Greetings Golfers,
As you get into golf, you can’t help turning into a detective … sort of a Sherlock Holmes of the golf swing.
It can be a lot of fun … but it can also drive you crazy. People can get more obsessed with the golf swing than with the game of golf.
The other night, I watched my favorite television detective – William Murdoch – get obsessed with the golf swing. The writers handled it perfectly.
The show (Murdoch Mysteries) is a Canadian series set in Toronto from 1895 to almost 1910. It’s starting its 14th season and moves up a year as it begins each new season.
Because of COVID, my wife and I have been watching a lot of television – it’s become our social life. Murdoch doesn’t have much of a social life – he’s pretty obsessive and works on his cases at the expense of doing anything else.
Murdoch is a bright guy, sort of a loner, but not anti-social. He’s kind and holds himself to high standards of behavior. He knows a lot about everything … but is especially keen on science.
So he’s always inventing variations of famous scientific inventions … it’s pretty clever and pretty funny. Of course he has dealings with Thomas Edison and Nikolei Tesla and Henry Ford … because we all know that they were involved in criminal activity in Toronto at the turn of the century.
I’m not doing a great job of describing the show. It’s charming and not cliche and doesn’t take itself too seriously … though it is intelligent and has good dialog and characters.
And, the mysteries are really interesting and solvable for the viewer. That’s why it was so much fun watching Murdoch get sucked into the mysteries of golf – especially the golf swing.
Did he solve the mystery of the golf swing? Yes and no. While at the driving range, his wife takes a swing and hits a beautiful shot. He was at the range struggling because his swing plane invention had ruined his swing. So he asks his wife to try again. She hits another beauty. But when he asked her what she was thinking about to hit such a perfect shot … she said “Nothing. I just cleared my head and swung.”
Murdoch couldn’t believe it. She calmly insisted that’s what she did. He got really agitated. This is a guy who never loses his cool. He told her that her answer makes no sense. He needs answers. He solves mysteries. He’s a scientist. He can’t accept that not thinking could be an answer to anything.
The next and final scene … is Murdoch calmly throwing each of his golf clubs into a pond.
You know that he’ll be back. You can’t quit golf – not really.
Take care,
Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com
Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
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