Pre-Write+2

Pre-Write 2 The history of golf goes like this: and this is where the fighting starts. Although golf as an 18 hole game as it is known today originates in Scotland, golf itself could have originated from about 4 different Areas. One of the most recent theories is that golf started out in China during the Ming Dynasty under rule of emperor Xuande. The artifacts found show that it was a game for the wealthy, with clubs inlaid with gold, in which the players would hit their respective balls into a minuscule hole in as few stroked as possible. They used ten clubs including a cuanbang, pubang, and shoubang which are their equivalents of a driver, two-wood, and three-wood. This is the most historically likely origin of golf, so naturally the Scottish refuse to acknowledge its legitimacy. Do origins really matter though? I pull back and release with all of my controllable force, regardless of where my driver came from, I am smiting my ball with it now. Swimming in a pool of arctic-blue sapphires is a comparable feat to that of sinking a decent shot in the game of golf. The satisfaction is immense. Golf is a game of precision, patience, and forgiveness. Any game that is played on such a spectacle of untarnished nature—trees of brilliant sun-touched green and noble bark brown, grass of the softest caliber, ponds as still as space yet beautiful as bread to a starving man—should be relaxing to all but this is not so. Many play the phantasmagoric game for the wrong reasons. Those who play golf know the type of person I speak of. For every poor shot they complete, they may toss a club at a tree, yell at their caddy, or better yet, lob their entire golf bag into the nearest water hazard. This quite literally ripples my pond. These competitors don’t see the true transcendentalist value of the game. Golf is about communing with nature, learning, and just… being. Everyone in the earlier days of golf knew this, and enjoyed the game for its virtuous purpose. Unfortunately, even then the game could not be the primary practice of an individual. In 1452 King James II realized how popular the game was becoming and took action to prevent further “wasted time”. The Ban he imposed on playing was intended to return his archers to their practice, and that it did, however there was an unforeseen consequence to James’ decree. A man once said “the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest”. I thank King James II and his rule, for without it golf may not have diffused through Europe like wildfire. Being a caddy, and an adamant player, I live and breathe golf. The green links are the only place where I can exist as a peaceful entity. It is my private island, where I may yawp in a barbaric fashion until my hearts content. The only portion of history pertaining to golf that matters is how something came to be, not the disputes, or fights, or the timing of its appearance. All that matters is happening now, and one must recognize this, to enjoy themselves. Confucius said: “A man who lives in the past will have no peace in the present.” Truer words have never been spoken.