Driven To Distraction

'I don't know how it started but it won't go away' 

Problem is, I do know how it started but there isn't any danger of it going away anytime soon. 

That's a slightly foreboding start to an article in which someone talks about taking up golf but (just like some of my shots) at least it had a hook. 

It began on a rather nondescript Saturday afternoon with a suggestion from a friend to visit the local driving range in Grimsby, the suggestion was as out of the blue as what was to come. For a non-golfer, the driving range can be a strange and intimidating place. On one hand, there's the golfers with their collection of clubs, rangefinders and dressed in their usual course attire. On the other, kids on bikes would rock up, borrow a club from the branch of American Golf and Happy Gilmore the hell out of some balls before zooming home on their bikes in time for tea. 

Then there was me, ill-fitting jeans, trainers from Primark and a Grimsby Town shirt, hardly the clobber you'd see on the 18th hole at St. Andrews. Given my inauspicious attire, imagine my surprise when the first time I picked up a club outside of a crazy golf scenario ended with me sending the ball over 80 yards! Augusta here I come! 

This was it, the golf bug had bitten me, I've been struggling to find a new hobby but here it is. 

The driving range has become a second home for me in the weeks following my maiden visit. Instead of borrowing the range's equipment, I now have my own set of clubs, acquired from a work colleague (if you're reading Ian, thanks again) and have been able to consistently hit the ball 80 and 90 yards (even topping 100 at one point). There is just one problem. 

I CAN'T USE THE DRIVER PROPERLY!!! 

I've used the club at the range, can't get the ball moving. I've watched X amount of YouTube videos about how to get the swing right (thanks to Peter Finch and Rick Shiels, they make engaging and entertaining content and you should give them a follow/subscribe) but I just can't get it right. It appears my weapon of choice from the tee box is one of the irons. 

I'd better get practicing before I head out to an actual course. 

9 holes anyone?