It appears you all know each other already, so..........my friends call me "gv" or "vader", I'm 66 (Feb 13), live on Long Island in NY, am married 44 years to the same gal, and my daughter lives in Germantown, Maryland. 30 years ago I was a scratch golfer with hopes of getting better and trying to make the Senior Tour when I turned 50. I had already won 13 amateur tourneys, but still thought I had to get better.
Then the fun began. I had 2 emotional breakdowns (working 80 hour weeks will do that), had a silent heart attack, found I had 2 bad kidneys (both make stones), developed angina, had a pacemaker implanted 6 hours before my heart shut down (I live off the thing, it fires 65 times per minute, it has been replaced 3 times), had my gall bladder removed, had open heart surgery (2x...after the 1st one I started bleeding into my chest cavity so they had to go in again), & just to make it interesting I have clinical depression and anxiety disorder. And, have tremors in both hands due to certain meds I must take. And I take more meds every day than most pharmacies carry as stock. I think that's it.
This is without question the very best golf site I have ever seen. I've been a WGT member for a year, am a Tour Master, and hope to make Legend before I go play golf in Camelot. I've had more than my share of run-ins with the WGT..........but quit because of "all the problems"..........NEVER!!! This site gives me everything I had in playing regularly except actually swinging the club. My health prohibits that. But I WILL play again, even if I have to ride around the course in an ambulance with EMT"s as my caddie.
When you have stared death in the face 3x, you develop a new outlook on life. Really you do!!! My sense of humor gets through the days, weeks, months and years. So, PLEASE, take a tip from "gv". This is as close to real golf as you can get. I've hit many a shot that I thought was perfect and wasn't. I've missed 10 inch putts more times than I can count. I've been screwed here on credits. SO WHAT!!!! Take this game for what it is.....have fun with it. Make new friends, laugh off some of the stupidity that happens all the time. You don't know when you won't be able to do it anymore. Just before I'm cremated (I want my ashes scattered, 1/2 over St. Andrews, the other 1/2 over the greatest course I ever played, Augusta National), I'll probably say: "Please wait, I just want to hit 1 more shot"
"I hope I see you all very soon in the short grass"..........................................."gv"
PS.....What a simply great idea to have the chance to post things like this. Maybe I'll make some new "FRIENDS"