Golf Season Winding Down

The leaves on the trees are changing colour and falling to the ground beneath and there’s a chill in the air now that autumn has officially arrived once again. Even as I’m typing this I can hear another flock of Canadian Geese heading to the warmer weather of the south.

With the arrival of fall we mark the end of one of the better summers I can recall in recent memory. Sure it was hot at times but there wasn’t a lot of rain during daylight hours which meant we could enjoy more outdoor activities like barbeques, games, picnics, swimming, camping and sports like my personal favourite, golf.

To be perfectly honest, I suck at golf compared to most amateur swingers. Sure I have my odd good or better than average rounds but most of the time I’m lucky to shoot bogie golf or better. I honestly believe my body type is my main hindrance; mainly the fact that I have more body than most. But I make it work as best I can and while it can be a frustrating game at times; I never get mad or take it too seriously.

What I enjoy most about golf is the social aspect. Just last night I went out with a bunch of guys from the men’s league and we split up into six teams for a 3-man scramble or best ball. Nobody gets serious, and everyone has a good time. I couldn’t make a putt to save my life but it didn’t matter. It was enjoyable to just swing the clubs on a beautiful evening and have some conversation with the guys.

That hasn’t been the case for the most part this season for me though. In fact, I haven’t golfed nearly enough this year and I suppose it’s partly my own fault for not forcing myself to go out. But it’s tough to find people to golf with at the times I’m able to go out. When I first became a member years ago, I had a regular foursome that would hit the course every Sunday morning from the time the course opened until the course closed for the winter. I’d be on the course three times a week. In recent years that group has disappeared and only I remain willing to do that.

There are other good guys I could easily golf with but when you work all week and have to get up early every day, it’s nice to sleep in a bit on the weekend to recharge the batteries. There are advantages to it but getting up at 6am to be on the course for 7am just isn’t a strong enough motivator for me. Sure I could do it provided my work schedule stays the same but I guess I love my bed more than my putter most days.

I certainly didn’t get my monies worth this year but that’s all on me. By my count to this point of the season, I golfed a total of 26 times this year including men’s league. Of those 26 times, eight of them were a full 18 holes while the rest were just rounds of nine holes.

But there’s still time, weather permitting, to play more swing and swear before the snow flies. The weather “experts” say it’s supposed to be a warm autumn season so I could still have plenty of opportunities to lose some balls amongst the leaves before storing the clubs for winter.

Who knows; maybe next year I won’t be feeling as tired and I’ll find more inspiration to swing the clubs. Perhaps I should join the women’s league, that could be instant incentive right there.