Why I Still Play Golf?

Generally, most people at an amateur level of golf, face a certain set of challenges throughout a round. Although they are similar, they are never quite the same. There are different clubs to manage based on distances to the hole and how far you think you can whack it. Then there’s the whacking it part. You can’t peekaboo your swing to see where the ball goes or else you lift up your club just enough to skull it 20 yards. Shots go wildly right for no discernible reason and sometimes left. Then when they decide to go left, they all go left no matter what you change. It’s like you’re in a contest where the struggle seems a little beyond you, but you can always decide to compete. If you find yourself lucky enough to be on the green in some low number, then you get to push a golfball slowly with a brittle, bouncy ball and and flat piece of iron at the end of the club. No, I’m not kidding. Your goal is read the green, make a guess than tap that thing in. But, you hit it too hard and now the next putt is worse. After some bracketing, artillery style, you finally get it in with no more than 2 putts. This is golf and this is life.

You golfers know, without too much thought, what the real challenge is. The problems you face, though similar, are never the same. You know what to do, you even practice, but then you don’t do it. Or you did it but you forgot something. You go through a period where you keep forgetting something until it finally dawns on you that the thing you forgot is the thing that keeps tripping you up. Then you remember it and it smooths out again. Golf is really all about learning one core thing, then practicing that core thing on all the other things. Figure out how to swing that club! It’s the one thing, that if you get right, all the other things start to get right. Life gets harder and harder because of a failure to figure out that one thing. So you are strolling along in the reverie of the day and up comes an obstacle. Some barrier, real or imagined that threatens to make you use up your shots before you are there yet. It’s that triple that falls to quad, almost instantaneously ruining your round, add a second to ruin your day. No matter where you are or how low you have fallen, you can always get back to that one core principle. The thing that always works. The failsafe, the instant cure, the relief, the answer that you needed. Now hit your shot remembering your core principles and off the ball goes, cleanly, smoothly, effortlessly. Then you remember why you love life. The life of golf.

Where the contest gets most heated is not on the fairway or in the rough. It doesn’t even include the obstacles, however daunting. It’s the real competition. It’s the one you either win or lose and if you lose you get more serious about winning. It is your head. What is going on in your head. If you can’t win the head fight, you can’t win any fights. And, there sits the beautiful game of golf, calling you out for another test. Will you keep lifting your head or will you keep it down today? Will you keep putting all your weight on your back foot or will you swivel your hips and rock it? Or better, will you continue in this negative death spiral or will you change your mind and lock back into the moment? There’s a new shot to take. Walking around out there for four and a half hours, there’s a lot of time to think, to consider. But before you get too deep, the next challenge presents itself to see what you have retained. Or, you’re playing lights out today and only have 3 holes left. Will you hold it together or will you fold back down to average amateur? Can you win sometimes? Or does winning frighten you and you have to level back out before life gets too good? Can you control your thinking conclusions and free your mind from negatives for just one day, one round? Have you ever tried it? It’s that one core principle fixing all the broken principles. It’s going about it in the right way inside your mind. You curse yourself for being an inconsistent golfer and sometimes curse yourself for other things as well. But, maybe there is a better way. What if you were on your own team instead of opposing yourself? And why do you keep announcing how much you suck at golf? The people you are with are already painfully aware. You end up fighting your own self, chastising your own self, being upset with your own self, not expecting any good things… for your own self. How could you ever win that way? The real challenge of golf is in your mind.

As much as golf humbles me at times, like when I finally figure out my drive until I don’t anymore forever, it keeps begging me to get back into the game. Get up and try again. Don’t overthink. Play the game. You can’t win in life if you are always focused on yourself. You have to get your mind in order, then get out of your own head. You can’t really play any sport when you stop playing and start over thinking. It’s the flow. There’s a rhythm to it. You have to put away your shyness and get into the dance. It’s only awkward at the beginning. I love golf because it’s a pure game and it’s a hard game. Not hard in the physical sense, hard in the mental sense. You have to stay on top of it. One slip and you’re in the water. I love golf for the lessons, the classes you never master. Some people are actually good at golf. But, the goal is to be good at life. Find your Core Swing if you haven’t already and start winning again forever.

Just some good thoughts…