Golf on the Peninsula: A Journey to Play Cypress Point
Playing Cypress Point will change you. As will the journey to get there. How does a lifelong duffer end up playing one of the most beautiful and exclusive courses in the world? What finally motivates him to get better at a game his grandfather had long wanted him to play? And why would his grandfather really care? Is there something to be found along the way that goes beyond the game? Maybe there are greater forces involved.
Written in a style to try and match the tone of the experience, this also pokes some fun at the golf-as-religion crowd. It is just a game, but a game that moves us nonetheless.
Reading time is about an hour.
Quotes
Starting out
"And the more intelligent and highly favored brother began with great diligence to improve his golf skills. And he did make some progress, for he beginneth to keep his club on plane while rotating his shoulders and also keeping his hips and feet in place. And he beginneth to strike the ball more purely, with a descending blow that would nip the ball off the turf liketh Tiger, though he remained mistress free."
Playing Bandon Dunes
"And it was a land of milk and honey, of gorse and pot bunker, of cliffs and vistas, and it brought them great joy and happiness. And they reflected often at how far they had come on their golfing journey from even a few years ago. And they thrilled at knowing a slice or hook was no longer a permanent affliction, but could usually be corrected by the next tee. And they exclaimed with glee at now being able to occasionally sink the 30 foot double breaking putt and from escaping sand traps."
Driving to Cypress Point
"And they had harbored some concerns about thieves and robbers that might lie along the way. But their fears were unfounded, for the road to Cypress was filled with great and spacious buildings, larger and more magnificent than even the temple at Jerusalem. And they wondered if these were the homes of the golfing gods, and they secretly lusted after such homes, for which they later repented and sorrowed for their lust. But they did not encounter any thieves or robbers along the road, and they entered the holy realm of Cypress without incident."
Playing the fifteenth hole
"And they did not feel they could ever repay the golfing gods for this experience, and they now looked back and knew all the trials and temptations had prepared them to enter this spot, and to do so with great appreciation for the blessing it was to stand on this holy ground. And they felt all their previous labors were a small and insufficient price to pay for this blessing, and they felt a deep and abiding gratitude to the golfing gods for being willing to share this with them, mere golfing mortals, who were not justified in receiving such a gift. And this gratitude bound them to the golfing gods, and they vowed to praise their names’ forever, or at least until the next unlucky bounce or when a putt circled the cup without dropping, when they would instead be guilty once again of cursing the golfing gods, and would claim they never got any breaks."