Always play your provisional first...

Jon Gross is an amateur golfer of no renown.

A golf enthusiast for over 30 years he is a member of Eastbourne Downs Golf Club (Eastbourne Downs Golf Course).

‘101’ is one more than his score in the first round of the 2021 Club Championship. His score of exactly 100 strokes on August 8th was 28 over par. His lowest round at the same course that year was 75.

‘Three over’ or ‘three figures’, which is it? Well on any given day – either one of them.

And herein lies the secret that Jon shares with 66 million golfers worldwide. Golf is more than just about (hugely fluctuating) handicaps and scores. It’s about…well loads of things.

Golf as a metaphor for life? Well, no – that’s way too philosophical. But,inevitably, when you invest significant time doing something, you end up participating, observing, and thinking about it in numerous ways. All sorts of memories, idiosyncrasies, customs, and legends are gathered along the way. Including the kind of fuzzy logic to be heard almost every Saturday morning in our club ‘swindle’ (thrash)…

Golfer hits a tee shot out of bounds, sighs, selects a second-grade ball, reloads, and nails a drive down the middle of the fairway. Golfing compatriots, in unison, expound “Well you know what they say…’always play your provisional first’.”

‘Golf 101’ will, as the name suggests, offer a simplistic take on the game. There is no professional insight to be found here. You won’t find many instructional or technical tips - a multitude of alternative web sites host yards of that kind of advice.

Rather, this blog will confine itself to lightweight, sometimes irreverent, (hopefully not irrelevant), largely subjective, and often only marginally informed, opinions and reflections derived from the journey of an average golfer through golf’s (and life’s) fairways.

It’s all about the journey these days, isn’t it?