A Golfin' Team Outing

The lab at work was shut down due to some electrical re-wiring, so it meant a work group team building/outing event. There were suggestions of wind-surfing, rock climbing, paint balling.. but golf won out. I have never golfed before, so it was a good time to try it out.

In my work group, only the bossman golfs and the rest of us are newbies. He gave us a few tips to start with on the "swing form", and I always keep my PTs advice in the back of my mind "every movement should begin from the core". From there, we played 9 holes on an executive course with the regular size holes. Initially we wanted the big holes, but something about them not being available at that time.

So hitting the ball consistently is definitely harder than it looks and I can see how this aspect of golf requires skill... repetition to form consistent muscle memory. We had 2 golf carts to cart 4 of us around, though I wanted more of a workout so I would occasionally run. All in all, it was a fun game that is plenty social and relaxing. At times it felt a little slow, but then again, you have a bunch of engineers that take forever to do practice swings and attempt to analyze the projectile trajectory of their ball. I'm more of get into position and just hit the darn thing - think less but focus on a few key form factors, then swing.

Not bad.. ball going in the direction of the flag/hole!

Using the irons and hitting the ball in the general direction of the flag was my favorite part. The putting portion where you have to sink it into the hole was my least favorite part. It took the team ~2 hours to complete the 9 holes, and we played a modified game of the 3 newbies against the bossman. Bossman won.

Overall my impression of golf is that it is a fun, challenging, skilled, social game, though.. to me, not quite a sport. After 2 hours of play, I was not at all sore the next day. Physical exertion level was minimal. Anyhow, being out in the sun, relaxing is much better than all day in the lab!