Golf is a unique sport. It’s four hours of play, surrounded by the beauty of nature, with 20-30 minutes of actual “play” involved. In between are those priceless moments of bonding and friendship that create memories that can last a lifetime.
My dad and I played golf regularly until I moved to Northwest Indiana. We usually played a couple courses, 18 holes with a hot dog and a soda at the turn. We had some great holes, we had some bad ones, but we always ended the round having talked about something we both had wanted to talk about but never found the right moment, or the right arena.
That’s what’s so beautiful about golf, there’s no distraction, no excuse not to have a conversation and open yourself up to the game and your emotions. We talked about good things, we talked about difficult situations; my divorce, my cool new dog, his friends at work stuck on some TV show, my mom’s desire to get a new couch.
It didn’t really matter what we talked about in the end, because we talked; we connected.
This Father’s Day I am going to try to make it down to Indianapolis to see my father, and hopefully we can get out and talk, and play some golf while we’re out there. Maybe soon my uncle and cousin will join us again and I can spend a day with a sense of comfort, reminded of how fortunate I am to have a great family in my corner.
Maybe this Father’s Day you can make it up to one of the great courses in Northwest Indiana, like Briar Leaf Golf Club, and give the one you love the greatest gift in the world: time well spent.
Golf is more than a gift of a few swings and a snack after 9, it’s the gift of an opportunity to spend a day with a mentor, a friend, a father, and someone who would cherish the opportunity to talk, and listen, more than anything in the world.