Exploring the links between golf and poetry
How many times have you heard or read “It’s easy to get out of a trap” or “Bunker shots are easy.” Here is my view,
Trapped
If you’ve found that your ball
Came to rest in the sand;
Were the rules more obliging
You’d remove it by hand.
Leon S White, PhD
Hope you will come back next week for another break from the prose of golf.
Last week I mentioned my book, Opposites in Golf. It consists of a series of 32 poems. Each takes a golfing term or expression and then embarks on a poetic adventure seeking its opposite. Here is an example.
ROUGHLY SPEAKING
What is the opposite of rough?
Smooth an answer, not too tough.
But golfers might say, “Wait a minute,
Rough, we’d rather not be in it.
The fairway that is our suggestion.
The opposite of rough, no question.”
Leon S White, PhD
Please come back next week for another golf poem to remember when you are in the rough!
Another Monday, another Post. I think all golfers can relate to these four short lines.
A Golfing Sin
A putt left short —
A golfing sin;
An inner voice reminds —
Never up, never in.
Leon S White, PhD
Come back next Monday for another four line golf poem to start your week.
And, if you are new to this Blog, please know that I have a recent book, Opposites in Golf, for sale on Amazon for $4.50. It’s a great gift to slip into someone’s golf bag. If you have time, check it out at https://golfpoet.com/category/opposites-in-golf/.
July 24, 2017
If you saw yesterday’s final round of the Open, I hope this week’s verse may reflect your feelings as well.
Reflecting on the 2017 Open Championship
Viewing an awesome Open finish,
Like the one we saw today;
Other reminders not really needed,
Why it’s golf we watch and play.
Leon S White, PhD
I recommend that you memorize this week’s four line advisory. It will come in handy the next time anger gets the best of you on the golf course. And if you have friends who need this advice, please feel free to recite it to them.
In all seriousness, these four lines will help you to enjoy golf more, if you take their meaning to heart.
Understanding Golf
When on-course failings
Set your mind aflame,
Try to remember
Golf’s just a game.
LSW
As an old mathematician, I like axioms, even if they are related to golf rather than to probability theory. I found the ones below in Robert H. K. Browning’s classic book, “A History of Golf.” Please excuse slight liberties taken in turning them into a rhyming poem.
Old Golf Axioms*
Here are three axioms I discovered in Browning.
Basic but true, please take them down,
That driving is strictly an art,
Approach play a science apart,
And putting’s an inspiration – this one is crowning.
Leon S White, PhD
*From Robert H. K. Browning’s “A History of Golf”
Last week I played behind a foursome of 60-some year olds who were playing from the white tees. Over nine holes I would bet that none of them ever reached a green in regulation. It seems that for some men teeing it forward (playing from the tee that gives you a decent chance to make a par) is as difficult as adjusting to a receding hair line. Golf course designers offer closer tees so that men (and women) who drive shorter distances can still have fun and sometimes make a decent score. Failure in golf is the rule, but to insure failure by playing from the wrong tees just doesn’t make sense and slows down the game for the groups following.
With these thoughts in mind, I offer the following verse, which reduces the above paragraph to four lines (the beauty of poetry),
Tee it Forward
When you’re coming up short on every hole,
and not lighting any cigars;
When you’re totally frustrated with how you play,
Tee it forward and start making pars.
LSW
If you want to pass on the idea at your club, post this four-liner on the bulletin board. (Attribution is not required.)
I’ve been offering some of my four line golf poems for a while now. But such short verses of golf advice or “wisdom” certainly didn’t begin with me. Below are two on the same theme from an earlier time.
From the December 1875 issue of Blackwood”s Edinburgh Magazine:
The apple-faced sage with
His nostrum for all,
“Dinna hurry your swing, keep
Your e’e on the ball.”
And from the English Golf Magazine of February 1891:
In playing strokes of every kind,
This rule remember above all:
Let confidence possess your mind,
And “keep your eye upon the ball.”
And we still have to be reminded today!!
The week’s four line poem came to me after watching a recent HBO Special called “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.” The cast featured Carl Reiner who is 95 and a bunch of his friends (and a few others) who are 90 and over. Since I’m 81 and still an avid golfer, while watching I though about shooting my age. Here is what I came up with,
Shooting Your Age
To shoot your age
Stay out of the rough,
But just to make sure . . .
Live long enough!
LSW
Please tell your poetically inclined golfing friends about this Blog (golfpoet.com). And come back yourself next Monday for another brief excursion into golf poetry. Thanks.
It was reported today (June 5, 2017) that Jason Dufner, the winner of last week’s Memorial Tournament, has found a way to improve his putting. When over the ball, he concentrates on his breathing.
“I’m just focused on my breathing,” Dufner said. “That’s a conscious thought for me and then I let the putt and the motion of the stroke be subconscious and natural.”
He may have something there, but then again . . . . .
Jason Dufner on Putting
Think about your breathing’s what Dufner says
Calls it “subconscious” putting, give it a spin
But while you’re at it, keep your head still
Then you really have a chance that your putt goes in.
Leon S White, PhD
Please come back next week for the next golf poetry Post.
Golf Course of Rhymes 
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