I haven’t played in a while but love Peter Finch’s YouTube channel and am getting the bug again. Gave away my clubs long ago and have a bit of sticker shock. So I’m getting some second hand Ping i210 irons, a Ping G30 Driver, a Ping 4100 five wood and an older Taylor Made Putter from Next Round Golf to get started. I have a thing for Ping.

Used clubs are a viable way for beginners to get in the game and people like me who’ve been out and are getting back in because if you do your research you can get gently used top of the line clubs for a fraction of the cost of new, custom fitted ones. Mine will arrive in 5 business days and if I don’t like them or I change my mind I have thirty days to return them for a full refund. The return shipping is on them. Pretty sweet.

All I need now is a bag, a glove and buckets of patience. I have even more motivation to strengthen my arms. You can’t hit well without strength. Tiger Woods was probably the first pro golfer to prove that fitness makes a difference in golf. I was set to check out the new Dripping Springs Driving Range. They’ve got the latest Top Tracer Technology there and a place to practice the short game. But it was super windy today so I decided to wait. That’s my strategy. It’s a start.

Golf is a culture and a mindset. You either love it or hate it. Sometimes a bit of both. Golf has its own language too. From sticks, links, pins, cups, tees, rounds, stances, divots and grips to your hole-in-one, eagle, birdie, par, bogey, double bogey, mulligan or penalty. Mindset is huge in golf so it’s not beyond the pale to say golf has a Zen side. Tiger has said that “golf is a game of misses” so it helps to know that going in.

Golfers also have caddy, bag-drop, pro-shop and fittings in their vocabulary to assist with swing, follow-through, spin, slice, hook, drive, chip, pitch and putt which you might top or whiff altogether if you’re off-your-game. All this is made even more challenging with hazards, water features, bunkers, fast-greens, doglegs and sloping fairways designed to put you in-the-rough, in-the-drink, in a sand trap and on edge all the way to the nineteenth-hole. Sounds fun doesn’t it?

My parents were both golfers but mom really had the bug. So I’ve played a fair amount and even dated a PGA pro for a little while. He taught me more than anyone and that gave me access to some of the best private golf courses in Southern California. The public courses are usually crowded with mid-to-high handicap players so game play can be frustratingly slow but I’ll be in practice mode and Par 3 for a while anyway so I’m not sweating it😊