Hey Ladies, Get Out and Play Golf

This one is for all the ladies out there that have been interested in golf, but have been too chicken to try. Or maybe you see golf on TV and tune in only because you have gone several days with insufficient sleep and this is a sure fire way to get in a nap. I am here to tell you, you are missing out. Lucky for you, it is never too late to pick up the crazy addicting game called golf.

Load up the cooler ladies, we are on the tee box.

I am 41 years old and have only been playing golf regularly for about 3 years. I grew up in a small North Carolina town and my only exposure to golf as a child was when The Hardy Boys would be preempted on Sunday nights for some golf tournament. As you can imagine, this was excruciatingly painful as I anticipated my weekly date with Shaun Cassidy all Sunday long. The first time I picked up a golf club, aside from the occasional Putt Putt putter during summer trips to the outer banks, was in college. My roommate begged me to take golf with her for PE because her boyfriend played, and she needed to learn. I relented, and so it began. At the time, I was still harboring bad feelings towards golf because it was the prime reason my relationship with Shaun never took off, but after the first day of class, I realized there were lots of boys in this class and golf owed me. It was a four week class and I suffered through with my roommate only to put down my borrowed classroom clubs to turn my back on golf for a few more years.

I was in my twenties when I met my husband, and like every stupid girl in a fresh relationship, when the subject of golf came up, I barfed up, “I took golf in college.” Next date, the golf course. I borrowed some clubs and sucked it up for him. We played a couple of times a year, but he was in law school so time was limited, thankfully. We got married, had a couple of kids, kids grew to full time school age and suddenly I found myself back on the course for date time. We would be out there for what seemed like forever. I thought we would be nearing the end, and we were on hole #3. Seriously? Here is where it all changed. We met friends and started playing couples golf. Beer, dinner, and fun with friends was now involved. We even gave out prizes. And I’m not talking about ones for birdies and pars. We got prizes for first ball in the water, first lost ball and first swing and a miss. This was more like it. I started out riding in a cart with my husband and before we even realized it, the girls were teaming up to play against the husbands. Everything started to change when I was on the course with the girls. Namely, my husband wasn’t standing over me trying to “help” me. Now this was fun, and I went from only tolerating 9 holes to wondering how we got through 18 so fast.

Now I have a standing Friday game with the girls and lost Sunday nights with Shaun Cassidy have been long forgiven. I still occasionally play with my husband and son, but have found the way that golf works for me. And that ladies, is the secret. If you try to play with your husband, but find yourself just getting irritated at him, find some girlfriends that might be interested. Maybe you are the opposite and that is great too. My point is, give it a try and not just once. You don’t have to go out there and be a professional golfer, but you do need it to be fun. And believe me, you will get the stink eye from the men whose tee time is right behind yours. They think they own the courses. But what’s the worse that can happen? They act like asses and you let them play through. I know so many women that won’t play because they are so intimidated by the men. Times are changing my friends. So what if you hit like a girl. I have yet to run into a man on a golf course that can hit like Annika, a girl. Get in the game.