As a youth, it was about how far the distance and how low the score with some fantasy thrown in of being like someone whom in fact I'd never be.
I'm not pro material (laughingly). Jay Sigel's the poster boy for keeping the dream alive for the affluently aged, but he was a great player that couldn't go pro earlier for other reasons. So I'm not going to make a miraculous post mid-life appearance on the Champions Tour. My friends tend to not count things so scores don't matter much, and got too much stuff already, so more shiny kit for kit's sake isn't an option. So having to reflect a bit on the purpose.
Why do this?
One of the things I've been passionate about for the last 30 years or so has been fly fishing. Over time, I've come to enjoy it as a mirror for interesting perspectives on life. And see the world. Meet and hang with good mates from all walks of life over making it really hard to catch a fish you'll then release. Maybe golf similarly offers new insights. Probably. But be a monk if I really wanted that in spades.
So far, I've chosen purpose to be, not score or handicap or best kit, but to be able to master the mechanics to the point where the game embedded in the course design is revealed, so that playing the game becomes the game it was intended to be by the designer of the course. I know about St. Andrews but never played it. I'd want to be able to play it, to play the mind game programmed into that place, rather than being blinded from that by my own incompetence (and unconsciousness) with the mechanics of hitting the ball here or there or wherever it needs to be, modulated further by the physics and the environment (inside and out) at that time. So, purpose of mind and body transcending mechanics so I can play the game of golf, rather than be out there trying to hit the ball around and being able to say I played that and shot that.
Ever imperfect, it's a game of odds as well. So, a bit of gaming I'm sure will find me on the route one way or another.
That feels right.
(via Jiro on iPhone)