"Phil Good": Golf Fanatic

Ever since Jordan got his hands on some golf clubs at 13 months, he has not let go. On Saturday, we went to the Spokane Golf and Travel Show and though shy at first, Jordan eventually navigated the kid zone and enjoyed his time there.

At 8:15 AM, Jordan and I headed off to the Show which began at 9 AM in hopes of getting our free limited while supplies lasted "customized" golf club just for kids. They were not so much customized as they were giving us one for his height, which in our case, was the shortest they had, coincidentally still too long for little 21 month old Jordo. And they were not so much short in supply until late in the afternoon, but we didn't want to take our chances, and what else better did we have to do anyway (Andy was working). Afterwards, we met up with Andy for lunch at the hospital and then we went home for Jordan's naptime. Andy got off work and headed over to the show to hit some balls with the new gear, and then he came home. Jordan must have sensed it because he was up at precisely the moment Andy walked in the door. He had his afternoon bottle, and then we were off to the Show again, but this time with our own clubs and balls (the ones there were chunky plastic and they were hitting miniature tennis balls - Jordan was not a fan).

Most 21 month olds are not really "into" anything as much as Jordan is "into" golf. He pours over all the balls and swings in Golf Digest, watches instructional golf videos with Andy, and enjoys professional golf on television. So we figured he'd love hitting balls into the net (just like Daddy does at the golf or sporting goods stores we go to often) on the green with a tee. Before we left, he was so excited. He took his golf clubs in his little golf bag and knew we were off to do some golfing. But once we were there, the men and women in uniform red polos guarding the net intimidated him. He kept staring at them and wouldn't move towards the tee. When we asked him if he wanted to hit some balls, he shook his head quickly and wanted to leave. We persisted because we both knew how badly he wanted to hit the balls. After much hesitation, he finally warmed up to a green that didn't have a scary red polo person next to it, and even when he started to hit the balls and the scary red polo-ed people ooh'ed and aah'ed and said, "what a great swing he has!" he just stared back at them with a blank stare, as if to question, "who are you people?!" It was really funny. He didn't warm up until 15 minutes later, we told him it was time to go. We headed towards a putting green and an instructional PGA net and that was where he really got comfortable and started "yeah-ing" everytime he got a ball into the hole.

Now I'm not a fan of golf, but given the heightened interest from my son and husband, I have reluctantly acquiesced to their golf desires and found myself here for most of Saturday.

Looking back, it was quite enjoyable to see how happy it made both of them. Looking into the future, I feel I will have a lot of free time when my boys go off to the Country Club for some golf. Andy is still hoping I will join and play, and after a free instructional lesson from a PGA something or other person (certified, professional? I have no clue...) and being told I had athletic ability (something I have never ever heard in my life) and potential, he was hoping I was sold, but not so much. I wonder if the tables were turned, and we had a daughter who was into ballroom dancing, and had gone to some ballroom dance convention, if Andy would have taken some free dance lessons. I think not... so hopefully he is reading this and aware of how great I am for going along and enjoying it all!

I took along our fancy single lenses camera to document the day partially because Andy wanted me to take a lot of photos of Jordan's excitement and partially because I felt silly using an iPhone to take a million photos. So I lugged our big camera in my diaper bag and didn't feel as silly taking it out and snapping a lot of photos at one time. In fact, I felt like a wannabe professional and just kept snapping away. I think I will take my big camera with me to more places now and try to get some better quality photos and try to post photos more. Anyway, will let the photos speak for themselves (some are taken with my phone still though). ...

waiting in line for the festivities to begin! We went through all the ABC's (he has trouble with a few letters and his favorite are 'E' and 'O' but I must say, watching Super Why has really heightened his alphabet speaking abilities), played with the car keys, the combination lock and whatever else was in my purse before I eventually busted out the phone (we were there about twenty minutes before they opened and I didn't want him running around before it was time to go in, and with that much carpet space, he was so so tempted! Staying stuck in that stroller was quite the challenge!)

going through the goody bag to fill up inside

Excited to see a ball and a club on the flier (even upside down) .. look at that line in back of us! We were probably about 20th in line and the line went all the way to the stairway entrance, it was quite long.

the free "customized" just for kids table

Mom, why do they use such large plastic clubs and tennis balls?!

Perhaps I'll give it a go...

We were excited to learn they had classes offered to all ages who were willing, and as we went over to sign up, we were told that classes start for ages 7 and up. I was perturbed that they didn't train their temps a little better but oh well. Andy thinks there will be classes in Utah Jordan can take once he's a little bit older and ready to take instruction.

The long putt people let Jordan walk on and said he could putt for free (cost $3), but their clubs were too big. Too bad we didn't have his clubs with us!