Nice post @CarlSpackler. I wonder how many folks over the years have taken up the game believing it would come easy.

It seems comical now, but thinking back to that first round, I'd hoped a high level of play would come "naturally". I'd teach myself, because I'm different than everyone else. When progress was slow (surprise, surprise), I went to YouTube. Funny how many instructors end their little YouTube presentations with "If you do this drill", or "use this swing thought"..."I guarantee you'll be hitting more fairways" or "sinking more putts" or whatever.

Really, you guarantee it... what will you do if I don't?

After almost two painful seasons, I decided to get lessons. I remember being bummed because I had to break down and get professional help. The thought never crossed my mind that it wouldn't help me improve, only how much it sucked that my inevitable accent to single-digit golf would require that PGA Pro knowledge. Good instructor/poor instructor wasn't even on my radar.

It took a couple of years and several reality checks, but I slowly started to realize how difficult this game is and how much work it takes just to get to the level of being barely capable. I still get a kick out of instructors who believe they can "teach almost anyone to break 80". I guess delusion isn't reserved only for new golfers.

If you can't respect this game for the difficulty it presents (disregarding the marketing/business side of it) you're either really, really talented, or you've never tried to improve.

A very astute observation.  I vaguely recall a story Gary Player told.  A man was watching Gary hit balls and said something like, "What I wouldn't do to hit balls like that."  Gary turned to him and said, "That's the problem, you won't do the things necessary to hit the ball like me.  I have hit balls for hours each day until my hands bled."  As with most things in life, investing time and effort yield results.  Golf is not an easy game.  

Good Blog entry.

Very few of us have the time. I wish I did, I really do. Golf is a wonderful reprieve from the pressure cooker of life & responsibility. Of course it's more fun if you can stay in the short grass, as they say. But even bogie golf beats work :)

@JonMA1 I also hoped the game might come naturally. When it didn't, I went to YouTube for answers. When that failed me too I broke down and took lessons. I'm still taking lessons. They are frustrating but they are helping. 

When I started playing this game I had a very modest goal to break 100. No longer satisfied with breaking 100, now the bar is a little bit higher. I think that's a trend that never stops, even if you reach single-digit status, scratch, or whatever. Golf always dangles a carrot for players.

Circling back to the original point, if I suddenly came into a vast amount of money and free time, I would absolutely be out there practicing or playing 4-6 hours every single day. I'm lucky this time of year to get 4 hours of practice a week. 

On 12/15/2016 at 1:39 PM, Kalnoky said:

Golf always dangles a carrot for players

That seems to be the one thing we all have in common regardless of skill level.