"Tue" I would change Golf

I’ve had some free time this summer. When you discover free time there’s a weird thing that happens for the first couple of weeks… you do absolutely nothing. Not because you want to do nothing, but mostly because you have so many things you’ve always wanted to do or learn or create that you really end up frozen by all of the options (That’s sorta why In-N-Out only has 3 options, because they understand people). But after that dies down then you start to get around to things you’ve been planning to do for awhile. For me one of those things was golf.

So myself and Ryan, my brother-in-law (I would say he’s my bro, but I think in California that just means friend or pal or something because it’s all about free love and stuff out there….Maybe. So I’m going to stick with brother-in-law; or maybe Blaw. Making his wife someone’s Slaw. That could work.) So me and my Blaw head out into 100+ degree temps last weekend to give this golf thing a shot. First of all, it was actually pretty fun. I know Mark Twain describes golf as “A good walk spoiled” but that’s probably just because he took it too seriously. He was a bit of a curmudgeon. While we were playing I was struck by some possible improvements that should be made to the game of golf. So as is tradition in this space, I thought I’d rehash some of those for you, starting with the least revolutionary.

Floating Balls
Usually on a golf course there’s lakes or rivers or in the case of Arizona golf courses, still, shallow pools of murky water. Every so often a ball makes its way towards these black pools and then is never heard from again. There are some official rules for handling this situation like you get to drop your ball near where the ball entered the water or re-shoot while taking a penalty. But I think really that ball should float and you should have to wade or swim out there and hit that ball off the top of the water. That’s how Tiger handles it anyway. So really that should be a rule already.



4 player team speed golf
This probably exists already somewhere but I’d still like to make it official. A quick rundown of the rules. Let’s say Bob and Jerry are on a team against Ben and Frank (These are all fictional people, the Frank I know doesn’t actually play golf). So Jerry and Frank would run off down the fairway and setup where they think their partners will hit the ball. A whistle blows and Bob and Ben tee-off then start running towards where they think Bob and Ben will hit their next shot and this continues until someone puts it in the hole. So you have to take turns hitting the ball, and the ball does not have to stop in order for you to hit it. I’d play that. Actually I’ll be giving this a shot soon, so let me know if you want in. No experience required.

Sprinklers
This is really simple. Why can’t the sprinklers be going on the course while we’re out there. Seems like a no-brainer.

Opposite of Strip-Golf
This would really only work in the summer, but it’s basically how it sounds. You lose a hole to your friend, you have to put on an additional article of clothing from the box of winter clothes you guys picked up at a yard sale earlier in the day. First one to tap-out loses. This could really be an important step in the cure for America’s obese epidemic. Well this and grilled chicken at KFC. Either way they’re both steps in the right direction.

Night Golf
Did you know that golf can only be played during the day? Why is that? I mean I know we have miniature golf but first of all that was created for women, and secondly the great things about golf, the meandering around a beautiful peaceful area, the sound of hitting the ball, the severe lack of screams coming from the bumper boat area are non-existent in the putt-putt world. So if I owned a golf course, I would deck that place out with Christmas lights similar to what they do at the Phoenix Zoo. We’d play a little soft music over some outdoor speakers, the balls would have LED lights in them so you could find them and instead of a flag in the hole we’d have a tiki torch. Heck I’d go there just to hang out, much less play a game.

Golf has been stagnant too long. If I learned anything from standing around that pool of murky, non moving, puddle looking for my ball it was that stagnation is bad and breeds mosquitos which carry diseases. So it’s time to change golf before someone gets sick.

Mon: I like Driving

I think most guys enjoy driving. Maybe it’s instinctual, the ability to go fast makes us better hunter/gatherers and we can better claim dominion over this planet that God gave us. Except somewhere along the lines people forgot the purpose of going fast (myself included) and now just go fast for going fast’s sake, and anytime you’re doing X for X sake there’s a good chance X just might be getting abused. Outside of activities requiring a radar detector or at least an eagle eyed passenger there’s a bunch of other things I enjoy about driving.

I’ve heard this from a lot of people and personally find it to be overwhelmingly true: driving can be very peaceful. Obviously I’m not talking about that bumper-to-bumper stuff when you’re already 10 minutes late and the guy in front of you keeps threatening to switch lanes but never actually does. I mean the regular driving, where it’s quiet and you have time to just think, listen to music or podcasts (but definitely not talk radio), and just kind of coast and reflect. It’s hugely cathartic. In fact if cars were around in King David’s time he wouldn’t have written most of Psalms. Whenever he was feeling that need to refocus he would’ve looked at his harp, looked at his Lincoln Navigator, looked at his harp….and hopped in his Navigator (I don’t really see David as a sports car or Ferrari type of guy). He would've just drove around his Kingdom, talking to God, listening to Ethan the Ezrahite on his MP3 player and feeling better about life.

While we’re talking about characters in the Bible who would’ve enjoyed driving, I’ll throw out Paul which ties nicely into my next point. Driving is so, so, so convenient. Living in this time in history sometimes I’ll just stop and try and realize the vast improvement in everyday things between the past and now, and I can never really grasp it. So sometimes I have to imagine how people of the past would have reacted to being in today's situations. Paul is a prime example, that guy would’ve considered taking on a second affliction in turn for making the missionary journeys in a Toyota. He could’ve avoided all those shipwrecks, and snakebites. So I try not to take the convenience part of driving for granted.

Finally I have a small control freak streak in me, so if you thought at some point in this entry “oh yea riding in cards is nice” you’d be close but not right. Driving cars is nice; being able to control any object with that much potential is nice, watching someone else control and make decisions about that object is only ok. I can’t even explain the control thing, because really you’re at the mercy of the other 90 drivers on your little stretch of road so it should be something that people who enjoy being in control hate. mysteriously that’s not the case though.

Sometimes I wonder how much longer they’re going to let us drive before everything becomes automated for “safety”. I hope it’s not in my lifetime, or at the very least later on in my life after 2051 when my driver’s license expires (I love AZ). I just don’t think it would be the same to hop into some bubble that takes you where you tell it while you just sit there, because you wouldn’t just sit there. You’d have to bring along work or a textbook, or something to make sure you stay busy, always busy. Driving gives you an opportunity to look busy, feel productive while having your mind free from regular the craziness of work, school, or the dreaded "other". It’s a secret bonus time outside of quiet time, or bedtime that let’s you think about the things you’d always wanted to think about. I like that.