By Janie C. Farina, LPGA
mail@floridanewsline.com

“Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”

~ George Santayana, philosopher and essayist

Is your golf game giving a return on your investment for the time and money you are putting into your practice/playing sessions? Or are you becoming a fanatic who has forgotten his aim by doing the same things that keep your game in “golf bankruptcy?” So many golfers are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to equipment, instruction, and a proper practice plan for a better golf payoff.

If I had a nickel for each person who tells me:

“I purchased an inexpensive “starter set” to see if I like the game” or “My dad let me borrow these clubs so I’m using these until I get better” or “I’ve gotten a beginner a set of clubs for a gift.”

(A gift of golf clubs, without being fitted, is like using a debit card without knowing what the balance in your checking account is — the chances of getting balanced in the golf swing is a high risk proposition).

Bottom line, using a club too short or too long resembles someone bobbing for apples, making it difficult to get a proper sweep from all his “working capital.”

Players hitting balls on the range without proper aim or a set up that encourages balance in the swing is like watching an addict dumping coins in a slot machine with no return.

With this rationale added up in nickels I should be rich by now…

Typical novice “Golf Investment Portfolio” for one month:

$250: Starter set at various discount sporting goods stores

$175: Range ball bucket at $7 to practice with 25 times

$10: Golf glove (to cover the blisters on left hand from inexpensive grips) that is too big, and causes more blisters because it creases.

After one month, by the time the player hits golf recession that turns into golf depression, it’s time to “sell out” or “reinvest.”

Sample “Proposed Plan Portfolio” for month number two:

$ 60: Lesson evaluation (can be credited towards a lesson package)

$ 850 Fitted equipment (five clubs with soft grips that need no glove) + bag and a five-lesson package

$ 125 for 25 medium range buckets (one time per week), $50 savings.

Month #1 = $435 with no golf reward return on investment

Month #2 = $975 with serious golf reward return on investment that includes getting rid of cheap starter set that doesn’t fit, undo all the bad habits hitting balls for a month with mis-fitted equipment (which takes up the first two lessons of the lesson package), and throwing away one useless golf glove.

So when we do the math for people interested in learning how to play golf, or experiencing a golf “recession,” it’s important to get proper guidance to discourage frivolous golf spending and put their money down on smart golf stock options.

There’s prosperity for those golf addicts out there that stop gambling and start securing their golf future by doing the math:

Get a plan + Get fitted + Take lessons = Save Time and Money

Keep the Flow and Let it Go!

Janie C. Farina is a 26-year LPGA teaching and club professional in St. Johns County. Email her at hitthedirt2@gmail.com with comments or questions for future articles.

 

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