One of the things I've been thinking about as a part of my weight loss goals is that I'd like to start doing some kind of outdoor activity again. Of course, here in Seattle that often means slogging around in the rain during the 7 rainy months of the year, but last summer I got out on the golf course for the first time since college, and actually really enjoyed myself, not to mention the fact that lugging a golf bag around for even nine holes burned almost a thousand calories for me. So, in all of our talk about planning a Disney wedding, the idea of playing golf at Disney World kept creeping back into my mind.
When I was a kid, we would go to Disney World as a family and, invariably, on the buses we would take around the property there would be signs advertising the Disney World golf courses. Growing up, no one I knew played golf, and when I say I played some golf in college I really mean I got to drink beer and ride on a golf cart while badly swatting at a ball on a badly-maintained course in Knoxville, TN. I had no training, and no real experience other than my friends trying to teach me what they knew. And yet, every time I'd see one of those ads for Disney golfing, I always thought, "Man, that would be an experience that I would love to have." I'll be the first to admit that it's a bit weird to pine for a golfing experience when you don't even play golf, but that should be a testament to the allure of the Disney World golf courses (and a feather in the cap of whatever advertising agency put those ads together).
All of this has combined together to give me a new goal for our honeymoon: I want to play golf in Disney World. However, I don't want to stumble around one of the nicest golf courses in the world like a total schmuck, which means I need to do two things: learn how to play golf, and lose a lot of weight so I look good on the golf course (which is conveniently something I already plan on doing). As for learning how to play golf, conveniently I live within about 5 minutes of a public golf course that is really nice and offers lessons. So, dragging my coworker/fellow gamer/new dad/partner in my arrested development, who I will call the Guru since that's what he uses for an online handle, along with me, I took my first of what bodes to be many golf lessons today.
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| The Mickey Mouse head sand trap: a place where I expect to spend lots of time. |
The first lesson couldn't have gone better. I told my instructor right up front that my goal was to be able to play 9 holes of golf in Disney World and make a good showing of myself, and that I had until next April to learn how to do so. The instructor was totally on board with the idea, and though he's a pretty reserved guy I think he appreciated my desire to learn the right way to play as opposed to just messing around on the course.
Together, the Guru and I learned that basically everything we've been doing all this time is wrong. He showed us the right way to grip and swing the club, and by the end of the one-hour lesson two things were apparent: one, my hands were so unused to the right way to hold the club that they were going to hurt, and two, we were already improving significantly by the end of the lesson. I think this is going to be good for me, because it will give me a new way to exercise and burn some calories, even just on the driving range, and come the beautiful summer in Seattle I'll have something fun to do outdoors. My only hope is that 15 months is enough time to obtain a respectable amount of skill so I can acquit myself well in Disney World.
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