"They call it golf because all the other four letter words were taken." --Ray Floyd
"I hate this game and I can't wait to play again tomorrow." --Jeff Sluman
As the quotes and picture above allude to, golf can at times be an incredibly frustrating game. Anyone who has played can attest to that! However as frustrating as the game can be, it provides an endless amount of enjoyment and satisfaction that at times can be difficult to explain to anyone who has not given the game a try. The quote below from World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino more accurately describes the feelings most golfers have about the game.
"I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play." --Lee Trevino
Try as they might and with all the daily miracles they perform, the doctors and therapists at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital have yet to find a way to immunize the kids in our junior golf program to the frustrations golf can bring on. But it is the kids themselves who have learned that the frustration felt from a perceived bad shot is only a fleeting feeling and can be eliminated by the next swing. Many of them have also figured out that golf can turn around a bad day and make it into a good day. This was exactly what happened during one of my recent visits to Ranken Jordan.
The typical routine for me on "Golf Day" at Ranken Jordan is to get there a little bit early to help set up and hit a few shots myself before the kids start arriving. While hitting a few pitch shots I heard one of our regulars on his way over tell his mom "I feel like poo . . . but I'm going to play golf!" Feeling that way is completely understandable due to his persistent pain that makes it very difficult to sleep. Pain, fatigue, and feeling "like poo" did not stop him from grabbing a driver and hitting golf balls for an hour straight! Sitting in his wheelchair and swinging with one arm from the side he kept ripping driver after driver off the windows in Warner's Corner. The smile we all know and love quickly returned to his face. A minor adjustment to his takeaway led to even better contact and the smile continued to grow. The next thing you know, while he is still pounding away with the driver, we were talking about the Atlanta Braves starting rotation and how big of a mistake they made by letting Tim Hudson leave via free agency the previous winter.
Golf provides a wide variety of benefits for all of the kids who take part in our junior golf program at Ranken Jordan. For some it could be a social or emotional improvement that they experience while for others it becomes an integral part of their therapy program. There are also many kids who pick up a club for the first time in the hospital and continue playing when they leave. Then there are the ones like the young man discussed in this post. For him golf is a combination of all these things and many more. Golf makes his time in the hospital much more enjoyable, helps him through rough days, is part of his therapy, and has become the game of a lifetime for him. When this particular clinic came to an end he made a point to say thank you and give me a hug for helping make his day better. I made sure to tell him thank you as having the honor to count him and his family among the people I consider friends definitely makes my day better.
