Quote:The reason I don't play more is that I live a block away from a trap and skeet club, and that comes 1000x more naturally to me than swinging clubs.
Plus, I guess I'm so self-conscious about how terrible I am at golf, I get embarrassed to even go try to get better. Kinda lame I guess.
The trick is to play with people who are worse than you or to go out with someone who doesn't take it seriously.
I've got two friends who both take their golf very seriously. It's almost comical how obsessed both of them are. One had a custom set of clubs made, and took all sorts of lessons just so he could at least look the part when he's out there. He's gotten better over the years, and he's a blast to play a round of golf with. As much as he works on his game, when he gets out there with us, he's just having a good time on the course with buddies. There are all sorts of side bets, and a ton of banter. He makes it entertaining.
The other guy has the top name brand equipment in the latest versions. He takes lessons. He even forces his daughters to play, and they hate it. He spends hundreds on their equipment, then gets ticked off when they don't want to go out and knock it around with dear old dad. This guy takes his golf very seriously, but you'd never know it if you're playing a round with him. Any time I talk to him, he's been on another business trip where he's playing very high profile courses as he's wooing clients. When I go out with him and play a round, it's one excuse after another as he hooks one shot, slices another. Suddenly his elbow is bothering him, or his back, or maybe he had too many beers. We've played in a few charity events together, and the other guys in our 4some hate playing with him because he gets so pissed off when he makes bad shots, which is quite often. I get a kick out of it because the guy is wired so tightly when it comes to his golf game, all it takes is a little ribbing to see him wilt, then it's game on. Let the comedy begin!
I go out with the same clubs I've had for about 5 years, and in each case, I can keep up with the first friend, and I usually beat the other guy, and I'm a very occasional golfer. I spend no time on the range working on my swing, or perfecting my game. I love going out cold and teeing it up. The more I warm up, the worse I play. It drives both of these guys nuts because I've always been able to do fairly well. At least as good or better than them.
On a side note, I've never done skeet shooting, but buddy #1 above has been talking about doing it for a little while now. His other obsession which I do share is shooting, but it's normally stationary paper targets at a range. He's been looking at places to do skeet shooting, and actually knows someone who does it on their property out in Bryceville. We're looking at doing that in a couple of weeks.