Commentary: A better golf experience for all
By Chris Wallace
As spring approaches and weather improves across the country, golfers everywhere will be making their long-awaited return to the golf course sooner than later.
Of course, at the top of every golfer’s wish list is to play the best golf of their lives in 2012.
To achieve that goal, there are numerous things that everyone should be doing that we’ve discussed here at The Weekly fix. That list includes but is not limited to having your clubs re-gripped and your loft and lie angles checked, establishing some attainable goals for the new season, devoting more time to working on your short game and finding a qualified teaching professional to help you identify problem areas in your swing.
If you do those things, your game will benefit, there’s no question about it.
But what we at SwingFix would also like to see all of you do this year is a great job of making golf more enjoyable for everyone around you, and there are many ways in which you can make that happen.
Here are two areas that you should commit to positively addressing on the links in 2012. In fairness, many of you are probably already taking these measures, but these are things EVERYONE should be doing for the good of the game:
1. Take care of the golf course: It’s not that hard folks, in addition to replacing your divots, fixing your ball marks and raking bunkers you play from, take the extra few seconds it might take when it’s not your turn to play to fix a few extra ball marks on the greens or fill a few divots near where you played from with sand. You can easily do this without being a distraction to those you’re playing with or holding up play. Neglecting the golf course and not doing your best to keep the course in the best condition possible is without question an overlooked breach of etiquette, and there’s absolutely no excuse for it since everyone who plays this game would like the best course conditions possible. So do your part in that respect.
2. Be ready to play when it’s your turn: Slow play is ruining the game of golf. Period. There is nothing wrong with being deliberate in your pre-shot routine or taking a little extra time over a critical shot or putt. But you have to be ready to play when it’s your turn. While your playing partners are preparing for and hitting shots, there’s no reason why without being a distraction you can’t have figured out the yardage for your next shot and pulled a club, studied the line of the putt you’re about to hit or settled on which wedge you want to use for the chip shot you’re about to play. This is a game that’s about honor, integrity, etiquette and courtesy, all of which should dictate that you don’t be THE guy who has the whole course backed up because you’re wasting time standing around. And if you play with THAT guy on a regular basis, it’s your duty to make him aware of the problem.