Ever thought about why you love this game? I mean, seriously, if you are like me, you find yourself more frustrated with the game than enjoying the game, right? Yet, we keep coming back for more. Why? Is it some sick, twisted innate desire to torture ourselves?

I think we could collectively come up with a million reasons like camaraderie with friends, the drinks and the smack talking post round (and during a round of course), the walk (or the ride), the scenery, being away from the office, chores at home, etc.!

I love all of those things stated above and probably more, but what I really love is hitting it pure. You know what I mean. It’s that one shot that jumps off the clubface with seemingly little to no effort. The thrill is like a drug coursing through the face to the shaft to your hands and through your entire body!

Two years ago, my daughter asked me to take her to the range after watching “A Stroke of Genius” for the umpteenth time (who knew a 10 year old girl would like that movie let alone be inspired to try the game as a result!). We went, and she showed a bit of natural ability and loved every minute. On the way home, I asked her what she liked so much about it.

“Um, well, you know the stoke you get when you catch a wave surfing?” She answered.

“I can’t really catch waves,” I replied. “But I will take your word for it.”

She giggled because she knows I stink at surfing and said, “well, that’s what it feels like when I hit a good shot. It just feels so cool. Does that make sense?”

Does it ever I thought to myself. Her wise words really summed it up. It’s that one shot, which typically for me comes at the end of the round, that pulls me right back in, keeping me from committing golfing suicide and giving up the game. Like a drug, it takes hold and won’t let go!

For me, I remember my first pure shot like it was yesterday. It was my first “real” round of golf. I spent the first 16 holes worm-burning every single shot. It was so bad that I am sure there wasn’t a worm on that course that has not been the same since. Then we came to the 17th, a par three. My friend, who was an avid golfer and the reason I was on the course, said, “just close your eyes and hope.”

I didn’t close my eyes, but I swung and I hoped and the ball popped off the face as pure as can be. It was an out-of-body experience. It literally felt like some other force caused the ball to fly toward the green. I looked up and saw that beautiful white sphere soaring through the air, like a heat-seeking missile, with a right-to-left draw and land in the middle of the green about ten feet from the hole. I can still see it in my mind like it was yesterday. That was 22 years ago!

Now what happened when I got to the green you ask? Well, don’t ask, please. The putting did not matter. I was hooked for life, and I still search for that stoke, as my daughter so poetically put it, of a perfect shot.

That to me is why I love the game. That is why I am and will always be a Golfing Fanatic!

… Oh yeah, and I love taking money off my friends too!