SilverFoxWise

Derrick Coyle

As we spring forward into April and leave behind the most ill-tempered winter in recent memory, I’m reminded of the many reasons this is my favourite part of the calendar.

Spring is a time of refreshment and renewal. As flowers crack through the surface, trees begin to bud, and grass greens, we emerge from our lairs with renewed energy and optimism for the opportunities before us. The seasonal euphoria and emotional lift may touch a number of life areas and personal quests. Even in my business days, the arrival of the first quarter performance numbers was always a timely confirmation of things going well – and a business plan working – or, a checkpoint that provided plenty of time to right the ship and finish the year strong.

The areas that most typify that fresh-start feeling for me this time of year: health and fitness; social interaction; sporting events; and recreational pursuits. While allergy sufferers may not be in full agreement, the Spring in this country can be a very pleasant time of year.

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Health and Fitness – It seems that new year’s resolutions are destined to fail. The timing and circumstance is all wrong. For many, there could be few commitments weaker than a hastily assembled pledge towards personal fitness, under the exuberant influence of a New Year’s Eve party. And even if the public declaration was made with a sound mind, adherence is usually much tougher in the cold and dark Canadian months that inconveniently follow the idea.

The amenable temperament of April provides more persuasive motivation to get physically active. Putting sneakers to pavement for those who like to walk or run. Topping up the air in the tires for bicycle riders. Lugging the tools of the trade around a golf course. Slipping on a pair of shoes to pop over to the gym, rather than having to layer up, shovel snow, and scrape a car, just to start the mission.

Social Interaction – For many, it is the first break since winter for neighbours to reunite and engage in communications beyond a wave and some pleasantries over the din of duelling snowblowers. In Spring, the opportunities for interaction abound: with yards to tidy up, gardens to turn, windows to clean, patio furniture to place, and barbeques to fire up.

At this time a year, there’s a credible sense that we’ve seen the last of the snow. The much anticipated fairer season summoning friends and family to hook up and enjoy good company through the kinder, gentler months.

Photo by Gerry Kenny

Sporting Events – Whether active participants or avid spectators, the Spring offers a confluence of sporting options. Spring training has ended and opening day has finally arrived for baseball fans. For hockey and basketball followers – the latter having survived March Madness – playoff positions are settling and the high intensity of the show is about to begin. Golf fans are preparing to arrange their work and weekend schedules to turn their attention to Augusta for The Masters – the first major of the season.

Recreational Pursuits –  For the more active sports enthusiasts among us, the parks are readying for baseball and soccer leagues at this time of year, while the golf courses are preparing the real estate for another season of hacking-and-slashing by the bogey-deprived golfing masses.

Coyle Boys 2013: Derrick, Jimmy, Kevin, Gary

The game of golf is a perfect example of that sense of renewal and the clean slate of opportunity that Spring provides. It’s at this time of year – before even having swung a club – that in my mind’s eye, the golf swing is a thing of beauty. All frustrations from past seasons are gone. The picture of the swing I see in my head is somewhere between those owned by Ernie Els and Fred Couples. Slow and smooth takeaway, a slight pause at the top, a controlled move down from the inside accelerating through the ball, the crisp click of contact at the center of the club face, followed by a geometrically balanced divot of turf flipping gently in the summer breeze. As the follow-through flows to a balanced finish – held just long enough for a photo op – the ball soars majestically with a tight, right-to-left flight path terminating on a receptive green. The number 4 Titleist – Pro V1 bounces twice on the immaculate surface, checks, and spins back softly to a position a couple of feet below the hole.

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Now I just need to get myself promptly to a golf course before my mind switches back to: “keep your head down,” or, “don’t hook into the water left,” or, “all I need to do is bogey in for a personal best.”

There’s a fine line between maintaining the mental picture of that Fred Couples swing, and mercilessly lapsing back into the loop and hitch action that could just as well be employed by a rodeo cowboy in the process of roping a raging bull.

Either way, it appears the renewed opportunities of Spring may have finally arrived.

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