I've been playing golf for thirty years - twenty four years as a professional, and I have come to the conclusion that it is incredibly difficult to play your best golf or even come close each time you step on the course. As one of the millions of golfers who chase this little white ball around expensive pieces of real estate called golf courses, golf is the epitome of unpredictability.

Think about it. Golf is a game where the ball does not move. One would think that the game would be an easy task but...and here's the big but...every playing field in golf is different. No two are alike unlike a regulation football field and basketball court. The golf course is not a defined playing area other than the hole is the same in diameter on every course - four and one quarter inches to be exact and the golf ball one point six eight inches in diameter. Kind of small when you think about it.

Golf is affected by every outside element you can think of - wind, rain, change in temperature and can change in a matter of seconds even when your ball is in flight. Golf is played on real grass where the topography on course can dictate where your ball will end up. It's the "rub of the green" golfers say when your ball takes a bad bounce into that deep bunker near the green even though you struck that seven iron perfectly in the sweetspot of the club. Looked like the ball was going into the hole until it took that awful bounce to the right. No redos here. Is golf the ultimate game of good bounces versus bad bounces. I can truly say, expect your fair share of bad bounces. If not - you'll quit the game. And not all golf greens or putting surfaces exactly putt the same due to that it's real grass - not something artificial. As soon as the greens are shaved each day the grass is beginning to grow again. We're not even talking about the subtleties of the golf swing yet- now that's a completely different subject!

We'll leave the subject of the golf swing for another article down the road. In the meantime, enjoy the game and the challenges that you face trying to play that perfect round of golf.