Golf as sport has been a bit of an oxymoron for me. Sports for me are physically demanding, heart pounding activities that produce copious amounts of sweat and endorphins. My husband picked up golf as a gift from me for his 40th birthday. A dear friend who is a scratch golfer assured me that my husband would love it, and that he could teach him the game. So one week later, with Titleist clubs in hand – they went out – and it’s been an addiction of his since.

His recommendation that I take up golf seemed silly. A sport played with martini in cart and cigar in hand? But I’ve been seeing lots of beautiful courses from the club house patio, and we no longer play tennis all week-end, and his idea that we go together to hits balls on a sunny afternoon sounded good on several sunny afternoons.

I am beginning to play golf on the range, without the accoutrement of cigar or martini, and with the visuals of Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie in my mind, and I love the feel of the club coming through its arc, and the solid fwack of the driver on the ball.

The golf swing is at first awkward; one shakes hands with the club in a funny way, one sits as if just about to encounter a stool, and extends the club in a full rotation around an arc without swaying or reaching. And you may not pick up your head, or stand up, to see how you have done until you have come through the stroke. Sound like baseball, tennis, polo? It is.

I haven’t yet got round a course – the idea of spending perhaps six hours in total frustration is neither attractive nor feasible at the moment. But driving balls is a nice compliment in the afternoon to a morning’s run, or a little fresh air and stretching on a day of recovery. The rotation of the hips through the ball feels very similar to the twisting poses I practice in yoga – so the golf swing compliments my athletic schedule, which is running / swimming / yoga / pilates, and offers a fun satisfaction of hitting a ball that is more age appropriate than swinging at baseballs, less expensive than swinging a polo mallet, and less demanding than swinging a tennis racquet.

So where can you find a golf swing in Manhattan, or hone your’s low and straight: Chelsea Piers, Drive 495 & Liberty National, in ascending order of ability and $$$.

We are checking out these places, and we’ll post our findings, and welcome your comments.

Cheers.