“I never got this far in my dreams.”  Bubba Watson, 2012 Master’s Golf Champion

I’m not sure if writers are allowed to admit they play golf, but I do; and so did John Updike (where, other than an also-shared aquiline protrusion, our similarities cease), and P.D. Wodehouse, of course, and any number of purely delightful prose stylists, mostly non-fiction, that constantly release tomes in celebration of every grass-growing detail of the sport. Ah, but April brings Augusta, land of azaleas and elitism, “Patrons” and restrictive membership policies. But who cares? Golf’s the thing, and no place does it better. I could’ve spent this weekend lashed to my keyboard revising and editing, editing and revising, but in truth the distraction would’ve been too great. Instead, I parked myself on the couch for hours of semi-conscious absorption of green, sand, peacock clothes and the echoing roars of admiration projected to all corners by my most excellent surround sound AV system. Total bliss…

The action was tremendous, as always, and the winner hit a shot destined for endless replay as one of the greatest ever managed—and it was! Even the loser scored a double-eagle, also known as an albatross (!) in his losing effort…great stuff. But it wasn’t the golf which struck me most of all. During the teary-eyed presentation of the “Green Jacket,” Bubba Watson, the winner, (and, yes, how ironic is it that a guy named “Bubba” will be forever ensconced in Augusta National lore), responded to a query about his emotions by saying: “I never got this far in my dreams.”

Now if you know Bubba, you’d never mistake him for an intellectual, let alone a poet. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard words more eloquently express superlative achievement. For those few moments he let emotion take over, and this man of artistic athletic talent (for he IS an artist with a golf club) uttered words that many poets spend ages trying to match in truth. Like I said…great stuff.

Even if you don’t play golf, and can’t relate to a guy named Bubba donning the Green Jacket, at least consider his words, and all of us, especially writers, should constantly consider just how far we get in our dreams.