Life Without Golf

Okay, so maybe I've been overdoing this whole " I had surgery, poor me, and can't golf" thing for the past few months. Hey, take it easy...it was heart surgery for Pete's sake. In all reality, the violins have run their course. No more sad music for me. Yes, golf was out of the equation for the last few months but now...it's game on.

Hurricane Irene, better yet Tropical Storm Irene, ruined my chances last weekend but this weekend the weather looks clear. It's time to wreak havoc on the ol' track. I can't believe I'm actually going to get out there and play! Although, as silly as it may sound, I'm a little nervous about it. It's like my first time, again.

The whole summer without golf had me thinking; what if golf never existed? What would fill that void? Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Sammy Snead, Jack Nicklaus all the way to Greg Norman, Freddy Couples, Phil Mickelson, Tiger and Rory (and every other pro for that matter) would be ordinary people. Unless they excelled in other areas.

Our website would be www.____stinks.com. That would really stink! Perhaps the word "golf" would join the ranks of the other four letter words we hack's abuse. "Get the golf outta here!" I don't know...that just doesn't seem to cut it. It doesn't flow. "Ah golf, in the drink again!" Nope, definitely doesn't work as an expletive.

What would 30 million golfers do? "Hey honey, me and the guys are going to take a 4 and a half hour walk...be back by noon." Just think, golf tournaments would be a bunch of people wandering around outside in a field getting drunk...wait a minute...that is a golf tournament!

See you out there...

Hit'em long...yell FORE!!!

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What If I Could Never Golf Again?

I posted something similar back in February (Check it out here) and this is the follow-up. You see, originally I went to the doc's office for a sinus infection and wouldn't you know it, I leave there finding out I had a heart murmur.

At first I was told not to worry. "A lot of people have heart murmurs and they live full productive lives with no problems" says the MD. Which is true but after a couple ultra sounds of the heart, this little heart murmur turns out to be a significant problem with the mitral valve and needs repair - open heart surgery.

There were tons of questions going through my mind. WTF...I couldn't believe it! There's only 35,000 miles on this motor and it needs a valve job and tune up? This can't be right, heart surgery isn't for young people. Unfortunately, this time it was. Luckily, living in the Northeast I had access to one of the best surgeons in the country (possibly world) who specializes in cardiac surgery and more specifically - mitral valve repair (if you need his name email me, pete@golfstinks.com, and I will gladly tell you.)

About a month ago I went under the knife and had the problem corrected. Glad to say all is well so far. Here's the downside...friggin' recovery and healing is really messing up my golf schedule this season. So much that I probably won't be able to swing a club until September...maybe. That's right, it takes about 3+ months to recover from that surgery. Son of a...

The point is if I never took care of this problem, eventually life's pleasures - such as golf - would probably not be in the picture. So, I have been put on the disabled list for this season...but that's ok because there will be many more to come.

Hit'em long...yell FORE!!! Take care of yourselves.

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