It’s good to be back!
“Where is your first drive back after the coronavirus lockdown going?”
This was the question we posed on social media back in April, with an image of a golfer about to tee off and users being able to pick one of 11 options. Choices ranged from a long fairway splitter to a duck hook and even the dreaded Scottish shot.
Thousands posted comments on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with a sizeable percentage opting for an outcome that would have had them reaching into the bag for a provisional!
I mention this as it was an image I just couldn’t get out of my head when I stood on the 10th tee at my home club on the first day the course was open for play.
The hole is a tight par 5 that requires a drive through a chute of trees and a carry over a ditch that crosses the fairway at 180 yards. As far as first shots after more than 50 days of not swinging a club go, it could have been easier.
In the end, I managed a high, wafty cut that just about cleared the ditch and ended up in the semi-rough. Frankly, I’d have taken a stone-cold top such was my joy to be back on the course. I’m sure the feelings of elation were similar for every one of you on your return.
Golf’s reopening in the post-lockdown world has thrown up some interesting discussions, including the benefits of club membership, nine versus 18 holes, the speed of two-ball play, expectations of course conditioning, leaving flag sticks in, no bunker rakes and so on. We’ll be exploring all these topics and more in future issues, but in general we all seem to be playing faster, less bothered by course conditioning and valuing our memberships more than ever.
As I said in my welcome note for the last issue, you don’t fully realise how much you love the game until you can’t play it, so just being back out there – whatever the changes we’re having to make to our ‘normal’ golf experience – is utterly brilliant.
Stay safe and enjoy your golf!