First Post

Before I go another day it's time to start a journal to document my golf experiences. I probably should have started this 3 years ago, but who would have thought I'd have the experiences I've gone through in that time?

This whole golf thing the last few years only started because I decided I was tired of getting high golf scores and was going to do something about it. At the time I was only playing a handful of times per year, and most of that was with the Tuesday golf group we had. In fact, I don't remember playing many, if any,18 hole rounds back then.

One of those Tuesdays around April 2009 I shot a 58 through 9 holes on a relatively easy course (par is 36). For some reason - more than any other day I had shot 58 (or worse) - I was pretty upset about on the drive home. I don't know why exactly I was upset, other than I felt like I should be able to play this game with some sense of decency along with my general expectation to excel at damn near everything I do.

And so, on that drive home I made the decision that I was going to start playing better. I was going to practice, learn more about how to play the game, and see what happens. At the time I was just going to be happy if I broke 90. My how things change.

The seeing what happens part is the part I wish I had been documenting up to this point. It's been a part of my life I would love to be able to look back on, whether for posterity, motivation, or perhaps it would just be useful for someone else. A lot of what I've gone through is applicable to other areas of life as well. Little thoughts, anecdotes, analogies, and so on come along, and I wish I had been documenting them from the beginning.

But I didn't, and that's why we're here. Lesson learned - a recurring theme of the last 3 years.

So consider this the first post in my golf journal. In this journal I will be documenting my thoughts, experiences, rounds, practices, tournaments, and so on. I don't have aspirations to be on any of the professional tours, so you won't find any delusions of grandeur here, but I do have some recognizably lofty goals to pursue. Some may take years to achieve, and others I may never achieve. In the meantime I enjoy the process of trying to achieve them. That's why the journal is better late than never.

This journal is a personal thing for me, and by blogging it I've made my personal thing public. Those who know me recognize that I'm a private person, and usually things like this remain private. I decided to make this public because I want it to stick. I'm hoping that my friends and any others who stumble upon this journal and find it interesting will hold me accountable to sticking with it. Keeping this journal is a Good Thing™, and with the amazing journey I've gone through with golf I already regret not keeping one up to this point. Besides, there's plenty of deadbeat blogs on the internet, and I don't need to add to the clutter.