editor’s letter
Golf
is
slowing down
a bit for the
winter, but our
love for the
game is alive
and well. I
played my first
nine holes!
Well, sorta.
I went out with my golf pro
husband and son Shayne. They
wouldn’t allow me to hit shots when
we were going to slow people down
behind us (thanks, guys) or drop after
I hit it out of bounds, or in the woods,
or in the water ...
So I found lots of places on
Carter Plantation’s front nine that
many of you don’t know even exists.
It’s a beautiful course. I saw it from
several different angles, many of
which course developers very much
did not intend I see.
It was so much fun though. Even
though I’m pretty terrible right now,
I did make two honest-to-goodness
double bogeys. I’m very proud.
It reminded me of a sweet story
from when Shayne was little. Jake
used to take him out on the course
and allow him to hit a few balls on the
course. Jake was playing with Daryl
Fontenot, who hit a ball he wasn’t
really happy with.
“At least it’s in,” Daryl said,
relieved the ball didn’t go out of
bounds.
Through four-year-old humor,
Shayne said, “Yeah, in the woods.”
Daryl still tells that story, and I
think about it nearly every time I hit
the ball.
If I had any advice for folks just
starting to play, learn to laugh at
yourself. You’re going to need to do
it a lot. Golf is hard if you pick it
up later in life, but it does make you
feel like a child again. Not because
of inexperience, but appreciation.
Everyone around me is hammering
the ball into the fairway, particularly
since I hang around with folks who
play all the time – Jake, his golf
team, Shayne, Jake’s golf buddies
and people I interview for Backspin.
Everyone around me takes for
granted that they can just rare back
and hit the ball a mile. Every once in
a while, mine does that too.
Now, I’m not going to even try to
say I hit the ball like the guys on Jake’s
team. Please. While they are very
encouraging (way more so than my
husband and son), ^H