Most people have a strong opinion about golf. Peg thinks it’s stupid and boring (she has never tried it) and says “it’s just stupid men with little balls and sticks”. It’s difficult, exciting, humbling, humiliating, exasperating, exhilarating, and I usually want to quit as soon as I start playing. One of my golf buddies swears each time we play that it is his last round and tries to sell us his clubs – but is the first to make a tee time on a nice day. More important than the golf is the “golf buddies” relationships. You have heard the expression “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”? Well that was stolen from “what happens on the golf course stays on the golf course”. I was at a funeral a few years ago – one of those where people can stand up and say anything they want about the deceased. I was in shock when a man stood up and began to expound on unsavory events that occurred with his “friend” on the golf course. He should have been struck down with a 3 iron for such blasphemy!! My golf buddies have listened to my whining and stories for decades now – they have seen my children grow up and watched me go through all kinds of personal stuff – but they leave it all on the 18^th green just as soon as we all sink our “double bogey max” putts on the last hole. We share stories –that are usually quite embellished .  We share jokes that we have heard a hundred times yet still guffaw over. We call each other names that would never be heard in public. We are allowed to be as stupid and juvenile as possible when we play golf together. I have been known to use a few words to express myself (usually after an errant tee shot) that I would never use in any other forum. Hand gestures and verbal abuse are common place in our group – and often encouraged. We have developed our own phraseology for common occurrences on the course (I am not permitted to divulge any). We have names for our different golf shots that cannot be shared outside our group. We have landmarks on various courses that usually invoke a “remember when” story. We have shared a few comments with outsiders, but they just don’t get it.  Occasionally an outsider will play golf with us and usually stand in awe as me and my buddies carry on. It is a closed club – a few have tried to enter the fray but just aren’t ready– we have very low standards that most can’t measure down to. I’ve heard of men giving up the game when their golf buddy group breaks up. We know things about each other that no one else would know. We keep secrets that are considered legally binding – it’s like a lawyer-client privilege – “I’m sorry judge but I wish to invoke my golf buddy privilege” – no judge would ask any more questions – it’s the law. So when I die, my golf buddies will stand silently with their little balls and sticks and just smile and add hand gestures…