“ILLEGITIMATE”

Ever been told you’re nothing or aren’t going to be anything in life? Feelings of illegitimacy as a child are impressions that can be a force to paralyze or empower those into adulthood. After reading “Playing From The Rough“ by Jimmie James one of the main points that connected with me, is for those of us who have experienced that labeling of illegitimacy whether it be through an institution or certain people.

Illegitimate - Playing From The Rough

The book chronicles Jimmie James experience being the first to play the top 100 golf courses in the nation within a year. He didn’t do it easily though, it involved a lot of strategy, planning, and networking with people that he came across along the way. As James says “Golf is a solitary sport best played with as many people as possible”. He didn’t have people he could call directly in order to play at those top courses. He developed a plan and met people along the way that worked to assist him on his goal. On average, within a year he would have to get into a top 100 course in less than every 4 days. With a large part of them being private clubs (13 of the courses were public - 12 resort courses and one municipal course) it would seem as if the odds were stacked against him, but this is his life story.

The ‘rough’ part in golf is the area within a hole that golfers try their best to avoid. Landing your ball in the rough makes your next shot harder to accomplish since the grass is higher and you lose distance and there are impacts on what can impeded the club when it hits the ball. This is intended to break down the confidence of a golfer if they are not adept to what is going on within their mind. Constant stressors happen on a mental level when dealing with poverty these worlds seem polar opposites but James details the intersection of these two worlds throughout the book. The things he experienced in his childhood connected to experiences that he had while on the quest to play the top 100 courses in America.

As I read the book, I realized that James isn’t telling his story to draw a comparison of the opposite worlds of golf and poverty. Instead I viewed it as a link that are one in the same. One thing about playing in the rough is that your goal is to get out, but knowing how to get out is a skill in itself. This skill actually makes you a better golfer when you know how to deal with tough situations ie. “the rough”. It’s that same grit that becomes transferable when you tap into it to achieve a goal. There were some times while reading the book, I had to put it down and let the thoughts marinate. The book hit several nerves having grown up in poverty myself now being lower middle class.

Playing from the Rough had me thinking on the artist Banksy’s residency in New York called “Better Out Than In” It connected in two ways, the first was the “Ghetto 4 life” painting that Banksy did in the Bronx. In the painting the boy spray paints “Ghetto 4 Life” in graffiti while a butler hands him a silver platter that has spray paint bottles on it. It always made me think what experience does this boy have that he is aware of ghetto life while being ‘rich’ at a young age? The young age could be seen as a reinvention of oneself or a different level. James sought out to play the top 100 golf courses because he was retiring as a corporate executive. A reinvention stage in his life. When he was at the fancy top 100 courses he knew where he was from and was himself in those environments just like the Banksy painting.

Banksy - Ghetto 4 Life

The second remembrance about the Banksy residency, he visited my hood, East New York, and did a piece. When word got out in the community, East New Yorkers started charging 20 dollars for out of towners to view the painting and take a picture. First they were called Savvy but were later called Jerks, it’s an all too familiar labeling when you are criticized for understanding leverage when from a certain area. One comment from the video, draws the contrast of how the group of gentlemen who live in East New York, are no different than how museums charge to view art. A salesman, like James discusses in his early career is what that is. Come to think of it, 20 bucks isn’t a bad price to see and take a picture of a Banksy in it’s original setting.

Certain courses that he played sparked memories of his upbringing. He was navigating through different worlds, poverty, corporate life, golf, being Black in corporate, family dynamics, career, and the strategy involved in playing the top 100 courses. Though the worlds are vastly different they are all still worlds and throughout the book James is navigating between those worlds. Like when James says “You get to live and work in just one of these worlds, while I have to navigate both” when discussing corporate and being Black in corporate. This is exactly what WEB Dubois was discussing in regards to double consciousness. Then thinking on the similarities of Nas’s Black Republican featuring Jay z when James said “Although I had become accustomed to the trappings of privilege and wealth during my visits to so many esteemed clubs, I was shocked by how quickly I again felt out of place”. Nas and Jay z were saying the same thing in the song when you are in those new environments but you know your in it but not from it.

I enjoyed reading the book. It’s really about the power of networking. James met golfers along the way who would have ‘a friend’ or ‘a friend of a friend’ and that was how he was able to play all top 100 courses. The more courses he played the more credibility he obtained when he told people that he was setting out to play the courses, it created a snowball effect. Whether you play golf, navigating the corporate space, come from/in poverty, or curious on the effects of networking I would say that this book is for you to check out.