Once upon a time, I was a decent golfer.  Shot high 70s low 80s on good courses.  Most memorable round was Troon North 1992.  Shot a 79 from the tips.

A couple of years later, got involved with a local stock car team.  Actually got obsessed with the sport.  The sticks were put away for about four years.

When I started playing again, I had trouble breaking 100.  The feel, touch, or whatever you choose to call it was gone.

Drove me crazy.  Aggravation, frustration over losing the skills I once had.  Sat myself down and had a heart to heart with myself.

Did I like playing golf?  Yes, but not so much considering the way I was playing.

In the overall scheme of things, did it really matter?  Not really.

Did I play for recreation and to get some exercise by walking the course?  Yes.

Was I still able to enjoy the beauty of the course?  Yes.

Could I afford to lose five or six balls per round?  Yes.

Did I still have the occasional birdie, well struck shot, and streaks where I could do no wrong?  Yes.

I learned to laugh at my atrocious shots.  Gradually, my game improved to high 80s and low 90s, ten strokes worse than when I was playing my best golf.

Then, last summer, I took up rod and reel fishing, a hobby I had left behind nearly forty years ago.

Only played one round after June of last year.  A couple of weeks ago, a friend called looking to play a round on a Sunday afternoon.  Shot a 51 on the front nine, and a 44 on the back nine.  Legitimate score.  No mulligans, no gimmees.

My wife wanted to play this afternoon.  So for the third time in a year, off to the course.

A 44 on the front nine with two horror holes.  Was one over through six on the back nine when we decided to call it a day.  Had been slow going and play had ground to a veritable halt on the 15th.

If we were going to eat out rather than have dinner at home, we had to get going.  Where the game came from, I have no idea.

I also harbor no delusion that I will play that well the next time I hit the links.

Now, I'm obsessed with fishing again.  Even though I was playing well, by my standard, the thought that the fish were really biting on my favorite pond never left my thoughts.

Come to think of it, there is a line in "The Legend of Bagger Vance" that seems appropriate.  Speaking about Randolph Junah's game, Bagger says that Junah learned to stop thinking without falling asleep.

I wasn't thinking about my game, and I wasn't falling asleep.

It'll be interesting to see if that strategy works the next time I play a round.  I certainly wasn't concentrating, nor was I focused on golf.

My Golf story is quite similar.

Started playing at age 9 and it became my passion and by the time I hit my mid teens I was a very low handicap (1) golfer playing competitively. For some unfathomable reason I gave up the game for about 15 years.

Now I'm 40 and my dad wants to play on father's day.....I'm hooked.

Played solid for the next 22 years never getting better than a 7 handicap index, I lost it, even with advance ball technology and club design........I'm a traditionalist, bring back the old game.

I discovered snook fishing 3 years ago and haven't played golf since.  I did go to the range teaching my son in law and I still hit the ball like a laser right out of the box, but no way could I bring that to the course.  Kinda looks like I will never play again.

My Golf story is quite similar.

Started playing at age 9 and it became my passion and by the time I hit my mid teens I was a very low handicap (1) golfer playing competitively. For some unfathomable reason I gave up the game for about 15 years.

Now I'm 40 and my dad wants to play on father's day.....I'm hooked.

Played solid for the next 22 years never getting better than a 7 handicap index, I lost it, even with advance ball technology and club design........I'm a traditionalist, bring back the old game.

I discovered snook fishing 3 years ago and haven't played golf since. I did go to the range teaching my son in law and I still hit the ball like a laser right out of the box, but no way could I bring that to the course. Kinda looks like I will never play again.

The thing i miss most about the "old game",  that sweet click of a well struck persimmon wood.  Pure music.

Today it's like baseball with aluminum bats.  Clank or ting.

I can hit the ball as far today with the new technology as I could in my thirties.  Problem is the young guys can hit it further.

A few years ago, while visiting our daughter in GA, I played a nice local course and hooked up with a pro from Bermuda.

He had the build of Tiger, but much larger.

On one of the par fives, I hit a drive, right on the screws.  Perfect trajectory with a slight draw, a bit of helping breeze.  I mean it was absolutely smoked, maybe a touch over 300 yards.

I commented that it would give him something to shoot for.

He drove it past mine on the fly.  I had over two hundred yards to the green, while he had a nine iron in hand for his second shot.

Life just ain't fair.

I gave up fishing for a couple years in the early 80's for golf. I got it down to a 10-12 handicap. Then I plateaued.

It's a frustrating game in that it's almost completely based on the swing mechanics. You're either on it or you aren't and trying to figure out why you aren't is the tough part.

I still have my clubs, wood, not metal drivers and all. The grips on my irons are shot and I'd have to buy new ones to really play the game again. I've probably shot 10 total rounds in the nearly 25 years since I put the clubs down and picked my rods up again. I can't say that I really miss it.

I have taken my sons to the driving range over the years and taught them the mechanics.  I can still strike the ball pretty good though the consistency of my drives isn't as good as it was.  I've lost a little distance to age too.  

I reshafted some of my persimmon with graphite, I loved them, but by todays standards they were weak. 22 deg 5 wood and 17 degree 3, driver was about 11.

I never hit a long ball(Ben Hogan never hit over 250 yds either), I'm built like Corey Pavin and played that type of game, cept not nearly as good.

I started the summer before 8th grade and became totally obsessed. Played on my college team, was captain my senior year, and when I was playing a bunch in the summer I was a scratch.

I graduated college in 2006 and rediscovered fishing. Since then I have played barely at all. This year I've played one round, and it was a scramble fundraiser beerfest. I have no desire to play - I'd rather go fishing than play golf, every single time. No regrets here, although I'll probably pick it back up within the next year or two...if fishing gets old  

Golf is definitely a great game though. As my grandfather used to say, "Golf is the greatest game ever devised by man." I have to agree.

Incidentally, I wish the technology stopped advancing when the Titleist 975D was all the rage, and we were still using Titleist Tour Balatas or Tour Prestiges. The Maxfli Revolution was sweet too. It was much more enjoyable around the greens (and off the tee) with wound balls, but unfortunately, you would be at too huge a disadvantage if you were to use them now. They probably don't even make wound balls anymore  :-/

I started playing golf right before I got out of the Air Force back in 1991 and within four months of playing got down into the mid eighties. I was stuck there for several years with a couple rounds in the 70s when the planets would align. It was rare for me to have a good time when golfing especially when I was playing poorly. I just didn't have the right attitude because I just knew I was only one swing change away from being a scratch golfer; aren't we all.  

I hit the ball too high which helped stop the ball quickly on the greens but was really at the mercy of the wind out there. I fought for years to try and get the ball flight lower to no avail. A couple instructers I went to told me 'you want to hit the ball high' so I didn't go back to them. I eventually gave up the game because it started getting really expensive for the amount that I was playing.

Fishing can be very expensive but it can also be relatively cheap. I since learned to enjoy the time away from everything but now it's on a lake not a golf course.

I played for a very short while but I found it to be an ineffectual endeavor to place an insignificant sphere in an obscure hole with inadequate tools.

They named it golf because all of the other four letter words were taken.

Hmm, I wonder if anyone has given up fishing once he's "found" golf? It seems to me that more people give up golf for fishing than vice-versa. Then again, this is a fishing website ;-)

I fished much less during high school and college, my focus was golf.  Toned the golf way back at around 26 and really got back into at 40, in the 80's the course was the "hot spot" for business.