Honest Johan

Filed in archive Golf Interviews on October 21, 2007

Courtesy: BBC

It was a few days before leaving the U.K and I thought I'd hike up the High Street in Guildford one more time, drop into a bookshop and check out the English golf mags.

Here in North America, we're under the impression that there are essentially only two golf publications for the amateur: Golf Digest and golf magazine. But the English didn't conquer the world (once upon a time) so they could play follow-the-leader in the magazine industry.

I slipped into the venerable English booksellers, W.H. Smith's, and headed for the magazine rack. What a selection! If you have a hankering to read about the Porsche 911 Turbo you drive, there's a magazine for you. And nearly half a dozen on that very British of hobbies, model railroading. There were literally several thousand different titles, many of which I'd never heard of.

Finally to the golf section where my eyes fell upon the magazine whose website I have recommended from time to time: Golf Punk.

As the title suggests (and the website underlines), this is a fairly irreverent golf magazine. But, make no mistake, they take their golf seriously even if they don't know the difference between "its" and "it's" or when a word is plural or possessive.

That aside, the writing is breezy and cheeky and sometimes borders on loutish (now there's a good English word for you). But the magazine is a good read.

It's a thick book - at least the current issue is - but it doesn't take a month to plow through like The Economist does. And there are always interesting profile interviews.

This month's cover features Swedish golfer, Johan Edfors in "conversation" with feature editor, Shaun McGuckian.

"I've just asked Johan Edfors if he is crap at golf which, as breakfast manners go, isn't going to win me any awards". So starts the article. You get the idea.

Somehow, these young Golf Punks at, uh, Golf Punk manage to elicit pure honesty and soul-baring quotes from their interview subjects (see the website for more).

Edfors is forthright about the game of golf and how refreshing it is to hear a professional say "...it can be a nightmare at times. In golf there are so many pieces that have to fit together to get a good result and that's before you even take into account what the other guys are getting up to".

Suddenly we realize that the game is as difficult for the pros as it is for us amateurs. Suddenly, those guys making the big money walking down the fairways on TV are comrades sharing the same frustrations and joys.

Granted, Edfors has had a rough year after a stunning 2006 outing in which he grabbed three victories. But there's always a ray of sunshine.

"One day I feel like I want to quit this game and then the next, I'll hit a few good shots and realize it's the best job in the world to do", he says in the interview.

A fine interview with an honest player on the infuriating aspects of the game of golf.

But McGuckian summed it up in his opening paragraphs when he wrote, "Golf's fixating challenge is that there is no such thing as perfect. One day, you can be drawing five irons around trees and onto greens; the next, you can't hit a fairway in a neighboring county".

It seems that applies to the pros as well who, like each of us, put their pants on one leg at a time, too.