I am, what I would consider to be, an unlikely golfer. I'm a fierce liberal who went through a rebelleous skateboarding phase back in the late 80's but never ceased to keep a sort of "alternative" edge. Needless to say, I would never be catagorized as (to use to potentially outdated terms) a prep or a jock.
I like loud, dissonant indie rock, punk and post-punk music and prefer not to shave. I don't like beach or resort vacations, malls, planned communities or the blanding of America.

However, back in March I began golfing with a friend of mine on the weekends. I had always enjoyed going to the driving range as a sort of release of agressions (who doesn't like whacking a ball really hard?) but never even considered owning a set of clubs. After these excursions I became hooked. And doubly so when my wife and I moved again and I was left without any friends around. I went out as often as I could and took great joy in putting together a set of clubs that worked for me.

Then things went even further south. My wife began acting differently, I was unemployed for around 3 months, but then found a job. I discovered that my wife had been cheating on me (without sleeping with him, although it made little difference) just as I started my new job (which happened to be providing a very high degree of stress at that very moment).

My employers took pity on my personal life situation and offered me an opportunity to work as a contractor at a client of ours in a different city for 5-6 weeks just to get me out of town for a while.

So here I find myself, starting a new and unfamiliar career (temporarily) in a far off city, with a marriage that has about a 50% chance of survival. But golf has been there. Every weekend I delight in finding myself out on the course, thinking about nothing but where my next shot is going, no matter what happened with my previous shot. It's a great lesson and the most positive thing going right now. And through it all I've made significant progress, getting better at every aspect of the game. It's a healthy activity that removes me from all stress and takes me outside to new and beautful places.

Thank you golf.

I know that I don't know any of you and this may matter very little to most of you, but something in me wanted to write an appreciation of the game today.

Thanks for sharing Mr. duffer.

My wife told me it was either her or golf! Damn I'm gonna miss her.....

\/\/Your story epitomizes my quote.\/\/

my life has been hard the last couple years. I watched my dads health slowly deteriorate over a year from cancer before passing way about a year ago. I then proceeded to go to four separate funerals in the same church over the next 8 months, losing people that meant a lot to me. Now i am 3000 miles away from my home, going to college in North Carlolina while my mom continues to live in Seattle, WA. Through it all golf was the only thing that took my mind off it all, fours hours of serenity.

so thanks for sharing, and thank you golf.

mike

i'm sorry to hear about your struggles, but it is wonderful to see someone who is able to take such joy out of hitting a little white ball. its good to see that instead of drinking or drugs you've turned to golf. growing up, my vice was the beach and mountain biking. now, living in texas, the beach isn't there and after a few too many serious crashes i've lost the edge, and unfortunately the enjoyment in mountain biking (and also the ability to see my toes when standing). golf has been a great stress reliever, still gets me outside, and actually has been cheaper than mountain biking (lots of crashes means breaking stuff often).