On The Green: A Day At The Barclays

            Before I start this post I have to admit something. Other than a few amateur lessons before I turned ten and a handful of medal-winning appearances at my grandma’s “Pitch & Putt” tournaments, my knowledge of golf is non-existent. I could not tell you the difference between a driver and a putter, the reason professional golfers have over ten clubs in their golf bags or even the secret behind hitting the ball in the air where it needs to go. I am an athletic person, and I love sports be it playing or watching them, yet I never took the time to figure out golf in particular. Cue to me, ten years later, dating a golfer, and finding myself on the beautiful green of the Barclays FedEx Cup Playoffs, part of the PGA Tour. Everything happens for a reason, right?

I’ll be honest. When the invitation came to attend the tournament the only thing I was nervous about was deciding what to wear. (For future PGA tournament goers with the same outfit stress— wear light colors, bring sunglasses and a hat and wear sunscreen. Dresses, skirts, appropriate shorts are all fine, I promise.) I figured that I would be able to catch on and decipher what was going on easy enough, after all I knew the point of the game, hit the ball into the hole with as few hits as possible. Unfortunately this naïve view of the game left out other factors such as the wind, terrain, and choice of club and distance measurement. It is certainly not an easy sport, and is nothing like mini golf.

My day at the Plainfield Country Club was fantastic. Standing amongst fellow brightly colored and (mostly) quiet and respectful spectators was such an exciting experience. It was nothing at all like the loud baseball and football crowds I am used to! It was relaxing to watch these professionals do what they do best, and incredibly impressive to watch just how much they could achieve with a few pieces of equipment. Sure, I spent most of it whispering questions to my boyfriend about the game or what was going on or which player was hitting; but it was wonderful to experience something different!

Who knows, maybe I’ll have to take up a new sport 🙂

Stay Classy! xx