One Golfer's Music Conundrum

These past five years I have really been exploring music. I have posted song upon song on social media. Stuff I’m listening to.. Groups of songs that make a playlist or create a point of view.. New songs that I think are funny or even good that I believe need public notice. I used Instagram as a vehicle to post this music and I lost a lot of followers. I was doing it at a pretty constant rate and see clearly why many of my friends would rather opt out; I don’t blame them. This didn’t stop me from continuing to post pictures of songs.

My problem with music isn’t Instagram followers. It’s much more simple. Listening to as much music as I have over the years, I have really become addicted. Currently, I’m listening to Molly by Kodak Black. I wrote my entire book while listening to my playlist. I have come accustomed to multitasking pretty much anything I do while listening to music. In 2016, while spending the summers mowing fairways at my local public course, I chose to opt out of using earplugs, and I replaced them with headphones. I was going up and down the fairways singing along to morning show radio programs like the ones on Kiss FM, WGCI, and what used to be Chicago’s leading country morning radio program on 95.5. I wasn’t bashful when singing over my fairway equipment. Oftentimes, golfers would take notice and start staring at me. I was jamming and having a good time. A few golfers asked me what I was listening to and encouraged the vibes I was giving off.

Everybody who golfs is clued into the mini jukeboxes they have nowadays. And almost everybody brings one of these portable devices when they’re playing in groups that they know so the entire crew can jam out together. Well, I find myself jumping into groups that I am not familiar with as a single. And, of course, I always bring my music machine. It takes a few holes before you can gauge the group you’re with and offer to play music. Here’s the problem. It automatically makes things awkward. Maybe it’s because half the songs on my playlist are explicit rap songs and the other half country love songs, but I’ve decided to steer against popping out at the golf course with my own playlist. People just listen to too much different shit.

I surveyed my own family for answers. Just the other day, I asked my uncle if he ever listened to music while he was playing golf. I got an immediate and direct answer. ‘Never.’ There was no wiggle room in the answer for me to devise a response convincing him that maybe he should try. ‘Never.’ It made me think too much. How many times have I been on the course with complete strangers and just assumed that music was the right way to go. Imagine how pissed off I made people. I will never force my music down other people’s throats at golf courses ever again. Thank God for earbuds.