Una mirada al golf amateur (I)

A look at amateur golf (I)

A couple of days ago, when @fermionico announced to the entire @fulldeportes community that he had chosen me to replace that great bastion that is @pacoandujar, I made my first publication as such commenting on the absence, or at least the little activity, which shows the community in publications about many sports that are followed and practiced by millions of people around the world and that have great coverage in specialized media.

Those of us who eventually lead the number one sports community in the Hive ecosystem have several responsibilities. One is to try to set an example, in the best way and with the tools we have.

Therefore, friends, here I begin to make a little more visible a sport that I am passionate about and that I practice, a sport that I love for keeping me active, for giving me and all people of any age the possibility of playing and having fun, to compete with ourselves, to enjoy nature and the outdoors, in short, to make life a little more pleasant.

A short time ago I read an interview that was done with Tiger Woods; For those who don't know him, the most successful professional golfer of the last 30 years, at some point it was thought that he would break all the current records in number of tournaments won and mainly the Grand Slams, those tournaments known as "majors" that are played only 4 in each season, the greatest winner of all time is "the golden bear" Jack Nicklaus with 18 majors under his belt and Tiger seemed like he would dethrone him, however physical and personal problems acted against him and he was left at 14, some They think that he could still achieve some more if he physically recovers from his latest ailments and a car accident, although I recognize his enormous capacity, I doubt he can achieve it.

Tiger was asked in that interview what advice he would give to fans to improve their game and the great golfer said that simply stopping watching videos, going to a driving range, and throwing balls, is the best way to improve day by day. I fully agree.

I try to do exactly that and this Saturday I went with my partner of late, my son-in-law, to one of the few golf courses in the Federal Capital of Argentina; Yes, there are many in the province of Buenos Aires, a quantity that would surprise the most passionate of unsuspecting golfers. Golf is a sport with many followers and practitioners in my country, a British heritage although we are Latin, a sport that we knew how to embrace with passion at the time when the English came to build the railway network, which at that time was the most extensive and complex. from all of South America.

The José Jurado golf course is close to my house, just 10 minutes away by car. In addition to having a beautiful and difficult 18-hole design, it has a good practice field where they rent balls to shoot until we get tired. It also has a putting green and a chipping area to practice all the shots and with all possible clubs.

The open area is marked with signs and flags that indicate the distance and possible objectives, not only do you have to hit far but also as accurately as possible, something difficult to achieve consistently since coordination and concentration decisively influence each shot. Not to mention external factors such as the seat of the ball, the wind and sometimes rain, and other environmental and climatic factors.

In addition to the sticks, we brought some additional items, in our case the mate of course, and a bottle with cold water since the heat begins to be felt as we approach the beginning of summer. The glove that appears in the photograph where the mate also appears, is a necessary element to hold the club and prevent it from slipping, only one is used and on the left hand for right-handed players, obviously on the right hand for left-handed players, The less skilled arm is in charge of holding and guiding the club until it hits the ball and beyond, it seems like a contradiction, but it is true.

The chairs and the bucket and brush to clean the clubs after each session are additional services of the practice field and do not carry an additional cost, only the balls that we are going to throw, the bucket containing 100 of them is the most common thing that is purchased, sometimes that amount is not enough and we buy additional rafts, as long as the fatigue does not hit hard, we continue pulling.

The clubs are divided into two large groups: irons and woods, although there are no longer clubs with wooden heads, only the name remains, now the woods are made of aluminum and other light and resistant alloys. In recent years, the so-called hybrids have come into use, a mixture of iron and wood (due to the shape) that gives them some advantages and also disadvantages. A curious fact is that professionals hardly use them, only a few have that type. of sticks in their bags.

The irons are numbered from 1 to 9 and as the number increases, the shaft becomes shorter and the head has a greater inclination, therefore, with longer clubs more distance is achieved thanks to the greater leverage (more length). but the flight of the ball is lower, it comes out lower. With shorter clubs you achieve less distance, but greater elevation and rotation, more control and precision. An additional fact, by regulation, it is prohibited to carry more than 14 clubs in the bag, therefore, with so many offers coming in we will be forced to select what we will include when we go to play, the decision will depend on the type of course and holes to play, although Among amateurs that are hardly taken into account, they use what they have, many do not even reach that number of clubs in their bag.

Then come the special clubs: pitching wedge, gap wedge, and sand wedge, there are some others, but I don't want to make you dizzy in this first installment. Just say that they are used for short shots around the green and to get the ball out of sand traps.

Among the woods, the driver or 1 wood is the largest and most impressive of all the clubs, of course, because of its size, but also because of the distances obtained with it, some professionals can throw the ball up to almost 400 meters under conditions ideal, in my case it's just luck that I can reach 250, but at 68 years old I can't complain.

My routine includes practicing with irons first starting with the 7, the 5, and the 9, then some hybrids, I have a 5 and a 3, to finish the drive for which you have to move to one side where the distance is lengthened until the end of the practice field, it is a matter of security because beyond the fence that indicates the end of the practice area, is the fairway of one of the holes on the course where players pass all the time.

The last thing is to move to the putting green area where we practice the most difficult of shots, where the game is defined, holding the ball into the hole.

For now, I think it is enough to start, there will be more approaches to this beautiful game and I look forward to your contributions and comments.