Mind Games

Posted on June 7, 2014 under Storytelling with no comments yet

Son Peter ready to attack #1

 

 

“So keep on playing those mind games together,

Doing the ritual dance in the sun”

Mind Games by John Lennon

 

I start thinking about it after a pit stop at the Wreck Cove General Store.

My love affair with Cape Breton has been life-long.  My family made regular trips to St. Peter’s to visit Janie, a relative and one of the toughest and most remarkable women I have ever met.  She did the Terry Fox walk well into her nineties.  When you stopped at Janie’s for tea, it was an all-out buffet.

I have travelled the island from tip to tip.  There are so many amazing places.  One of my favorites is Smelt Brook, for sheer beauty.  But the one that grips me like a vise and won’t let go is Ingonish.  As a teenager I played in a band at the St. Peter’s Hall for a couple of summers.  I have run in the Cabot Trail relay.  However, it is The Cape Breton Highlands Links that continues to intrigue me and mesmerize me ever since I first stepped onto those hallowed grounds nearly 50 years ago.  If you are a golfer, this is as close to paradise as you are going to get.

I have been fortunate to play golf on more than one continent and experienced some terrific layouts.  But when someone asks me my favorite course, I always come back to this golf course in the Cape Breton Highlands.

I love the scenery.  It is not unusual to encounter a moose and every other imaginable form of wildlife.  The mountains and rivers meandering through the heavily forested landscape provide the perfect backdrop for a “good walk spoiled”, as Mark Twain once opined.  Nothing can spoil a walk for me on this course.  With one exception.

The first hole at Ingonish got inside my head 50 years ago and I can’t exorcise it.

I once attended a conference where one of the speakers (a psychiatrist, I think!) put on a session about visualization and how we could train our mind to overcome fear of certain situations.  I took the opportunity, while in a semi hypnotic state, to let go of the demons that have plagued me for decades.  After the session, I was convinced that I would conquer number 1.  Fat chance.

When I stand on the first tee at this iconic course, all I see is trouble.  Forest left, forest right and a fairway that looks the width of a bowling alley lane.  With no practice area, this is your first shot of the day unless you try and brace yourself with a wee dram of single malt.  And did I mention the wind?  The prevailing wind is always in your face.

I love the drive from Antigonish to Ingonish.  When you come around the bend before reaching the Englishtown Ferry, you catch the first glimpse of the Highlands and the heart begins to race ever so slightly.

You can’t go to the Highlands without a stop at the Wreck Cove General Store.  They have the best lobster sandwiches on the planet and back in the day, Mike Crimp held court over his castle.  He was larger than life.  It is when I leave the store and stare ahead at Smokey that my hands start to sweat, just a bit.  I start thinking about the first hole and the mind games begin.

When I was younger I was a reasonably good golfer.  I always felt that I had the mental part of the game down to a tee.  But as sure as the sun rises in the east, I always got a 6 or a 7 on the first hole at Ingonish.  I have totally psyched myself out over the years.  I expect to get a double bogey on the first hole and rarely am I disappointed.  Ditto for number 2, which is no cake walk either.

If I ever play the course again, I think I will start on the 19^th hole and work my way backwards around the course, finishing at number 1.  At least the first shot of the day will be a winner.