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Have You Met Him

Thanks for visiting again or for the first time. As you may know (from reading this Blog) I’ve recently published a book called If Golf Balls Could Talk – Collected Golf Poems (available on Amazon). Here is a poem from the book that tells a familiar story:

 HE TALKS A GOOD GAME

He talks a good game
You know the guy

He judges each swing

With a critical eye. 

He talks a good game
Awash with advice

He’s off to the races

When he sees you slice. 

He talks a good game
He studies the pros

He is eager to tell you

All that he knows. 

He talks a good game
Can he turn a phrase

He talks a good game

But it’s not how he plays. 

He talks and he talks
With eyeballs that glisten
But even the duffers
No longer listen. 

If you’ve met this guy, you are welcome to share the experience in the comments section.

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The PGA, LIV Battle

Here is my four-line observation of what’s going on:

LIV or Not?

The PGA wanted LIV to die
Pressure on players they did apply;
But money talks is what they say
So LIV with live another day.

Leon S White, PhD

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Playing Like Tiger

TigerWoods1997

As a fan of Tiger Woods from the beginning, I wrote this four-liner with higher hopes than I have had during past “come-backs.”

Playing Like Tiger

Could Tiger be playing like Tiger again?
It sure has been a while;
But if you’re a fan of golf at all,
It can only make you smile.

Leon S White, PhD

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Women and Golf, 1914

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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.”

 

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Match Play

for Golfer's Discontent post

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.

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What’s Hot

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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

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Ducking for Cover

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Ducking for Cover

The weather has shanked
“Fore” degrees is the call.
I’m ducking for cover;
           Wishing Happy New Year to all.

                                                                  Leon S White, PhD
                                                                     The Golf Poet

Thanks to all of you that have come to Golf Course of Rhymes to read (recite) a golf poem or two. There are now more than 200 Posts underneath this one. I hope you will find some to your liking when next you return. And please do come back.

 

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Speculation

TigerWoods1997

Now that Tiger has successfully completed a tournament without injury, the golf writers are having a field day (again) speculating about almost every future possibility. That’s fine, but I suspect Tiger’s focus is much narrower.

Speculation

Now that Tiger’s playing again,
Conjecture rules the day.
While Tiger’s thinking (here’s my guess)
Please, just let me play.

Leon S White, PhD

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Narin Golf Club – 1986

Narin

I just looked at the clubhouse pictured on the Narin Golf Club’s website. It is much larger and more extensive than the one I remember from a family golf trip to Scotland in 1986. Then, if I remember correctly, it was just a single room with a long counter and an elderly proprietor to welcome us. This recollection inspired the four lines below. (Many of today’s golfers may find it hard to relate to the word picture I have drawn.)

Narin Golf Club, Scotland – 1986

The old proprietor ‘s greeting
On a windy cloudy day;
Nothing fancy, nothing false,
You couldn’t wait to play.

Leon S White, PhD

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The Agonies of Golfing

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Edgar A Guest, born in England in 1881, worked for the Detroit Free Press for more than 60 years. He was also a popular poet and a golfer. In part, he used his poetry to agonize over his inability to play better golf. In December 1921 Guest published a poem called “Golf Experience” in Golfers Magazine.  Here are a few excerpts.

I’ve golfed throughout another year,
Drifting snows will soon be here,
And now I view with discontent
This season that so soon was spent;
Once more I dubbed the whole year through,
Nor did I make an eighty-two.
……….
I blundered all through early June,
I could not use my trusty spoon,
But hope still stayed–ere summer fell
I knew I should be playing well
……….
August still found me keeping on
With scores unfit to look upon
……….
The same old dub that was am I,
I don’t improve howe’er I try;
Lessons and practice all in vain,
With me the hook or slice remain
But still to hope I fondly cling,
I know I’ll play the game next spring.

Proses can’t compete with poetry when it comes to extolling the agonies of playing the game and the never-ending hope of improvement.

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