Jim Haworth - pioneer of the Shambles Club on Golfmagic
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Like many, I came to golf late in life. In fact, it was my
children's suggestion 'to help burn off the few extra pounds' that had
accumulated after giving up work to care for my wife. I say 'few pounds' but in reality it was four stone.
The plan failed miserably and 12 months later I
suffered a heart attack. The exercise I got from golf didn't burn
anything, merely gave me even more of an appetite. But to be fair, it helped me regain a small amount of fitness and helped me recover from my brush with the Grim Reaper.
What my children's big idea gave me was an addiction to golf which, I've since discovered, snares us all. Now I'm hooked, which, considering I have been an angler for over 50 years, is pretty ironic. Since golf bit me I haven't touched a rod and, as my son has said: "unlike golf, sitting on the waters edge trying to catch
something that only has a memory of three seconds is hardly a challenge."
I'm told I have have a weird sense of humour and rather than just laugh at others I tend to laugh at myself and the predicaments into which I get myself on the golf course. And in my quest to improve, I have
sought the guidance and help of fellow sufferers of this great game.
And that's why I'm grateful to Golfmagic.com. I found a sanctuary and a source of
information that I devour like a starving man, though I regurgitate a lot of advice and hints because
my pride and ineptitude tell me it's wrong.
But, the quest goes on and on my travels through
England and Scotland give me much pleasure and laughter as I hack my way round great courses often with the background of stunning scenery. I have even been to New Zealand and found that my slice (like the coriolis of water disappearing down the plughole the opposite way to countries in the Northern hemisphere) turned into a hook!
My forum posts on a multitude of subjects, tend to generate responses which is very satisfying and consoling to a golfer who invented the forum's
Shambles Club to allow other equally inept golfers to get their worst shots off their chest and discover kindred spirits in cyberspace.
I have found many friends and fellow sufferers on Golfmagic, some of whom I've met and all of them help me feel much better about my pathetic attempt to find that elusive golfing Shangri-La.
My golf has improved, but not by much as my increasing amount of posts
will prove and I suppose I give hope to others and generate a few smiles
and laughs a long the way.
Finally a thank you to Golfmagic.com for creating the opportunity for us to give vent to our frustrations punctuated by the odd success along the way. Long may it continue.
Golf, it's claimed, is a game of mistakes. If that's true I should be playing off scratch!
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