04/01/2025
Introduction
There is a wonderful golf course available to any golfer that finds their way to it. It is free and open to the public, in fact, the greens fees have already been paid for by the owner and designer of the course. It’s certainly the best golf course anyone could play. All are invited, and no one is turned away. Many are even invited personally, and yet few ultimately tee off on this course and play to the finish. It’s a course far superior to any other and curiously, it’s less often played.
The thing is, there’s so many other courses, most people don’t bother. And why should they? The joys of golf can be experienced virtually anywhere. And most people accept the game for what it is. You hit some good shots. You hit some bad shots. You lose some golf balls, you get frustrated, you try to improve, and maybe you will a little. Maybe even if you work very hard at it you will impress others or get very pleased with yourself momentarily. You’ll never feel like a great golfer, but that’s fine. It’s just golf anyway - an impossible game with relentlessly unfair expectations, where somehow you have to hit near perfect shots just to maybe get “par” or “average” by hitting a ball smaller than a chicken egg with a club that looks like a crooked stick, hundreds of yards between water hazards, sand traps, trees, rocks, and the like, into a hole not much bigger than the chicken egg you started with. And you may play this golf game with other people, which is the only thing that makes it somewhat tolerable to keep trying, because it almost masks the cold hard truth of this golf game: it’s just you out there, with whatever tools you brought in your golf bag, against the impossible course and the unrealistic expectations written on your scorecard and held in your own mind.
But those who have stepped onto this other course experience something different. They say golf for them will never be the same. It’s no longer just golf, it’s a truer, fuller, more satisfying experience than they’ve ever had. On this course when you check in, they will not let you begin your round without an introduction to the great caddie. The great caddie knows everything there is to know about this course, and has even shot a perfect round on it himself. He also seems to know everything about your own game. As he warms up slowly with you to begin your round, his insight on your habits, mindset, and golf swing is uncanny. He assures you he will walk the course with you every step and very shot to the last putt. He insists on carrying your bag and is willing to advise on any situation you find yourself in. Then he brings his own scorecard and suggests that anytime you don’t like your shot, hit another one. And anytime you still don’t like your score, he will write it down as his score, and swap his score for yours. (So you can take the birdie and he’ll take the triple bogey when you fall to pieces in that bunker.) He even says that when you get to the clubhouse, your official scorecard will be turned in, and if you have a perfect round, you’ll be invited back to play this beautiful course again. If not, however, it’s back to the municipal course with no caddie. You ask who decides his official score and he explains that your caddie does. He has the authority to give scores as he sees fit since he has the only perfect round on record.
Those that play this course, few as it may be, report that they will never play golf elsewhere. The sweat and the struggle still exist on the course less played, but the beauty of the course, the freedom from heavy expectations, and the friendship of the great caddie can never be replaced. This is the way golf was meant to be played.
