We all agree the sooner we can get back to playing golf the better. However, when we do, the formats we use will be drastically changed for, at least, some months.
The vast majority of golfers see their pastime as primarily a sociable experience enjoyed best in a fourball and wouldn’t dream of playing early in the morning without a companion – as I like to do, once a week.
More than likely, our games of golf will be rationed to two per week (if you are a member of a busy city club) and we will only be allowed to play in ones and twos. So what?
Like everything that is good in life, playing alone is at its best when enjoyed in moderation. I wouldn’t like it as much, if it were the only form of golf I played. Variety is the spice of life and that is why I like playing golf on different courses with different people. Playing the same course with the same people all of the time would bore me to death! In the short term, at least, I expect we will be confined to playing exclusively at our home clubs. I can live with that!
I probably developed the habit of solo golf when I was an ambitious, young beginner who spent all day long on the golf course during his school holidays. Courses were not busy in the early 1960s and I often had a whole golf course to myself. Back then, and now, I enjoy(ed) visualising imaginary opponents and/or targets to give me worthy challenges.
Matches against an invisible opponent can be more difficult than you imagine if you haven’t done it before. Matches against an invisible opponent was one of my favourite training methods when I coached two All-Ireland winning teams to green pennant glory. Give it a try!
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