In the small town where I grew up, life was all about team sports; baseball, soccer and basketball.
Golf ranked well below tennis on the scale of cool and only slightly above the lowly position held by the cheerleaders and their pompoms. The high school golf team consisted of a half dozen mop-headed young men hoping to fill an off-season with a sport… any sport… even one with heroes named Arnie and Jack. Plaid was out; tie dyed was in. A non-contact sport steeped in tradition and history that appeared to progress at a snail’s pace just didn’t peek our interest in the wild and crazy days of the 60’s and 70’s.
Our little village was filled with working class families, wide open fields and kettle ponds not country club members, grassy fairways and swimming pools. Golf still had the reputation of a sport for the idle rich. Though well-heeled visitors thronged to our shores in the summer months they came to beach and boat, and to fish and frolic, not to while away their days on fairways and greens. Certainly the blue-collar fathers that formed the foundation of our neighborhoods did not have the time or energy to waste on a round of golf; and our mothers, of course, were busy tending to house and home. Or so we thought.
Not so very far away, just twenty five miles to the east, in another small town nearly identical to the first, a municipal golf course opened in 1966. It is doubtful that anyone involved at the time had a hint of the stature those eighteen holes would come to possess or the influence Dennis Pines Golf Course would have on its municipality. No one surely predicted how golf would become a mainstream sport in the years to come.
I have very few regrets in life, but one is that I didn’t take up golf at an earlier age. Had I known then what I know now about the game of golf, I doubt it would have taken me forty years to make a pilgrimage to Dennis Pines. I have found my mecca.
Like many golf courses, the Pines provides a sense of community, a town within the township itself. While we are not all linked by an extensive genealogical background, as members we are bound together, none the less, by our commitment to and love for the game of golf. With a third generation of golfers now hitting the link at the Pines, I can’t help but wish to have been a part of its history. I feel lucky to have married into such a dynasty and privileged to play along side the skilled players who have called the course home from the beginning.
I had a perfectly lovely childhood, don’t get me wrong, and have benefited greatly from the many lessons learned from the organized sports in which I participated. I have nothing against team sports and still have friends who play on softball leagues and hockey teams and recognize the enjoyment of their chosen pastimes. Personally, these days I prefer the solitary pursuit of perfection that golf provides.
I envy the low handicappers who took their first swings of a golf club while in grade school. Perhaps if I had traded my shin guards for spikes and my mitt for a golf glove I would now stand over a golf ball with the confidence of decades of play behind me. A childhood spent throwing in wedges to pins instead of shooting hoops in the gym would serve me well now.
What I wouldn’t give to have grown up spending long summer days on the course, passing hours on the range and putting green, walking the fairways until dusk made it impossible to see.
Would I - could I - have shaped a game of consistency and accuracy? Would I have learned to better trust my swing? If I had venerated Arnie and Jack instead of Mickey and Wilt would I grasp the intricacies of the game that much better and execute my shots accordingly?
I have years ahead to perfect my game. What more could I ask for? I have a championship course on which to play, a challenging layout within a wonderful golfing community. A roster of talented players have sprung from this fine municipal course, both past and present, professional and amateur. One can only strive to learn from their accomplished swings and their devotion to the game.
To what degree I accomplish my goals depends not on the golf I have played in the past but on the golf I will play in the future.
