The other day I played my first round of golf in a long time. What many don’t know is before I heavily indulged my everyday life with fishing, I was spending a lot of time hitting golf balls around my local courses and into the golf course lakes more often than I care to admit. Maybe that’s part of the reason why I slowly gave up the sport.
The fact of the matter is I slowly started to give up the sport when fishing came into my life. My personal belief is I’d rather focus on one single thing than have two hobbies that I focus on so I can at least give one my all and not a half effort. I didn’t have enough time to play golf competitively and fish enough to catch the amount of fish I wanted to so I made the decision to do what I enjoyed more and haven’t looked back since. Sadly there are not enough hours in the day to do it all, and maybe if there were, I wouldn’t be writing this editor’s log.
I was always a fan of fishing, and when I really think back to my childhood spending hours walking the golf course, it was always the holes with the lakes and ponds on them that I liked the most. Sometimes I hoped that I hit the ball close enough to the water without it going in so that I could get a peek at a largemouth bass sunning itself in the shallows or even a giant grass carp moseying along. Sometimes these fish seemed like they could be caught quickly, and true to what they say about the fishing on most golf course lakes with minimal pressure, they probably could’ve if I casted a lure at them. My mind used to wander, and I always toyed with the idea of sneaking a fishing rod on the course in my club bag so that I could take a cast at one of those bass if nobody were playing behind me.
Well, when I did play the other day, upon entering the course, I did see a couple of fishermen working a portion of the main lake on the course for largemouths. And then, on about the fifth hole, I saw those grass carp I remembered from years ago—they were probably the same ones I saw back then too—they were at least 40 pounds! Both these things brought back those fond memories.
Do I miss golfing? Yes, and I wouldn’t mind playing it again in moderation. I think I look at the sport in a different light now instead of how I looked at it years ago. Golf used to frustrate me. Now I won’t let it discourage me when I play, now I look at it as more of an enjoyable experience to do with a friend that it provides a slight change in my usual routine along with some memories of the past.
Nothing had changed though from when I was a child. I was still thinking about sneaking my fishing rod on the golf course after seeing those giant carp swimming along without a care.
