A Golfing Adventure

A have to admit that I am partial to watching a bit of golf on the telly box. There is something fascinating about following the players on a tournament like The Open. As an armchair admirer you get to see all the action. Every important shot can been seen with the commentary alongside that, on occasions, is as amusing as the Test Match Special of days past. 

Members of my family, friends and work colleagues are all golfers and love the game. I have to admit to being intimidated by the whole thing. Golf is full of technical ‘things’. By ‘things’ I mean rules, etiquette, equipment, clothing and words. It’s all a bit too much. This is before I even get into the technique of a golf swing. Those people who know me will understand that I’m not the most coordinated of people. I can throw a ball pretty accurately and pretty far but the coordination involved in catching it completely foxes me. As far as I can tell the golf swing is incredibly involved, coordinating the movement of shoulders, bottom, arms and legs whilst holding the head still and managing to grip the club in the correct manner, not to mention hitting it in a certain direction. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt. 

Saying all of that I can see the appeal of spending some time on a beautiful course early in the morning hitting a white ball around trying to sink it into a small hole. 

The closest I have ever come to a game of golf is a game of adventure golf. This is something I really like to do. The thrill of getting a hole in one is possible at every hole and too he honest not a lot of orchestration. This week the kids and I played 18 holes at the local Adventure Golf which claims to be London’s largest. 

It boasts two courses and a footgolf course. We played the Amazon course. It was quite busy, made more difficult by the social distancing aspect. 18 holes of adventure golf in the sunshine. 

Each hole has its own particular way to play it. The shortcuts very rarely work and sometimes playing for these will leave you in trouble. Playing conservatively will often win the game. I was playing against the children. Those of you that are parents will know that this means you need to be on your game. The stakes were high. 

Luckily, the adventure golf gods were with me on the day. Narrowly missing trouble like falling in the fast flowing stream and bouncing out of bounds. It was a good round. The only issue was a few flying ants but not enough to distract. 

I finished the game on 41. Par for the course. A satisfactory result. Crucially I came out on top. 

I’ll take the green jacket now. Thank you.