I’m a gamer from way back. Not talking about Nintendo but I’m talking about Atari 2600 and before that, the video arcade versions. Growing up, I couldn’t get enough of the gaming thrill. The arcade games were 25 cents to play and the over under for each trip was $5. I remained a gamer off and on through the Nintendo years, the end of the video arcade and into the emergence of the modern day Playstation and Xbox systems. One of my favorite modern games would be HALO and specifically HALO 3. I have insomnia and would play for hours into the morning at times. I became friends with other gamers and we formed some pretty incredible teams. We pretty much all had our specialties. Some were snipers, others were sick with a BR (battle rifle) and others knew the maps and spawn locations of each level. My job was mostly to drive. For whatever reason, I became insanely proficient as a wheelman on the Warthog. In case you aren’t familiar, the Warthog is a 4 whhel drive vehicle with a 50 caliber machine gun mounted on the back or in some cases a laser cannon. You could get a splatter kill by running people over or a wheelman assist by simply driving and allowing others to shoot the enemy with the mounted weapon. I knew each map inside and out and ended up with thousands of wheelman kills. My gamer tag was Ih4snoski11z as shown above which was to indicate that I sucked when in reality, we rocked as a team. I retired that gamer tag and just recently bought another Xbox 360 to goof around with.
Shark Attack Golf is a mindset and a way of living. We live out loud and strive to make golf better, more fun and more accessible to a more diverse crowd. Just as it took time to locate a core group of gamers for online play, it’s a constant search to put together a great and reliable team to carry the Shark Attack flag. At first, it was a very small group of dedicated players who understood the common goal but it has now grown to include videos, game formats, long drive events and even an international team. What I see in some ways inspires me and in other ways saddens me. Golf has a lot of known issues including being boring, being only for the elite and in some cases being discriminatory and sexist. We meet people all the time who think they’re cool and relevant but in reality they are clueless and misguided. It’s a lot like a musician thinking they are metal when in fact they sound a lot like Kenny G. Until we learn to accept Ladies, kids and minorities into the fold, the game will continue to die a slow and painful death. The only way to grow the sports of golf and long drive is to become relevant to more people and accepting of new approaches and ideas. Money doesn’t equal cool and snobby golf needs to be a thing of the past.
One thing I’ve learned is that in lieu of actual skills, people will offer offensive and cliche (tired and worn out) phrases and ideas to distract from their actual pitiful performance. This is one reason that I really love Long Drive. You can fake a golf game on occasion or turn in scores to artificially lower your handicap but you can’t fake long. I’m no long driver but I design and produce Long Drive equipment and I’m lucky to be associated with people who can hit the ball off the planet. I’m a sniper in a world of bombers but I’m realistic enough to know what I bring to the table. You can buy the most expensive clubs and the gear to match but when you step on the tee box, the clothes and club can’t make you a hitter. One thing that really does annoy me is the people who would give us all a bad name by acting offensive and insensitive by exploding after a bad set or by saying racist comments in person or on social media and by embarrassing themselves by what they say or do around kids and the Ladies. This is no longer a white guys exclusive domain or a good ole boys club. I recently played in a tournament with a lady who is a natural athlete and her philosophy was simply awesome. I let her hit a couple of custom clubs both long drive and standard. She said that she’d never hit the ball so far and it was freaking awesome. We should encourage anyone who wants to play aggressive golf and have fun. If you’re not having fun playing, you’re playing with the wrong people. We are not perfect and we all make mistakes but can we at least strive to grow the game? It’s also true that it takes a big person to admit when they are wrong and to apologize.
They say golf is a gentleman’s game but in reality, golf is what you make it. Decide today to make golf a better place. Dedicate yourself to achieving whatever goals you have and open your mind to the possibilities that exist by welcoming others to this great and awesome sport. I tell everyone that I wish they could find something that would make them even half as happy as golf makes me because then, the world would be a better place.
Moby
Shark Attack Golf