Welcome to The Golf Scene — Your Weekly Golf Fix.

If this is your first issue, welcome.

If you've been following along, thanks — I appreciate it.

This week we discuss the dream of buying a golf course and learn why that dream may require a second mortgage, test your knowledge with a bizarre two-balls-in-the-hole rules quiz, and discover whether you're suffering from Back-Foot-Itis.

And somewhere in there, we'll help you hit a few better shots.

Let's get into it.

🏦 The Business of Golf: So You Want to Buy a Golf Course?

📖 Rule of the Week Quiz: Provisional Ball — Two Balls in the Hole

⛏️ Swing Insight: Call Before You Dig

(Welcome to Second Mortgage Golf & Country Club)

Ever thought about buying a golf course?

Of course you have.

Every golfer has.

Usually right after making a birdie.

Imagine it.

The fairways are lush.

The greens are rolling perfectly.

You just made a birdie.

For a brief moment, life makes sense.

Then the thought arrives.

"What a life this would be."

Imagine it.

Waking up every morning overlooking your own golf course.

Enjoying a coffee on the deck while watching the maintenance crew head out before sunrise.

A quick nine holes whenever you feel like it.

Your own golf cart sitting beside the clubhouse.

Your own parking spot.

Your own office.

In fact, you start referring to the golf course as "the office."

"Sorry honey, I've got meetings all afternoon."

Translation:

You're playing golf.

Again.

You imagine members greeting you as you drive by.

The staff know your name.

The clubhouse is your clubhouse.

The first tee is your first tee.

The eighteenth green is your eighteenth green.

You aren't just playing golf anymore.

You're living golf.

It's glorious.

Then reality taps you gently on the shoulder.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Because owning a golf course isn't really about golf.

It's about business.

And if you've never owned a business before, here's a helpful rule:

The grass doesn't care about your dreams.

Neither do the bills.

Welcome to Second Mortgage Golf & Country Club, where dreams come true and bank accounts mysteriously become smaller.

The first thing you need to understand is that a golf course survives on one simple question:

How many rounds of golf are played?

Everything starts there.

Not how beautiful the course is.

Not how many flower beds you have.

Not how many times golfers tell you, "You know what you should do around here?"

Just rounds.

Lots and lots of rounds.

Then you start breaking them down:

Because not all golfers arrive carrying the same amount of money.

A Saturday morning foursome paying full price is very different from four friends who teed off at 2:00 p.m. on a Monday, smuggled their own beer onto the course, walked with their own pull carts, carefully evaluated the discounted tuna sandwich, and ultimately chose the slightly flattened muffin they discovered in a side pocket of their golf bag from a previous geological era.

Then come the other revenue streams.

Power carts.

(For golfers who consider walking a violation of basic human rights.)

Pull carts.

(For golfers who want exercise, but not enough exercise to be uncomfortable.)

Driving range balls.

(Which somehow disappear at a rate scientists still cannot explain.)

Pro shop sales.

Food and beverage.

Club storage.

Membership fees.

Tournaments.

Lessons.

Every dollar matters.

Because while you're busy imagining yourself cruising around the property looking important, the golf course is quietly calculating how much money it needs just to wake up tomorrow morning.

Before long, something strange happens.

You realize you don't actually own the golf course.

The golf course owns you.

You start worrying about tee sheets.

And cart rentals.

And food sales.

And weather forecasts.

And labour costs.

And geese.

Especially geese.

Nobody knows why golf courses attract geese.

But if we ever figure out how to charge them a green fee, most golf courses will finally become profitable.

Based on usage alone, some of them should probably be full-time annual members.

And that's when the dream starts to change.

Not disappear.

Just change.

Because now you're beginning to understand that a golf course is not simply 180 acres of golf.

It's 180 acres of grass with an eating disorder.

And every morning it wakes up hungry.

Very hungry.

Next issue we'll continue exploring the hard numbers behind owning a golf course.

This is the chapter where irrigation systems develop personalities, equipment starts demanding money, and you'll begin to understand why some golf course owners occasionally stare into the distance for no apparent reason.

Spoiler alert:

Everything costs more than you think.

Much, much more.

