The Greatest Game Ever Played - Lessons From Golf Part Two
I hope you all had a fantastic week. I am thinking for next week I may change the format and provide some actionable tips for how to start a sport if you’ve never played (or for your kids) or perhaps motivation for fitness. Let me know what you think.
This week though, things are staying the same and Golf is just so important that it gets a Part Two. So let’s dive in!
Lesson 5: Don’t Let One Mistake Become Two (Lesson 1-4 are in last weeks post)
The book, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, by Bob Rotella is an incredible look at the world of sports psychology and how it relates to golf. One of the biggest takeaways for me was that in every round of golf, at every level, mistakes are going to be made. Regardless of whether it’s a beginner, weekend player, club champion, or PGA pro every round of golf has mistakes. Guaranteed. Period. No questions about it.
There is no such thing as a perfect round. Good rounds. Yes. Great rounds. Absolutely. Historical rounds. Definitely. But perfect? No.
When you accept the fact that you will make mistakes you are on your way to mastering a very important rule in golf: Do not let one mistake turn into two.
Picture this, you hit a beautiful tee shot on a par 5. You are in the middle of the fairway with a good chance to par the hole. On your second shot, the ball decides it would rather head to the treeline instead of the fairway. Mistake #1. Now you are lining up to hit your third shot. Your line is not good, a few trees in the way, it’ll be tough to make a nice shot. Instead of punching the ball back out to the fairway and cutting your losses, you decide to go over the trees. Bang. You’ve hit a tree. Enraged at both the shot and decision, you take another whack at it. And another. And another. What originally was a great hole, is now a disaster because one mistake became another.
You will make mistakes in life. You will rush through things. You will avoid awkward situations. You will let your emotions get the better of you and say things you regret. This is true for all of us. Don’t, however, let one mistake lead to another. Don’t cover up what you have done. Don’t avoid the situation. Don’t try to make things better by attempting something worse. Understand that you will make mistakes. Understand that everyone will.
Don’t let one mistake lead to another.
Lesson 6: Small actions are as important as big actions.
There is a common saying in golf, “Drive for show, putt for dough!” The message? If you can’t putt, you are not going to do well. On a typical round of golf, 40% of all strokes taken will be putts. Think about it, on a scorecard, a 300-yard drive, and a two-inch putt both equal one.
I like this fact about golf. As someone who lines up on the tee box at a 30-degree angle to the fairway and then watches my slice bring the ball back into play, I rely on my putting to keep me from buying lunch or drinks.
Well, the small things matter in life too. How do you treat people you don’t know, what you say about people when they are not around, are you respectful to those around you? Do you do small, kind actions, regardless of where you are or who you are with?
Tracy Lawerence is right. You can Find Out Who Your Friends Are by the big actions. But I judge who I want to be friends with by the small day-to-day actions. This is what is the toughest and most important about life. This is where true characters and personalities are shown. It is the small day-to-day actions we take, choices we make, and words we say that form and show our true character.
Lesson 7: Be Patient. Stay Calm. And, Most Importantly, Relax.
Read that headline again. When you are impatient, when you are upset, when you are tense, telling yourself the above seems to do have the exact opposite results. This is especially true if someone else tells you the above. (Nothing will fire up an argument faster than one person telling another person to ‘calm down.’)
Golf is all about staying relaxed, staying calm, and being patient. You can’t win the round on the first hole, but you can definitely lose it! Contrary to what seems natural, the harder you grab the club, the worse your shot will be. The tenser you become, the harder it is to move, swing, and strike the ball well. I wish this were not the case but unfortunately, it is.
It would be much easier if there was a way to take out your frustration in golf. A great thing about other sports is you can let out some frustration. You can play a bit harder, move a bit faster, hit a bit harder, and if all else fails, chirp another player. Unfortunately in golf, you don’t have these options. There is no one else to chirp, no one else to blame, no one to hit and push. There is only you, your club, and the ball. (The club does occasionally serve as a way to take out frustration as these pros demonstrate so well for us here).
When frustrated, impatient, upset in golf you need to practice staying calm and staying relaxed. Don’t get impatient, don’t let one mistake lead to another, just work at staying calm and accepting the situation. When frustrated in life, at life, or about life, you must also practice staying calm and staying relaxed. Is it difficult? Absolutely. Is it important? Most definitely! Will you be perfect at it? Never, but it doesn’t change the importance of trying to improve!
Lesson 8: Silence is Beautiful - Remove Controllable Distractions
There is a silence and stillness on the golf course that is rarely replicated elsewhere. When someone is shooting, silence is a must. You need to be able to focus and limit distractions in order to shoot. It is a rule that is followed by everyone, the one shooting, the others in the group, or anyone in the crowd. No one questions it, everyone sees the importance - on the golf course that is. If you don’t, you are quickly left out of group chats setting up the next round.
What is the purpose of the rule? To remove all controllable distractions for the person shooting. In golf, the importance of removing distractions is seen as a high priority.
Think back through your day, or your last couple of days. How often did you limit distractions? How often were you in silence, reading, thinking, focusing on the task at hand. Limiting distractions, having silence in your life is a beautiful thing. Being able to focus on the task at hand, being present in the moment is immensely important, but sometimes difficult to do. Yet, goals are set, plans are made when you are able to be in silence and when you are able to think and not be distracted. Memories are created and moments that will last a lifetime occur when you are present in the moment. Golfers know the importance of this and in this age of input, it is one of the biggest lessons we need to apply to our lives today.
So there it is. The eight biggest lessons you can learn from golf. To anyone who golfs, let’s get out for a round sometime this summer. To anyone who doesn't golf, I encourage you to start. You will learn quite a lot about yourself.
Patrick