As a talented miniature-golf player, I have always wondered if I could transfer my skills on the putting green to the course. On Oct. 18, I finally found out when I played an 18-hole round at the scenic Turtle Creek Golf Course.
Anticipating a great performance that afternoon, I watched “Best Golf Celebrations of All Time | Top 10” on YouTube, ensuring I was ready to celebrate when I inevitably dominated the round.
Seniors Leo Brown and Josh Lee, friends of mine who often play golf casually, met me at the range. We arrived early to go over the fundamentals and practice our swings. Lee taught me to adjust to an overlapping grip, with my pinky between my index and middle fingers for stability and control.
I thought swinging a club would be easy, but on my first try, I hit the ball on the shaft rather than the club, and it flew far to the right of where I aimed. Lee helped me correct my position, and soon I was hitting beauties that were going past the 200-yard mark. All I had to do was transfer that to the actual course.
We followed the traditional rules: starting off with a shot from the tees, continuing to play the ball along the course, with the player furthest from the hole going first until everyone made it into the hole. We began on the first hole from the standard white tees, providing a moderate challenge for golfers. Starting 340 yards from the hole, I lined up with my driver — and immediately whiffed. Playing it off as a practice swing, I adjusted my grip. This time, I made contact with the ball, hitting it slightly too low but still gaining 150 yards of forward motion. As Lee, Brown and I each took turns hitting, the two of them completed the hole in four shots while it took me six.
Starting with hole 10, the real competition began. My goal was to beat either Brown or Lee on any hole. On Hole 11, I saw my chance. My first shot was a pure drive that traveled 100 yards, landing outside the sand bunker. Using the sand wedge, a specialized club to hit from the sand, I hit the ball into a perfect arc that landed five yards from the hole. All I had to do was tap the ball in and I would receive a par, the usual number of shots a professional golfer would take for the hole. I lined up and tapped a perfect shot right into the hole. Tying Lee and Brown with three strokes, I counted it as a victory.
Because it began to get dark, we decided to pack it up and head home instead of playing the last two holes. Afterwards, Lee and I had some great post-round reflections at a local Mexican restaurant. Golfing was an eye-opening experience that taught me the value of patience in performance. Though the goal of the game is to finish the round as quickly as possible, I highly enjoyed the time we spent playing and would have played for even longer if conditions had allowed. Introduced by my friends to this new and exciting sport, I hope to play many more rounds in the future.
Ryan Ding can be reached at [email protected].
