Playing golf is pitting your game against the course in most instances. This is why the game of golf is like snakes and ladders. Many of us know what this board game is all about. Climb a ladder and move ahead toward your goal or slide down a snake and go backwards. Climbing is generally harder than sliding because of a little thing called gravity. Playing stroke over eighteen holes in a competitive round of golf takes around four plus hours. There is plenty of time to stuff things up.

More Ordinary Rounds Than Exceptional Ones

Those of us who have played this game of golf for many years can vouch for the fact that you tend to register more ordinary rounds than exceptional ones. Weekend warriors who rock up every Saturday and pit their game against the course finish amongst the also rans more often than not. This is why we love the game of golf because it is a cruel taskmaster and when we actually win it makes it all the more sweeter. You can start out in fine form making pars and the odd birdie. You can notch up a great front nine. Eventually, however, one of those snakes is going to get you.

Much Easier to Make Bogies

Notice that in Snakes and Ladders, the snake comes first. It is the more prominently placed name. Similarly in the game of golf it is much easier to make bogies than birdies. A bad hole can result in multiple bogies. Things can quickly go south in the game of golf. Strokeplay means that you have to count every shot played. You must count the missed putts, the fluffed chips, the duffed shots, and the air swings. Sliding down that snake on a bad hole can be a sickening experience. You watch all your dreams and aspirations sink into a quagmire of disappointment.

Yes, playing the game of golf is like snakes and ladders. The ladders include the practice you put in trying to improve the standard of your game. The time spent on the range and putting green. Climbing that ladder of concentration through the round for as long as you can and trying to avoid that slippery snake. The investment you have made in your clubs and equipment is another climb. The subscription fees you pay to play another ladder. The instructional material you watch and read more climbing.

The snakes, unfortunately, are everywhere in golf. The momentary lapse of concentration on the putting green which costs you strokes. The bad swing you make on that long par four, which puts you in the rough and a long way from the green. The bunker shot you leave in the sand. The duffed chip. The shot into the hazard. The shot out of bounds. The snakes are all around and waiting for you to mess up. The pull. The slice. Hitting it fat. Skulling a wedge. The quiet game sneaks up and mugs you when least expected.

Some golfers drink to escape the anxiety. They fool themselves into thinking that they don’t really care. But we all know that’s bullshit. Deep down the truth is something else. The game can do bad things to good people. Remember Ian Baker Finch. Snakes and ladders my friend. Just when you think you have victory in your grasp golf can snatch it away. The double bogie finish. The bogie, bogie finish. You think you have climbed that last ladder to the top and yet you slip down that long last snake to your bitter demise. Greg Norman at the majors in America. Many more golfers lose than win. Missing the cut is a fact of life. Snakes await the unwary. That little white ball can get into all sorts of trouble. You must count up all those shots and inscribe them upon your scorecard.

Struggling to make par when your nerves are frayed, and your game is going south. The wind whispers in the trees and is it telling you too many home truths? Can you keep it together for those final few minutes? Will you let yourself down once again? Snakes and ladders my friend. Those damned snakes are everywhere.

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