K e e p e r s o f t h e G a m e
To retain and enhace golf's core values
How to Play Golf
The game itself is simple. Hitting a ball into a hole, taking all the strokes necessary has to be one of the easier pass-times ever invented. Take as many swats as needed to reach the target. Seventy or a hundred and fifty-six, it is all golf.
To make it even easier, someone invented a mathematical device than enables one who usually takes a great number of strokes to play against a much more expert opponent and actually win. If a person is chronically inept, it makes no difference, ever. How well one swings the club and actually maneuvers the ball has little import for playing golf.
One of the trickier propositions of the game is keeping score. One the surface, counting by ones as high as one can would seem to be the extent of the challenge. Not so.
Golf is the kind of game, that if accountants were allowed to invent them, it would be one of the games they would invent. You see, one swing may count as one stroke, or two, perhaps even three, or none at all. It all depends on the circumstances of the swing and the result. This is reminiscent of the job-seeking accountant who was asked by his perspective employer how much was the sum of two and two. The bright young accountant won the job with the answer, "how much to you want it to be?"
The most important element of playing golf however, has to be that devilish expectation of honesty. Playing golf means playing by the rules, and when the rules are broken, the player admits to it.
Why a simple game played out in a field with sticks and balls has been allowed to demand a degree of self-disclosure that is prohibited by the United States Constitution in real life is beyond understanding. Yet it does.
It would be prudent at this point for a beginner to ask, "what does this mean?" It means if golf is being played, the player must play by the rules.
The rest falls into place like dominoes. Playing by the rules means knowing the rules. Knowing the rules means knowing what to do if one is broken. Knowing what to do when one is broken means doing what is supposed to be done. Playing golf means wanting to do what needs to be done.
In the last analysis, playing golf has less to do with hitting a ball into a hole and counting the number of strokes to do so, and more with how one counts the strokes. How many do you want it to add up to?
I say count them one by one, every one of them, and be proud. Shake the hand of the victor with dignity. Smile at every digit in your handicap index. There is only one way to play golf. And that is the reason we play it.
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To make it even easier, someone invented a mathematical device than enables one who usually takes a great number of strokes to play against a much more expert opponent and actually win. If a person is chronically inept, it makes no difference, ever. How well one swings the club and actually maneuvers the ball has little import for playing golf.
One of the trickier propositions of the game is keeping score. One the surface, counting by ones as high as one can would seem to be the extent of the challenge. Not so.
Golf is the kind of game, that if accountants were allowed to invent them, it would be one of the games they would invent. You see, one swing may count as one stroke, or two, perhaps even three, or none at all. It all depends on the circumstances of the swing and the result. This is reminiscent of the job-seeking accountant who was asked by his perspective employer how much was the sum of two and two. The bright young accountant won the job with the answer, "how much to you want it to be?"
The most important element of playing golf however, has to be that devilish expectation of honesty. Playing golf means playing by the rules, and when the rules are broken, the player admits to it.
Why a simple game played out in a field with sticks and balls has been allowed to demand a degree of self-disclosure that is prohibited by the United States Constitution in real life is beyond understanding. Yet it does.
It would be prudent at this point for a beginner to ask, "what does this mean?" It means if golf is being played, the player must play by the rules.
The rest falls into place like dominoes. Playing by the rules means knowing the rules. Knowing the rules means knowing what to do if one is broken. Knowing what to do when one is broken means doing what is supposed to be done. Playing golf means wanting to do what needs to be done.
In the last analysis, playing golf has less to do with hitting a ball into a hole and counting the number of strokes to do so, and more with how one counts the strokes. How many do you want it to add up to?
I say count them one by one, every one of them, and be proud. Shake the hand of the victor with dignity. Smile at every digit in your handicap index. There is only one way to play golf. And that is the reason we play it.
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