Of Course!

I have enjoyed sports and games my whole life. I get it honestly. My father was a good athlete and a big sports fan. But he was a different kind of fan. He was able to see how certain sports and games could be of much higher value, if you looked outside the box scores and stats. Truly, he wasn't interested at all in that. He was more concerned with the real value of many games and how they mirrored life.

I have always been drawn to baseball and golf. Baseball because of its unique nature to begin with. It's the only sport where the defense has the ball. I have always found that fascinating. And of its ability to teach us how to deal with non success, because at every moment in the game, it's 1 against 9. Humbling. Valuable lesson there.

And golf. The worlds most frustrating game for some, and there was a time that included me. The amazing thing about golf is that it's a game that can only be played, and not won. Oh sure, you can score lower than your buddies, but that's not the spirit of the game. And that's where the life lessons come into play. Few things in life teach you as much about yourself as a game of golf. How many other games require you to call a penalty on yourself?

During a far more tumultuous time in my life, I had a different perspective on the game, and it was wrong. I would worry what my score was, how far behind or ahead I was, and the sheer numbers of the game. I didn't want to lose. That not only was on the course, but in my life too. Worry, anxiety, winning, not losing, all things that were stealing the only reason I should have been out there in the first place. Having fun. Then I figured something out many years ago on the course. Your opponent in golf is not of flesh and blood, and is not riding in the cart next to you. If that is your honest perspective, than the real enemy is you. In fact, the people you thought you were up against are actually in the same boat as you are. Your opponent, is the course. And the course never loses.

After all, when you're done for the afternoon, you're sweaty, you're tired, you're worn out, and you need to get inside where it's cool and dry. The course is still out there challenging others. Golfs greatest lesson to me? Life cannot be won, or beaten, or cheated by you. Life can only be played, lived and experienced by you. Life, like a course has it easy parts and tough parts. Danger, and hazards. Significant challenges and an occasional gimme. I think it's no coincidence, that once I took a new perspective on golf, somehow that transferred over to my life. I simply started enjoying the game, and then.....life.

Sound silly? To some maybe, but in a great game, a really great game, there is always the game within the game that allures us and attracts us to it. I honestly feel it has to be more than just club to ball, or tee to green. I think it's because golf is humbling, and strips us down first before it builds us back up. It unleashes parts of your makeup that you might not know about yourself. It teaches, honesty, integrity, and patience. How to be humble, and how much we can grow. And maybe golfs most valuable lesson, to share in the joys of others success, and help them through the slumps and bumps the game and the course will certainly bring. Life too.

Many think that character comes from the calender, and that may be true. But why wait? Character can come from the course, and that can help keep us......on course.