If you've thought about buying a golf course but then looked at your chequebook...

Congratulations.

You've already made one good business decision.

👉 Subscribe to The Golf Scene

Each week: stories, instruction, rules, quizzes, and the occasional reminder that golf has very different plans for you than you do for it.

👉 Subscribe Here

Golf is one of those rare games where hardly anybody knows the rules.

Yup.

It's played by millions of people all around the world, and there are probably about 26½ golfers who truly know the Rules of Golf.

But I digress.

Let's just say golf's rules are fascinating.

Mostly because every golfer is absolutely convinced they know them.

Right up until they don't.

This week's quiz involves a provisional ball, a disappearing golf shot, two balls in the hole, and at least one golfer questioning everything he thought he knew about the game.

Good luck.

(Good luck)

A player hits his drive down the middle on a par 5.

On his second shot, he hits a huge slice toward a wooded area marked with white penalty stakes. He hears the ball crashing through the trees but can't see where it finishes.

Thinking the ball might be lost (and possibly out of bounds), he plays a provisional ball, hitting it to about 50 yards short of the green.

After searching and not finding his original ball, he returns to his provisional... and holes out with a wedge.

Great par, right?

Well...

When he walks up to the hole, he finds two balls in the cup.

His provisional...

and his original ball.

What score does he write down — 2 or 5?

(The answer is at the bottom of this issue. No peeking.)

Each week: a few better golf shots, a few laughs, and at least one reason to question the judgment of golfers everywhere.

👉 Subscribe Here

Do you suffer from back-foot-itis?

A condition where all your weight moves onto your back foot during the takeaway...

...and then simply decides to stay there until your holiday is over?

Or perhaps the more advanced condition known as Reverse Pivot Disorder...

...where your weight leans heavily onto the front foot during the takeaway, then moves backward during the downswing like you're leaving town in the middle of the night to avoid creditors?

If this is you...

Relax.

You're not alone.

Millions of golfers suffer from these devastating conditions every year as they:

In more advanced cases, patients may also experience:

Fortunately, there is hope.

The cure begins with understanding one simple fact:

The golf swing is not a backward-moving event.

At some point during the downswing, your pressure must begin moving toward the target.

Why?

Because this helps:

Because despite what many golfers believe...

The goal is not to fall backward while trying to personally escort the golf ball into the air.

The goal is balance, sequence, and proper pressure shift.

If every divot you take requires a quick call to "Call Before You Dig"...

...you may be suffering from back-foot-itis.

⚠️ Warning:

Correcting back-foot-itis may result in:

Please consult your local PGA Professional if symptoms persist.

Do not attempt to self-diagnose while watching random swing tips on social media.

Side effects may include lower scores, increased confidence, and the occasional compliment from your playing partners.

Because unlike your slice, your excuses, and that buddy who always seems to shoot 78 on days you weren't there...

this problem can actually be fixed.

Simply hit Reply to this email and send one of the following:

🏆 Major Championship – Loved it

⛳ Par – Good read

💧 Water Ball – Needs work

Your feedback helps shape future issues of The Golf Scene.

Join the Conversation

Enjoying The Golf Scene so far?

👉 Have a question about your swing?
👉 Something you’d like me to cover?
👉 Or anything in this issue that stood out?

Just hit reply and tell me what you’re working on — I read every message.

Because the moment his original ball went in the hole...

the hole was over.

He just didn't know it yet.

Everything that happened after that—

the provisional, the wedge, the celebration—

was basically a very committed practice routine

Two balls in the hole.

One counts.

The other exists solely to ensure nobody believes your story in the clubhouse.

you've invested considerably more time in this newsletter than most golfers invest in reading the Rules of Golf.

I appreciate that.

Send this to…

And if you’re looking to take your game a step further…

👉 I’d be happy to help — in person or online.

David Govan
PGA of Canada Professional

Golf Excellence Academy
Modern Golf Instruction

Creator of the 5C Golf Performance System
👉 GolfExcellence.ca

P.S. Next week...

We'll investigate a cruise ship mystery, revisit a scary movie from the 1980s, and continue gathering evidence that golfers should not be left unsupervised.