Exploring the links between golf and poetry
My own experience. How about yours?
TOO MANY
Guitars or putters,
If you’ve ever bought any;
Chances are good
That you’ve bought too many.
Leon S White, PhD
Note: My book Golf Course of Rhymes is currently selling for $7.28 on Amazon (a 25% discount). Haven’t seen that before. Stories of golf and golf history illustrated with poetry going back to 1638. Put in two years of research; an interesting read if the link between golf and poetry is of interest.
Who Knows?
“Do it”; “Don’t do it,”
Nutritional advice.
Just like you hear
About curing your slice!
Leon S White, PhD
My last Blog post looked at Tiger’s impressive return from the true golf fan’s point of view. Below is a more cynical view of Tiger’s latest comeback.
Wood$
Tiger’s play –
The best in years;
Golf’s retailers –
Leading the cheers.
Leon S White, PhD
Now that it’s golf season, friends ask if I’m still playing. The answer is that I plan to, but probably not as frequently as in younger days. As I have mentioned previously, I’m now playing guitar again. And, as I practice most days an hour or two, I am making good progress. So as I point out in the four lines below, at age 82, there is a reason for my bias towards guitar.
At 82 (Age not Score)
I’m asked, “Are you still playing?”
I answer, “golf or guitar?”
With guitar I’m making progress;
With golf, I’m lowering the bar.
Leon S White, PhD
Two years ago I published a group of poems under the title, Opposites in Golf. All of the the book’s poems focus on golf terms and their opposites. The fun is in the poetic path I take to get from one to the other. In order to give my poems wider availability, I have decided to share them my Blog. So here is the first with more to come.
HOOKS AND SLICES
What is the opposite of hook?
Eye you say with a fishy look.
Fish reminds of hook and line,
Then bait’s the answer to assign.
A hook is also a cager’s shot;
A jumper might oppose or not.
But with golf, what the duffer fears –
Get rid of a hook and a slice appears.
( Note: For non-basketball fans, a “cager” is a basketball player and “hooks” and “jumpers” are descriptive of two kinds of basketball shots.)
If you need an inexpensive present for an avid golfer, the book is available on Amazon for $4.50. (https://www.amazon.com/Opposites-Golf-Portrayed-Poetry-Opposed/dp/0983213712/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525799821&sr=1-1&keywords=Opposites+in+golf)
In the early 20th Century, for the most part, golf was a men’s game. One famous amateur golfer/writer of the times, Horace Hutchinson, went so far as to assert, “Constitutionally and physically women are unfitted for golf.”
I recently came across a old golf book, Rhymes of a Duffer (1914), by Philip Q. Loring. Loring apparently was as odds with Hutchinson. At least he was willing to let a woman into the conversation:
So, I have to confess she was quite apropos
When the maiden remarked as she started to go;
“Excepting direction and distance, I’d say,
That drive was as good as I’ve seen today.”
Tiger’s ball at the penultimate moment
With Tiger finally returning to the Masters this year, it is a good time to remember one of his most famous Masters shots that he made on the 16th hole in 2005. If you saw it live I would bet that you still remember it. But even for those of you that do and also for those that missed it, I offer this recollection.
♦A Masters Chip for the Ages
From a difficult lie beyond
the steeply sloped sixteenth green
a steely-eyed Tiger sent his ball
to a spot far above the hole,
the ball coming crisply off his wedge,
flew low, bounced once
and rolled on a yard or two
until gravity took over,
causing it to turn sharply,
and start slowly down the slope
towards the hole, speeding up
then slowing again as it got closer.
“All of a sudden,” Tiger’s words,
“it looked really good.”
“How could it not go in?” and
when it stopped, a single turn short,
“How did it not go in?”,
“And all of a sudden it went in.”
It was as if Tiger’s will
had given gravity an assist.
“In your life,” the tower announcer’s voice,
“have you seen anything like that?”
While around him, the patrons’ roar
rose rocket-like, fueled by sheer wonder.
Leon S White, PhD
This week the PGA is holding a rare match play tournament. Here is my take on match play in four brief lines:
MATCH PLAY
Match play is harsh,
The drama high:
The winner – hello again,
The loser – goodbye.
Leon S White, PhD
Just a note: I’m now in my 10th year of writing this Blog. It contains more than 200 posts. If you have time, search around. There is lots that will be of interest to the avid golfer.
I’ve been away from the New England cold. Now I’m back and still focused on temperature.
What’s Hot that Matters
Golf Digest is out with its “hot list,” clubs that will not lag.
A list of drivers, irons and such, the hottest swinging sticks.
But my concern, at 82, is not with the heat of my bag;
It’s my internal heat that needs to remain at 98.6!
Leon S White, PhD
I had to go out today to meet my brother for lunch. It was raining like crazy. Hence the following,
Escaping Inclement Weather
Went out today in a heavy rain.
But I’m a lucky fella.
While most others got soaking wet,
I had my golf umbrella!
Leon S White, PhD
Golf Course of Rhymes 
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