So (I always try to avoid starting my sentences with the word “so”, because there's something within me that believes it to be the behaviour of someone intent on self-promotion or artificially elevating the statement that follows. Anyway…), why start a blog? And why start a blog within golf?
Two main reasons, each of which in combination answer both of those questions. One reason is personal, and the other is derived from a more practical or perceived ‘demand' point of view.
The personal reason is that, as I've gotten older (I'm 33 at the time of writing), I've realised a strong desire within myself to create things. I've never really had the courage to explore this at all, instead opting for the more stereotypical career paths, sporting pursuits and eventually routes of entrepreneurship. I've never been brave enough to deviate from this and open up to what I really find exciting. There's an itch there that keeps rising to the surface and I feel I'll regret it if I continue to push it back down. I know that, amongst other things in life, I really love beautiful imagery, nature, the written word and the game of golf. I figured, what better place to begin expressing this (thus far unexplored) part of myself and indulge in some self-discovery than the blank canvas of an empty blog page on a new golf website that focuses on preserving golf, our landscapes and sustainability? I also have a yearning to speak freely and openly, again most likely as a by-product of this somewhat defensive approach to life until now. Speaking, or indeed writing in this case, will also help to perhaps get things off my chest from time to time – either by writing a blog about it or maybe depicting it within a photograph or video. Or both.
The other reason is because my involvement within golf, through my general observations and the frequent exposure to the myriad forms of media within the sport, has sparked an important realisation within me. My experience tells me that golf is excellent at showing us all what we should be looking to attain or aspire to next. Without even knowing your name, it recommends your next driver or putter purchase. It shows you that one, elusive swing feel that you can't quite grasp – the one that will undeniably take your handicap down into single figures, or to scratch, or beyond. Golf leads us silently onto the conveyer belt of these dreams and tells us they're necessities. It could be the latest FootJoys, the remote-controlled GPS trolley, or the prospect of partnering with that coveted online coach. How about the next trip to play abroad in Turkey, or to The Open, or the Ryder Cup.
As it stands, golf isn't great at showing us all what we already do have. Collectively, as golfers, we have something monumental. I want golf to be great at showing us that. I want there to be an opportunity for the majority, the everyday golfer, to access the game through the eyes of someone who sees the world as they do. But just a little more vividly.
I suppose we have a mission then, which provides some indication as to what this blog will become.
It will be a place for honest self-expression and discussion between likeminded people through written dialogue, photography and videography. We'll showcase the abundant natural beauty and therapeutic traits of the game of golf in its purest form.
Let's attempt to capture that wonderful feeling – the anticipation on a Saturday morning akin to a kid at Christmas, when the alarm goes off and you spring out of bed to put the kettle on, knowing that in two hours' time you'll be with your friends, teeing it up on the first and staring down the fairway together with hopeless devotion and total adoration. Saturday golf – the sounds, the smells, the sights. You're alive.
I think it's clear that this game holds a kind of intangible magic that captures the hearts and imaginations of us all. It sits, unequivocally yet completely invisibly, right before the eyes of anyone that's lucky enough to play it.
We can all feel it; it courses through our every sinew. It's time we started to see it too.
This blog and all future posts are an ode to golf, in its simplest, most rugged and effortlessly enchanting form. Welcome to Shrewd Golfer at Heritage Golf.
Main post photograph by Danielle-Claude Belanger.
