Golf Courses in Leeds

Golf is supposed to be an enjoyable game. We golf over and over again, because we love the game. So why do we beat ourselves up, just before we get off the first tee box? Have you ever heard yourself with a bunch of negative emotions before the golf round?

“Another day out on the golf course and my back is killing me.” Why would you even consider golfing, if it were painful? Why did those even consider golfing with a bad back? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“I have to get through this eighteen with the least amount of pain.” Why not play nine holes instead of eighteen? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“I am not too sure if the mental part of my game can take any more. It’s tough mentally when things just aren’t going right.” If your confused mentally, why even bother picking up a golf club? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“I hope this is not going to be another brutal round, like the other day?” When things are not going right, why not take a day off from golf and meditate instead? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“If I do not hit the fairway on the first tee box, I think I’ll quit playing golf after eighteen.” Why quit after eighteen when the first shot may be the reason to quit? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“If I do not make par on the first hole, I am not going to keep score for the rest of the round.” If your temper is that bad, why carry a scorecard at all? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“The first water hazard my ball ends up in, my golf clubs are going in with it.” Do yourself a favor and play with rentals. Why? All for the love of golf!

“I better not three putt any greens today. I’ll break my putter on the first three putt green, if I do.” Do yourself a favor and pick up for two. Why? All for the love of golf!

“Frosty will never see winter, if I get a snowman today.” Do not play golf with anybody by the nickname Frosty. Why? All for the love of golf!

To help avoid some of these negative emotions, booking a tee time in advance will help keep your mind on a positive level. Why? All for the love of golf!

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I like to think we all seemed to have our heroes and greats in our early years. Growing up in front of a television had us dashing around with a sword or packing a six-shooter at our side. Depending on what we were watching at the time, whether it was in front of a television or out on some field watching a football game. We all seemed to mimic someone at one time or another. In our early years finding someone we admired as a Mentor kind of kept the spirit alive in direction and where we are today.

I often wondered back how I caught on to what some people call golf fever. Thinking back I often admired good golfers where I caddied. How I remembered getting excited when I watched a good golfer walk towards the first tee box. Standing there in anticipation of a huge drive to follow as the golfer teed up his ball, remembering how they maneuvered the golf ball off the tee box, watching the shot rise with a steady climb as it went out into the distance. I had to figure out then and there on how they did that by grabbing a stick or a nearby branch of any length and mimicking their swing. I use to take buckets of golf balls out to the practice range to try and accomplish that remarkable hitting distance. It just made me a better golfer trying.

Names like Kendal and Nadler sparked my excitement that took me where I am today in golf. To this day, because of my admiration of their golf game back then, it fired up the enthusiasm for years of golf that followed. The names may not have recognition to anybody else, but to me they were like a Palmer and Nicklaus as their names are to anybody today in the golf industry.

Kendal I admired because of his ability to take trees and woods out of play. His shots started out low with a steady climb upwards at about 200 yards out. His drives were so huge. I think then and there is where I caught the fever. His 5 wood took all the trees out of play. With today’s technology, I would like to view those same shots again.

Nadler was a different type of golfer. She liked to play a low draw shot or fade shot. Her ability to move a ball in any direction was uncanny. Going up and over trees was not her game. Nadler steered her golf shots around them, like she was navigating a vehicle on an obstacle course. Her golf game was kind of like, hit the ball just before the green and watch it bounce past a sand trap and roll in towards the flagstick. Nadler could steer the ball around sand traps, trees, and whatever obstacles that were in her way. I often thought her golf ball had eyes, because of how her golf shots would start out straight and come back in towards the flagstick. It was amazing to watch. I learned from her that a straight shot was not the only golf shot you needed to master to play good golf. Also playing the old bump and run approach is an alternative game to play, that she was a master at.

It was because of them, my enthusiasm for golf took me to a better game. I didn’t even think about watching it on television at the time. Sure I enjoy watching it on television today. You tend to slow down and take a more relaxed approach, or what you may call a golf couch approach at the game, as you get older. I guess the golf fever for me then, was being able to play golf like my Mentors, and there was nothing more enjoyable than actually trying to create a golf swing like theirs out on the course. I liked to think of them as Mentors, because it was them that taught me the potential thrill of playing good golf.

No matter what game of sports you play or want to learn. It could work for all walks of life. Go out and watch someone that is much better than you, and see if you can catch the excitement, to be as good, if not better. It could bring you to the top. If you’re persistent!

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What country invented ‘golf?’ Many countries did. If there were sticks and objects that could be hurtled along, then there was ‘golf.’ No one knows for certain who started golf. But everybody knows who plays it now — everyone does.

The origin of the name ‘golf’ is believed to be the Dutch word of ‘colf,’ which means ‘club.’ In the medieval ages, golf was also known as “spel metten colve,’ which literally meant ‘game with clubs.’

Nearly every area around the world has some claim to the origination of golf. Scotland, of course, has its claim. But so do China, Rome, England, France, Holland, Belgium, even Laos. Every country has a game consisting of sticks and balls, and every country is correct in its assumption that it invented the game. But there is no one country where ‘golf’ actually began.

Still, Scotland is widely considered to be birthplace of golf. And it began haphazardly, a way of hitting a pebble or other roundish object into a hole by means of a stick or club.

Edinburgh, Scotland, claimed the first golfing society. The Gentlemen Golfers – later known as the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and today in residence at Muirfield – claim their club was already under way in 1744.

The first inter-Scotland club matches were played in 1857. The world would wait until 1860 for the first British Open to be played.

The British Open was being played 35 years before the U.S. Open. It has been called “The World Open.” Players from around the globe participate, as they have for a century or more. The British Open is all-inclusive. The U.S. Open has been moving in that direction for the last decade. But the British Open has been accepting a cast from around the world since the turn of the century.

It is not known for certain when golf came to America — only that when it got a toehold in the 20th century, America became the world leader in great players. By 1900, the explosion of the game in America was complete. Proof was that, at the turn of the century, there were more golf clubs in the United States than there were in Britain.

Tiger Woods came upon the scene in 1996. He won eight times in 1999, nine times in 2000, and won the four major championships in succession in 2000-2001, starting with the U.S. Open in 2000. Should his career be as successful in his 30s and 40s as it has been in his 20s, he will assume the mantle of “best player ever.”

Women have played a very large part in the history of golf, even before the last half of the 20th century when they finally achieved equality with men. Records of ladies playing golf exist all the way back to the time of Mary Queen of Scots.

Visit the French Connections website frenchconnections.co.uk for Golf Holidays in France.

Tags: Golf History by admin
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