“TRUTH BE TOLD, we all know what we’ve got, you just never think you’re going to lose it.”

Life has been more complicated for all of us during the past six months. In the last days of compiling this edition, Victoria was entering a six-week lockdown as a second wave of COVID-19 saw a spike in positive cases and deaths. Curfews and tight restrictions were employed, which forced the closure – again – of golf courses in and around Melbourne.

A mate, having played his last round of golf the afternoon before the lockdown was enforced, texted me a nice sunset course photo with the words: “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

Truth be told, we all know what we’ve got, you just never think you’re going to lose it.

This all got me thinking beyond the lockdown and the obvious disappointment most Victorian golfers would be feeling. I started reminiscing about things that are no longer part of the game I started playing 40 years ago.

I miss individual ball packs. Looking back, there was something quite special about unboxing a ball – usually a B51 Golden Bear, a Hot Dot or similar – and pulling it out of the tissue paper on the 1st tee.

I miss Titleist Tour balata balls. When my game was far better than it is now, and when I could afford them, there was nothing sweeter than hitting a balata. The soft feel was awesome and being able to turn the ball sideways out of trouble was exciting. I don’t miss having to bin a balata after putting a ‘smile’ in its side.

I miss the sound of metal spikes on concrete. I don’t miss wearing the spikes at all, as today’s golf shoes are far more comfortable. The sound is unforgettable and only replicated today by park footy players trotting out of the dressing sheds.

I miss the fancy flap on golf shoes covering the laces, keeping water out, simply because it was a different look to all other shoes.

I miss the feeling and sound of a persimmon wood at that moment when you “get one out of the screws.” I miss that turn of phrase as well.

I miss not being able to hit a 1-iron. My golf game has long moved on to a poorer standard rendering the 1-iron more useful as a garden stake. But there was a time when there were few more exciting shots to hit than those struck out of the miniscule sweetspot of a ‘knife’.

I miss not having the hair to carry off wearing a visor.

I miss Paradise Palms, Pacific Springs, Hudson Park, Laguna Quays, North Lakes, Burswood Park, Hume, Nyah, Kingswood, Terranora Lakes, Morrisset, Lawson, Kingston Links, Parramatta and Binningup golf courses. I played them all and they no longer exist.

I miss playing rounds with my Dad, who would have been 80 this month and probably still hitting duck hooks off the 1st tee.

Continue to embrace golf while you have it. Appreciate all the sights, smells and sounds the game presents because you never know when it will be gone.