Author Matthew Heneghan

What do you get when you combine egg salad sandwiches, cold drinks, and perfectly manicured swaths of land to play golf on with a dear friend? I’ll tell you — you get an afternoon as close to bliss as you possibly can while bound to this mortal coil of ours.

Sure, that may come across as a tad dramatic or a thought that’s overdone… but gimme a break! I’m a writer. What do you want from me?

In all seriousness, amid all the stressors of a week nearing its end, slinking away for an afternoon beneath the watchful glare of a soon to be summer sun was the perfect reprieve. Throw in some stellar company and you have a rather peachy way to languish the afternoon hours. Steven, my dear friend, came to pick me up and whisk me away like the gentleman that he is for some much overdue time on the links. Why do they call it “the links?” I’m sure there’s a perfectly uninteresting answer, but for another time perhaps. I digress; we got to the course with minutes to spare, so no time for the customary range balls. Instead, we mounted our steady four-wheeled stumpy steed and bound to the tee-off.

Swoosh. Smack!

A good drive to start things off. Golf is always much more enjoyable when you’re not wading through fields of overgrowth and fallen branches in search of a poorly struck dimpled ball. That comes later. Despite best efforts.

Golf has a way of mirroring life. You can have the best intentions, the perfect plan, and still end up in the bunker or rough stuff. It’s a game of patience, resilience, and occasional luck. You learn to take the good shots with the bad, to laugh at your mistakes, and to appreciate the fleeting moments of perfection. And having a friend by your side makes the journey all the more enjoyable.

Is it strange to be grateful for a silly game? For the escape it offers? For the reminder that life, like golf, is a concoction of precision and chaos, beauty and frustration? Perhaps it is. But, being grateful for good company and freshly made egg-salad sandwiches… well, I’d be a fool not to find joy in that.

So, here’s to golf, to friendship, and to the simple pleasures that make life worth living. May your drives be straight, your putts true, and your sandwiches always perfectly made.