The World of Golf Welcomes....THIS GUY

I posted a few weeks ago about taking on new hobbies.  Well, the undertaking of learning golf is in full swing (no pun intended).  I have always had a respect for golfers.  I have followed the sport a little and have a decent understanding of the game (as much as anyone could have without actually playing).  My company participates in a couple of charity scrambles each year with customers and prospects.  It is important that I can participate.  Without lessons, it would be hard for me to do so.  I didn't even know how to hold the club properly.

Last week I had my first lesson.  Most people take lessons after they try to teach themselves for a short while or when they want to improve a specific area of their game.  Not me...I took my first lesson with no experience at all.  Sure, I had been to the driving range just goofing off with my father-in-law, but I had never really taken a serious swing with the intent to become skilled at it.

Overall, the lesson went pretty well.  My instructor is a young pro at the public course close to my house.  He was very patient with me and seemed to like that I did not already have some established bad habits that we would need to overcome.  I was a blank slate.  I am a curious person, so I ask a lot of questions.  For the most part, I just took every thing he said to heart.  It showed as I improved over the course of the lesson.  I also went this past weekend to hit a bucket of balls with my father-in-law.  He said it was night & day difference compared to the last time he had seen me hit.  I went ahead and signed up for a 5-lesson plan (every Friday at 7 am).  Since it is benefitting my company for me to learn to play, they agreed to pick up the bill on those.  Anything beyond that will be on me.

Maybe a course like this would help my game.

Anyone who knows me well is aware that I do not just casually pick up a new hobby.  I am serious about bass fishing and my budget shows it.  I have invested thousands of dollars in fishing over the years.  I can see, though, that I am going to have to ration out my hobby budget to include golf.  Luckily, my first set of clubs (and a few accessories) was a gift.  They are decent enough to get me started.  At some point in the future, though, I know I will have to invest in a custom set.  (There goes getting the latest Abu Garcia reels.) 

Not only will the finances be affected, but so will my time.  I have a child on the way scheduled to be here in March.  Obviously that is priority #1.  As of right now, fishing is going to take #2 just ahead of golf.  We will see if that changes as I progress in the latter.

These courses all seem to have ponds on them.  Maybe I can cater to both hobbies at once.

If Natalie Gulbis can do it, so can I.