in very well since one of our members is already on performance enhancing drugs (Mr. Mulligan).
In all honesty this game of golf and my membership to the Sultans of Swing Golf Tour has enriched my life immeasurably but then again the competition, fines and friendships have probably prematurely shortened it too. Finally, another wiseman once said “a bad day on the golf course is still better than a good day at the office.” I still reckon he never played golf with a guy like Marsehole. But anyways, even the most intolerable round of golf is made bearable by the promise of the 19th hole where we don our hats and down our drinks and dream of that next perfect round.
I can’t get enough of the game… toooo lekker!