[Zeke]

I played golf as a youngster because my parents played at a club every Sunday and dragged me along. There were other things to do there, swim, tennis, but I took a few lessons and could at least hit the ball inbounds (most of time). Somewhere I got a bad slice and I tried everything to correct in. In the meantime I picked up other interests and was getting old enough that they went w/o me and I went with another kid and his dad to the kart track. Bought a kart and that's where I was every Sunday.

Never really had interest in golf for the rest of my life but I always wondered about the incurable slice. I've had an occasion to hit a couple balls here and there not owning any clubs. So one day I get this idea that if I roll my left hand (or was it my right?) to an uncomfortable position I might lose the slice. And that is precisely what happened. Beautiful straight shots one after another. Magic. People always said I had a beautiful swing.

That didn't raise my interest one iota, but of all the little things in my life, I'm happy to have found that I could look good and actually hit the ball well. Never took the discovery to the course. But I can still do it to an extent. I asked the orthopedic surgeon about my new shoulder and golf. He said most players do go back to playing in 6 months after shoulder replacement. He wasn't too thrilled about tennis.

These days I'm totally unaware of my shoulder which is not a good thing. I'm not as careful as I should be. The doc said no overhead work. I do everything but hang from a jungle gym. Been working on a car lying on the ground for 3 days now. Well, I spend as much time under there fetching tools that I dropped. Old hands don't hang on to stuff as well.

Back to golf and lessons: I had instructors back in my teens telling me all kinds of things that were mostly helpful to have good form and contact. But as soon as I was out on the course I was in the right side rough just too damn many times. Terrible scores even with some terrific shots. Short game wasn't bad but there's always room for improvement there. That's the lessons to take. You gotta have a good short game to get the score down.

Seems to me you can putt all day long on the putting green or the living room carpet. Doesn't help one bit on a real green. I think a 3-par course is a great way to sharpen your game.