Series: Diary of A Golf College Student
Article 13: Injury Time

by Jonathan Gibbins

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After getting injured in my last tournament, I am able to take some time off and go to physiotherapy to mend my wrist. This time off is welcomed because we now have a month till the next tournament, which is the qualifier for the national finals.

I now have a chance to catch up with my classes and maybe watch some American TV, which is always an entertaining experience. Television has turned out to be a great American pastime with a minimum package of 70 channels being offered (the maximum has yet to be calculated) and it seems the sports fan is the main beneficiary. The reason is simply because almost any sport makes it on the TV from bull fighting to croquet.

The golf coverage is as broad as it gets with every tour being covered. PGA, Nike (like the Challenge Tour in Europe), Senior, Women’s, European, Australian and Japanese. Even some College tournaments make it on to some network’s schedules (College American Football is bigger than the pro game with 100,000 average attendance at most games!).

When it comes to golf though, you cannot get better than The Golf Channel for proper couch golf potato laziness. In the afternoons, they have instruction from the best in the game followed by half-hour long commercials for golf related products.

The best one is Dalton McCary’s fool proof teaching method for straight shots where Dalton, a Texan in a cowboy hat and plus-fours, persuades you to invest $400 for two videos that will end your golfing troubles. Apparently, one of his pupils was a 100+ shooter and turned into a tour player in a week. I think they refer to the newly founded “100+ Scorer Tour”.

I witness other products like the wedge with diamonds on the face for extra spin (it turns your ball into a squashed apricot), the putter with a 15-inch shaft and the amazing “Chameleon” club which is every club from 1-iron to putter (This is a wedge right? Well, yes, but it’s also a putter and a 1-iron. Amazed? You will be!). I notice that all of them start with the same line, “Does this always happen to you?”

 I also realise that American’s have really mastered the art of selling things like this because even the most outlandish product seems appealing at some point.

After a week of this light torture, I make a determined effort to start practising again and get out in the fresh air. My mother always told me to take advantage of sunny days and I intend to do just that.       

Come back to the site next week and read the next installation of life on a golf scholarship!