Why I Got Into Golf

Golf has always been quietly hanging around in the background of my life, something I saw dads and uncles play, something on TV in the background on Sundays, something I knew existed, but never once thought, “I should try that.”

Until I met my husband.

When we first started dating, so many of our “dates” were at the driving range. It was sweet, him patiently teaching me how to hold a club, how to swing, how not to shatter my pride in front of all the serious golfers nearby. But let’s be honest… it was also incredibly intimidating. He went to school for golf. He’s been playing nearly his whole life. He’s really good.

I, on the other hand, had one brief, slightly tipsy experience with golf before him — at an adult summer camp (yes, those exist and yes, it was magical) where a Scottish counselor taught a group of girls how to swing a club. He told me I had a “natural swing,” which I didn’t fully understand but obviously clung to like a compliment I’d waited my whole life to hear. A couple of beers in, and I was pretty sure I was Tiger Woods.

Fast-forward to my early dates with Duke (my now husband), and suddenly I was trying to impress him while also unlearning every anxious habit I’d picked up from nervous energy and adult summer camp swing theory. I was overthinking every motion, trying so hard to “get it right” that I forgot the simple truth of golf: You just have to swing.

Once I stopped overthinking and just let it fly, something surprising happened: I could actually hit the ball. Sometimes even well. And even though he’s still way better than me (let the record show: he’s still annoyingly good), I realized something deeper was keeping me in the game.

I love playing because it’s ours. It’s something we do together — something that mixes our personalities so perfectly: his calm patience and technical skill, and my fiery competitiveness and refusal to quit.

And yes, I stay in it because I want to beat him. SO badly.

(Thank goodness for the tee box advantage.)

But I also stay in it because it’s one of the rare places in life where I can channel all that competitive energy in a fun, focused, playful way.

And every time we’re out in the garage in the simulator and I say, “Let’s play a game,” I mean it.

I want to win.

I want to laugh.

And I want to keep playing.

Because what started as me trying to impress a boy has turned into something that impresses me, how far I’ve come, how fun it can be, and how much life there is to be lived, one swing at a time.