Golf Lessons from Morgan Freeman

By A. Scott Walton My regular golf partners chide me all the time over the fact that I insist on carrying a Ping 1-iron and a Chip-O in my bag. To them, I’m intentionally putting my game at an undue handicap. To me, those clubs (plus a lob wedge I bought used even though it’s got a gashed face) provide the rare, but pure, satisfaction of shots hit well in spite of the liability factors. Everyone knows the old Lee Trevino joke about 1-irons. Almost no one plays shots around the green with a Chip-O anymore. And, these days, it’s accepted as fact that an old school lob is useless. But so what? As long as I can afford to lose at low-stakes skins, why not play for pleasure is my own unique ‘risk-reward’ style? Which brings me back to the notion of handicaps, and stubbornness. Read the feature on the acclaimed actor Morgan Freeman in this month’s issue of Esquire magazine. For some strange reason, the editors downplayed the article so severely that it’s not even listed on the cover. But for reasons peculiar to golfers with peculiar styles of play, it’s not until the final few paragraphs of the seven-page pieces where Freeman’s fanaticism for the game comes to light. You see: due to a horrific 2008 car crash, Freeman can’t do much of anything with his left hand anymore. Not drive, or pilot a plane, wield a fork, or hold a golf club. So he plays one-handed, and apparently very well. Don’t question how a man plays, or with what. Just feel lucky, if you enjoy his company, to be included in his foursome.