Drinking Diaries: I don’t know much about golf

Drinking Diaries: I don’t know much about golf but I have heard of the ol“Golfers Handicap” as a technique to level the playing ground for players. This allows those slightly (or even ridiculously) better players to play with those of lesser proficiency on somewhat equal terms.

Alcohol could be, for some, a version of this golfers handicap. Ok hear me out. In my 20 years of what I will call “High Functioning Drinking” (would never ever use the word “Alcoholic “) but damn skillful drinking….. I can say that it never excelled my “anything”. It was a pretty handicap that lowered my output, abilities and efforts on both ends-the night side of drinking and the morning-after drinking. Now, I am not saying I needed to lower my bar to adjust to those lower bars around me. I am not saying that I intentionally “dumbed myself down” to level the playing ground. Hell, I thought I was raising myself up, Bringing my A Game, Getting into the groove, well, on the drinking side. On the morning-after side I knew something had gone terribly wrong, my handicap was definitely lowering, deflating, slowing, killing any “good game” that i may have had if I wasn’t handicapped. I have written about the hangover days as of dragging around the “ball and chain” of last night, the stinky coat I must wear all damn day, hot, smelly, heavy, can’t take it off. So, the “handicap” that I gave myself when I drank seems like another real analogy for me.

I’ll tell you, those of you who may feel like you “come down a notch” because of alcohol. You are not alone.

I knew it well. Still stings to remember. I am just so DAMN grateful to be free.