After a weekend of shooting lights-out golf and earning one of those gigantic checks (literally), do you think Tiger, or any superstar golfer on the tour for that matter, ever gets the desire to just hit a local public course? I don’t necessarily mean some $12, play-all-day, military test ground-looking hell hole. I’m talking about a nice upscale public course with his buddies.
Better yet, when he was in his bachelor days, do you think he ever went on a date that consisted of dinner at Chili’s and eighteen holes of mini-golf? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s not exactly how he reeled in Elin. So if I had to guess, I would say probably not. But don’t laugh…those mini golf putts are tough! You could get some good practice with those uneven surfaces under the frayed and bunched-up carpets and the raised lip around the cup. Not to mention the windmill! Well, either it’s good practice or it will completely ruin your putting game.
Anyway, I would think between practice and tournaments, those rounds with his buddies will probably have to wait. Especially those rounds at the public course…those will likely never come. But it’s not just because he is who he is…it’s also because he’s doing his job, and probably doesn’t want to do more of it on his time off.
Along the same lines, can you picture a guy like Mario Andretti getting behind the wheel of a go-kart just for fun? What would be the point, right? That may be fun for a regular guy like me, but that’s because I don’t get to drive a hi-performance, bullet-with-wheels at 200+ MPH on a closed track.
What about a famous chef like Jacques Pepin? I would be willing to bet he doesn’t roll-out-of-bed every morning and whip himself up a crepe stuffed with shrimp, scallions and scallops in a velouté sauce. On a side note, do you think he ever just drops-in to his local Mickey D’s? Well…actually I can picture that one. To hell with Morgan Spurlock! World-class chef or not, how can you resist a quarter-pounder with cheese every once in a while? And he’s not cooking it anyway, right? Someone is preparing a meal (to a degree) for him for a change! But as I said, for the most part these guys are doing their jobs, which they probably don’t want to do on their days off. Think about it, would you want to?
Some examples: If you are a garbage collector, when you get home do you offer to take out your neighbor’s trash for them? If you are a veterinarian, do you wake up on Sunday morning, check to see if your dog’s nose is wet then proceed to give Rover a check-up by putting your finger in a place Rover would likely prefer you didn’t? Maybe you’re stuck alone in the office mailroom and you stuff envelopes all day for a living…something tells me you’re going to setup automatic bill payments through your bank. Maybe you’re the greeter at the front doors of Wal-Mart. If so, I would think you’ll probably not be inviting as many people to your home as you would if you were the envelope stuffer.
See my point? No? Maybe I don’t really see it either. It’s just something that crossed my mind. Maybe some people do the same stuff they do for a living on their time off. Maybe they enjoy it enough to do so. You know what they say – find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. I would imagine athletes don’t quite look at their “jobs” the same way the average worker does. So maybe golfers play golf on their off-days. I like to whenever I can. And for the dog’s sake, I hope the veterinarian does too.