I have a friend – let’s call him Shane – who recently announced via a group text message that he has surrendered the fight and, effective immediately, he is retiring from golf.
His message began, “Dear Golf, It is with a heavy heart that I must bid you farewell.”
He went on to talk about how he no longer feels the enthusiasm he once felt for playing this game and how the joy has seeped away.
Yada, yada, yada.
The letter concludes, “Farewell Golf. It has been an honor and a pleasure.”
Again, yada, yada, yada.
Who among us hasn’t felt the same way?
In fact, I’ve seen similar letters from other golfers who insist they’re done and have gone so far as to put it in writing.
If you’ve played enough, you’ve threatened to quit a few times, and maybe you’ve gone through with it, for a few days.
It’s as natural as the morning dew and, like that dew, it usually disappears.
Tom Brady and our guy both gone – for good?
My wife tells me I quit twice a year, and that sounds about right. It’s more of a dark and stormy threat than an actual ceasefire because I continue to get billed monthly for my club dues, and eventually I go back to chunking chip shots.
My friend – again, let’s call him Shane – drew the expected reaction from his text chain.
What does he plan to do with all of those Scotty Cameron putters?
Will he sell his Pinehurst house and, if so, for how much?
Did this decision send a shiver through the financial forecasts of multiple golf equipment companies?
But like Michael Corleone said all those years ago, just when he thought he was out, the game pulled him back in again.
Five days away can feel like a lifetime.
Welcome back – until the next time.
Ron Green Jr.
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