I must admit I have been enjoying this summer and my child’s immersion into the world of Junior Golf. He has been out playing with new friends, in a healthy OUTDOOR environment and playing in a few tournaments to boot! All in all it has been a great summer athletic-wise for sure.

Normally hockey was my favoured sport to watch him play – vast amounts of money and time were spent so he could train and compete at high levels. Then we had our experiences of last season. Ugh. Crazy coach and crazy parents on the team. I remember last year in March counting the days until the season was over and we could get away from those who should be on medication. Shockingly, even my son was getting tired by the end of the season and was not sorry to play his last game with that team. Being a hockey nut since he started skating at 3…this was a huge change in him.

Writing this now though, hockey training and the tryout process is just around the corner again. Insane early mornings, massive kilometres put on the car, a bank account left specifically for hockey and all its added expenses…I’m just not looking forward to it anymore. It just can’t compare to the niceties of the golf game, which of course isn’t generally an inexpensive sport either I may add.

Golf probably has some crazy parent somewhere, I just haven’t had the pleasure of meeting up with them in the past few years he has been playing. When any of the crazy hockey crowd ask me about junior golf and how to get involved I try to dissuade them using all sorts of arguments, but the one they generally accept is “Just wait until little Joey has been drafted to the NHL and then during his off season he can take up golf and will have the massive paycheque to be able to do it and you won’t have to pay for two expensive sports! Stay in hockey” Not sure why that one works but it does. And if they spend their summers in cold rinks screaming at young refs and coaches, it makes it all the more pleasurable for me to watch my child walking down a beautiful fairway with some new friends.

So I never thought these words would ever come from my mouth but I do believe I am sad that hockey season is starting soon and golf will be ending.