Playing golf always made me uptight. You get to the tee box and place your golf tee into the dirt. You place the little white bowl on top of the tee. It sits precariously, easily blown over by a gust of wind. You are aware of the other golfers in your group. Your breathing becomes uneasy. The ball looks small not much bigger than a marble. The distance to the flag feels gigantic. So many things can go wrong. You hit the ball with a hitch in your swing and the ball slices off the fairway. You hit the ball with the inside corner of the driver and the ball spurts sideways like a leak from a hose. Your breathing gets worse. You feel the other golfers judging you negatively but you've got to swing. Too much time passes and you are holding up the works. You exhale and try to get yourself together. You pull the club back and let the swing go. You've done it again, a terrible drive. The ball skitters a few feet and you cannot believe the anxiety levels you've achieved.
This time I played golf and it went differently. I had a great day. I went with a good friend, a nonjudgemental guy named Vaughn. He was not a big golf aficionado. I had no fear of him giving unsolicited coaching advice on my swing. I made one piss poor drive, something like the experience described in the first paragraph. Then, remarkably, things changed. My breathing relaxed. I approached the ball with a level of happiness. My swing moved in a relaxed rhythm. I stopped caring. Suddenly I made solid contact with my shots. The ball moved through the air with authority and bounced down the fairway in the right direction. I felt good. Using my old-fashioned clubs, I had a sense of comfort. It's not about the golf club technology, it's about the mental space.
I lost one of my balls and found myself using a Pinnacle practice ball. It had two thick black lines running around the circumference, reference marks I think for practice purposes. I loved the ball. The lines were easy to see. I had my guidelines. This is all practice I thought, forget the game. The golf course had very few golfers. Vaughn and I had the place to ourselves. We laughed and enjoyed the way most of the holes had a water hazard, the San Marcos River. Instead of seeing the river as a hazard, I viewed it as a reference point, kind of like the guidelines on the ball. Best day of golfing I've ever had. I have only golfed about ten times in my whole life. This experience gave me hope for a new hobby.
