I’m a hypocrite. I’m the one who wrote the title of this post. I’m also the one doing most of the bitching.

To those who know I play golf, it’s the same old sob story – they ask how my golf season was and my answer, “that I’ve hardly played golf this year” sounds as though I’m someone in mourning.

And perhaps I am. I’m mourning the death of what was once a spring, summer and fall packed with golf nearly every weekend. But this year that’s all changed. I haven’t played since early August, which seems like eons ago. I explained the reasons for my dearth of golf in this post from September.

Autumn is typically my favorite time of year to play – the bright colors of New England trees, the crisp air – yet sadly this fall, I haven’t stepped one-foot on a tee-box, fairway or green. Not because of the gout (I’ve shed 15 pounds now and have been hobble-free for a few months), but for a multitude of other things, including a freak October snow storm.

My aguish over not playing has gotten so bad that I recently thought to myself; “so this is how it would be if I quit golf altogether.” Seriously, thinking of myself standing on a tee-box getting ready to hit is almost surreal for me these days…what was it like to hit a perfect tee shot on a bright sunny day? I’m not really sure I know anymore.

Ah, but this is all bull shit, isn’t it? We weekend hacks are stuck in a catch 22 – we don’t play enough so we are hacks. We’re hacks because we don’t play enough. We could go on and on. But the truth is we are husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, homeowners, employees, supervisors, vice presidents and grandparents. In other words; we have lives.

And in most cases, the parenting, managing and maintenance takes precedence over golf – not just because these things have to come first, but often because we want them to come first (like spending time with my 1-year-old, for instance). Would we love to be out on the course more often? Of course. Is that realistic? Not for many. So we lace-up the soft spikes when we can and sign a scorecard that ends up looking like we went bowling instead. It is what it is.

So when you do get a chance to play, why beat yourself up over how bad you shoot? The fact that you’re out there having fun; enjoying the day; enjoying the camaraderie; and having some “me” time – isn’t that really what this game is all about?

Yes, I’ve played only 7 times this season and yes, I’ve complained about it.

But I’m a hypocrite no longer.