A short lesson on the important lessons in life

This week’s story is a lesson on lessons. And it’s gonna be a short one.

Tell me why so many of us wait so many years to take basic lessons to learn certain enjoyable physical skills, like hitting a golf ball or casting a fly line.

OK, so here’s the deal. This summer I’ve taken a few golf lessons from Dave Broeder, pro at Buffalo Hills. I expected to hear there was a separate swing for every club and, at my age, with all my creaking joints, I was basically relegated to just swinging and hoping.

Hmmm. He sure made hitting the ball look easy. Same swing every iron, just different lengths back swing and follow through.

And putting. I thought I was pretty good at “reading” greens, but I learned “reading” distance is more important.

I couldn’t take golf lessons when I was a kid because my parents couldn’t afford them. Sound familiar? But, hey, all the balls I’ve lost over the years would more than pay for those lessons. And I would have had a heck of a lot more fun playing golf over the last 50 years.

There’s always “persons with many (many) life experiences” in my fly-casting classes. Almost invariably they tell me they’re just finding time in their lives to learn casting. And all the fish they could have been catching would more than make up for a few bucks for lessons.

Ya, I know we’re all busy, but there’s just something wrong with putting off how to hit a golf ball and cast a fly line.