Perspective

Golf is my passion. I have been a club professional, teaching professional and a playing professional. In my 20’s, it consumed me. I ate, drank and slept golf. I played and practiced almost every day. Everything in my life centered around golf.

I loved every moment of it.

Until I didn’t.

The chase for unattainable perfection, for the chance to play for a living as a touring professional took its toll. Golf stopped being fun. Even what should have been fun, casual rounds with friends, became a need to play up to self-imposed standards.

I hate to admit it, but I threw clubs, slammed clubs into the ground and even broke a few clubs.

I realized I needed to walk away, at least from competitive golf, for a while.

I needed perspective.

Perspective is a word we use in my house all the time. When something in life becomes difficult, we remind ourselves there are people in the world who are going through something much worse. It changes our outlook, our perspective. The right perspective changes everything.

Over time, I started seeing and feeling the joy of the game again. The beauty of the course. The challenge of the shot. The camaraderie with friends and other golfers. I started understanding how thankful and grateful I should be every time I set foot on the course.

I mean what I write at the end of every newsletter. I want all of you to be grateful and thankful when you play this amazing game. It’s okay to get frustrated. It’s okay to get upset with a poor shot or a poor hole or holes. But it’s not okay to get so upset as to slam clubs, throw clubs or break clubs. It’s a game, not life and death.

In the spirit of being grateful and thankful, I want to list some things I am grateful and thankful for when I play golf.

1) The sound of a ball hitting the bottom of the cup for a birdie. Like the smell of napalm in the morning smells like victory, the sound of a golf ball hitting the bottom of the cup for birdie is the sound of victory.

2) First tee time in the morning. It’s the start of a new day. The sun is low on the horizon creating an amazing color array. The dew is glistening on the grass. The course is ready for a new day. It is one of the two most serene times on the golf course.

3) A perfectly struck iron. I have played golf for 53 years. I have spent countless hours trying to achieve an unattainable perfection. I know instantly whether an iron is struck well or poorly. We all do. But a perfectly struck iron, the one where you barely feel the contact between club and golf ball, the one where the golf balls flies majestically through the air landing on the green, is the most satisfying feeling in golf because it is rare for most golfers to produce with consistency. When it happens, enjoy the moment.

Think about the things which bring you joy with this game. Focus on those. They bring gratefulness and thankfulness. And remember, golf is not life. It is a game, albeit a hard game. But it is just a game. The hardest moments in golf do not compare with the hardest moments in life.

On to training. Good sessions this week with SuperSpeed. My top speed with the driver with max effort swing this week topped out at 106 mph. However, I hit 114 mph, 108 mph and 102 mph with the green, blue and red SuperSpeed clubs respectively. The hurdle for me is to overcome the mental roadblock of letting the driver swing go.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!