Sport to me is Beauty

By Mojoman

Sport to me is beauty.

I grew up on basketball and baseball. From my youngest years I realized the beauty of sport.
Watching Ken Griffey Jr., the great baseball centerfielder, is art in motion. The way his hips and hands move through the hitting zone effortlessly. The way he watches as the ball catapults towards him. The cool calm he has as the bat hits the ball. All those things to me were beauty.

Witnessing the genius of Michael Jordan is something I will never forget. His every move, from the time he walked onto the court to the time he jogged with beads of sweat falling from his brow to the locker room, were moments of beauty. He just moved differently from the others. He had a sense of confidence, poise, and ease that made it hard to look away.
So sport for me as a young boy was art, grace, and beauty. These were the things I knew of sport. These were the things I felt from sport.

Of course that was before I started to play golf.

You see….I was always a pretty good athlete. All Star baseball, basketball, and lacrosse games were things I frequented. I got sports. I could play sports. I loved sports. Golf then entered my life and kicked me in the behind. I entered high school and wanted to play golf. So I took lessons……I stunk. I had a slice you could not believe. I only hit the ball 20% of the time. But I loved it. Something about the game…..about the feeling of that one shot, made all the frustrations worth it. I have gotten better through the years and have become a pretty good golfer. However, golf still lacked part of that beauty, confidence, and poise that I remembered from my past.

Do not misunderstand…..I see beauty in Tiger, Ernie, and Phil. But that had never transferred to me. Why? I am not quite sure. A lack of confidence in myself? Perhaps. Golf is frustrating. Golf is mind numbing. And golf is ego killing. And because of this golf lacked those qualities I remember from early years in sport.

However…..a few months back I discovered TSG and JDM equipment. Finally something in golf that possessed those qualities I feared were lost on me in golf. The qualities of Griffey and Jordan – poise, grace, confidence, and beauty – were somehow part of this equipment.

When I received my first piece of JDM equipment – some Gauge Design MB-2 irons – I saw these things ingrained within. The irons were different from the others, just like Jordan was. They are smoother, cleaner, softer, and….well….different. They instilled into me the confidence, poise and ease that Michael Jordan portrayed to me all those years back. Since that first set of irons I have accumulated the following pieces of JDM gear – a set of NC-1 irons, a Yuiri Raw Gekko PW, a Yuiri CNC Gekko Gap wedge, a Crews Golf driver, a G-Field hybrid, and a Gauge putter. Literally, these have all made me a better golfer. And now I must mention the pieces that I have gotten that have gone above and beyond these initial expectations and feelings.

First – I have gotten three Chikara wedges…..they are, in a word, amazing. They play wonderfully. They are beauty in metal. I love them. My short game has improved (because of the wedges themselves or the confidence they instill I do not know) two fold this summer alone. And this is not to mention the wonderful Nowon grips that are as inspiring in and of themselves.
Second – A gift from my beautiful wife, the OnOff Pro Caddy bag. Never have I seen such a wonderfully created, thought out, and beautiful piece of equipment. The bag itself inspires confidence.

Alright, so my enthusiasm has gotten the better of me. So to sum up ----- why is JDM important to me? Because it has awakened that inner love of sports within me again. As I have grown older I have played less and less of the other sports and golf is now my #1 sports passion. I lost that excitement for the beauty in sports I had once had. But, as cliché and silly as it may sound to you reading this, the Japanese clubs that have become a part of my game and my life have reignited this within me. For that I will be forever grateful and forever in awe. The beauty, the confidence, the poise, and the confidence that the best of sports once was for me is back. Why it has done this to me I am not sure…..but the JDM equipment has made me play more, play better, and play happier. Not much more I can ask for.