Wisdom from an unlikely source

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Those of us who’ve played golf for a while might be caught rolling our eyes when paired with a brand-new player. I made sure not to do that when the new golfer happened to be my wife.

For years Lisa said she had too many other interests to be bothered with golf, but over time, her position began to soften. Once “not for me,” it progressed to “maybe one day” when our boys became players, before arriving recently at “I can’t, I have a lesson,” and keeping a spare FootJoy glove in her purse. That all of this happened without my prodding was a given—I sensed early the way to turn Lisa off from golf forever would be to routinely insist that she play. Instead, she was inspired by friends and the opportunity to connect with our teenage boys—and maybe even a little with me.



Through the spring and summer, as Lisa worked toward a goal of playing as a foursome on our family vacation, I anticipated being able to share my accumulated wisdom about the game with my wife. What I hadn’t counted on is how much more about golf I ended up learning from her.

Below, some valuable lessons from the newest golfer in our family.

1. Golf still fights a bad rap

The first lesson was provided before Lisa set foot on a course. On the morning of her first lesson at our town club, she asked me what she should wear. Our course is nice, but it’s not exactly Augusta National, so I said not to overthink it—I figured a pair of normal shorts and an athletic top would be fine. When I looked up next, however, Lisa was gone, only returning an hour later. She said she didn’t want to be wrong for fear of embarrassment, so she rushed to a store to buy a golf shirt and a pair of new shorts. For those who question if golf’s stuffy reputation is alive and well, this was an answer. If the wife of a Golf Digest editor is worried about “doing it wrong,” a sizable barrier must remain for those truly coming in cold.