As you've probably heard others more poetically pontificate; golf and life have many parallels. If you play this game for any significant amount of time this truth becomes quite evident. If you can distinguish between these similarities and be very honest with yourself, you can make yourself a better golfer and better person concurrently.
This is the first article in a series of posts titled: "The Real Lessons", in which I hope to highlight ways we can glean much about life, from golf, and vice-versa. Hopefully we can learn more about ourselves and what we can do to be better people and better golfers.
Be Brave.
Simply taking up the game of golf takes great courage. It is (in my opinion) the most difficult sport (or 'game' depending upon your take) that exists on this great sphere we call Earth.
We are required to swing a long stick with a tiny protrusion around our body and at a tiny little ball, striking it precisely in the middle of the club-face at just the right angle, then propel it extraordinary distances towards a specific target. The margin for error is minute. It is a game not just of inches but fractions of millimeters, where the smallest variable can re-route the entire ball flight (or render it non-existent).
Once we do manage to get that tiny ball on the green, we are then required to play an entirely different game where the goal is to putt the ball into the hole with pin-point accuracy and touch. Since the putting stroke is so different than any other golf stroke, it really is a game within a game; and thereby increases the complexity and difficulty of golf.
So, executing a decent golf shot takes an extreme amount of self confidence given the likelihood of disaster. We must 'quell the demon voices' that ring through our heads trying to convince us that we will not succeed. Mind over matter has never been more appropriate.
The beginning golfer experiences a large degree of failure, and a small amount of success. It takes a certain kind of drive to continue on with this game and persevere with the courage and confidence that things will get better. This is similar to life, when everything that is 'new' and 'challenging' is kind of uncomfortable and sometimes embarrassing. If you can see even a fragment of silver lining, or something to build on, and power through with your head held high, any challenge can be conquered.
