Golf. It's only a Game. Or is it?

It's only a game ... or is it?

Well it seems that my predicament is producing some interesting distinctions for life and by the feedback, I should continue to be open to these gifts, which can be passed on. This will take 10 minutes of your life to read, but then may save you years of having to learn life’s lessons the hard way.

Continuing on from yesterday’s post I was once again by the Golf course, dog walking, and asked myself what else could be gleaned from this. Almost immediately I was presented with another golf ball. This time more used. It had the word ‘Strata’ on it. Strata as we know means ‘layers’ or ‘levels,’ one placed upon another. This got my attention and I stayed a while. A golfer was there on the green, not a particularly good golfer I have to say, but that is what made the lesson of today more poignant. This distinction was so profound and I got a whole new understanding of the game of Golf by observation. In transparency I don’t play golf. I tried once and all I seemed to do was turn my clubs into effective digging implements. I could hit the balls very hard though, as anyone that has ever fought me will attest. LOL.

We all know that Golf is a science and a culture misunderstood by people that don’t play it. So much business and diplomacy is conducted on the golf course and may explain why U.S. Presidents play almost constantly. Oscar Wilde said of golf that ‘It spoils a good walk’. He obviously did not understand the Strata of the game.

What I first noticed about the golfer was that he was dressed for the part and had his well-equipped golf trolley, or caddie with him. It was only when he started playing that you realized he was new to this. So the first distinction was that of perception. He looked the part and could have been mistaken for an expert. Perception is reality sometimes in life. He was dressed to impress and was anticipating that he would progress by his preparedness. Was this ‘fake it till you make it?’ absolutely. Just be aware that perception is however blown away by your actions, which will alter the reality your opponents’ or allies’ experience of you.

The course itself is represented as life. There were differences in difficulty, graded by ‘Pars’ i.e. ‘the expression ‘Par for the course’. Sometimes the course you take will have traps and obstacles to be overcome, before you reach the calmer environment of the putting green. It is vital to study the course beforehand, as it will give you vital clues as to how to navigate the environment effectively. Just like life really. If you go out and just start swinging, you will very quickly become a victim to the course of life. The course is called the ‘Fairway’ in this word is a very powerful distinction. A Fair Way. This means that the course is fair for everyone as it doesn’t change and success is determined by how you use the skills to complete the course. Life is the same. We are all in the world with the same number of hours in the day. That is where the fairness stops of course. How we present to the world and how we use our time determines our success.

This is where I got another distinction as I observed. The word ‘Course’ has different levels of meaning. ‘A course of action,’ (Implementation of a plan), a Course, (A laid out fairway for the game), a course, (of instruction or learning). What a rich word when you delve into the layers of meaning. It was not lost on me that the word course has imbedded in it the word ‘curse,’ which I mistyped several times to be shown. Actually the golfer cursed several times as his shots went astray.

He had with him ‘of course’ (validation, see how the word is so rich) his clubs. I likened these to skill sets. Each club has a unique and distinct purpose in life. To get through the course you need a variety of skills and application of effort. Misuse of the energy used to deploy the Driver or the Putter will see you fail.

First he places the ball, or the vision in life, which you must keep in view all the time. You task is to get the vision into the hole, or the end result in the most effective manner in the lowest amount of moves or strokes. Note that golf is not about speed, but precision and planning, just like life itself.

First off he used the ‘Driver’. This in life is literally your ‘drive’. When you engage gear and ‘drive off’ in a car you begin the journey with purpose, hopefully establishing a goal or destination before you do. Your drive needs to be direct and powerful, the greater your drive the closer you get to the goal. The drive could be the big ‘Why’ in your life. Have a big ‘Why’ and the ‘What’ becomes easier.

Dependent on the course is how you use your ‘irons’ these are the interim tools along the way. I liken them in life to be assets that you have, finance, contacts, experience, things you can use. The more ‘irons in the fire’ that you have, the more opportunities you have of overcoming obstacles. Each ‘iron’ is numbered and has a distinct angle of attack that lifts the ball. We all use ‘angles’ in life, an expression used in marketing and news stories of course. When you come at something from different angles you will find that one may fit perfectly. So the irons are the angles you use to get you even closer to the goal. You use less effort than the driver because at this part of the game is where your obstacles are closer and detail and strategic use of assets is important.

Throughout the game you have access to the golf bag to decide for yourself, based on your experience how to proceed. Some people choose to engage a ‘Caddie’. A caddie is at once a small cart to carrying the burden of your experience and skills but more importantly it can be a person. A Caddie is a coach. Like all coaches they are not as skilled as the player they coach but have unique experience and skills that can be leveraged. A caddie is a part of your game but equally importantly Apart from your game. They see it more objectively with less emotion. A caddie will advise the golfer as to what skill to deploy at what time to bring success to the outcome. They know your bag of skills because they are carrying them! Caddies will advise on strategy and are a source of morale, motivation and emotional support. Who is your caddie in life? Who understands you and your goals and can advise you dispassionately? When we engage a coach who has our best interests at heart, we Can actively become greater than the sum total of who we are.

Eventually your efforts will bring you to the calmer environment of the putting green. But it is not over yet. Many a game has been won or lost on a putt. And guess where the supporters and spectators are? Not on the course, they want to see the end result. You will see the supporters that believe in you and the spectators that will decry you or learn from you. Some will be the faint hearts that failed to support you in the struggle but by being there at the end will attempt to tell you that they ‘always knew you would succeed’. These DON’T get invited to the victory party!

So now you are on the green, the final stretch to success. You can see the goal or objective right there in front of you. Now you need vital concentration and measured and deliberate effort. You use the putter, which along with the driver are the most expensive and engineered clubs you will own. Here your vision is complete. You have to accurately assess several things. In one moment you need to assess, trajectory, speed, power, gradient, angle, wind, temperature, ambient sound and distraction, and the make up of the green itself. All have to be calculated with sight and feel.

Then you are prepared and when everything is aligned you take the, 'hopefully,’ final deliberate putt. You watch intensely as all of your journey to date culminates in the slow roll you created, but now have no further power over. All you can do is hold your breath and watch. Sometimes you will be a hair’s breath away and suffer cruel frustration. Sometimes you get it right and you get to do what every golfer does, pick the ball (the vision) from the hole (objective) and show it to the spectators, declaring the proof of your layers of preparation, planning, skills, advice and will. Some will throw the ball into the crowd, which will be caught by a person who hopes the skills embedded in the spirit of the ball will magically transfer to them.

Some golfers dream of a ‘Hole in one,’ where skills and luck collide. Arnold Palmer once attained a hole in one and some commentator asked him about his ‘lucky’ shot. Arnold replied in a now famous quote, “The more I practice the luckier I get!” so true in golf and life alike.

The final distinction as I left the struggling golfer to his game was that GOLF could be an acronym for Go On Live Fully. Everything is a life lesson when we stop and take time to truly observe what to others is merely a game.

Who knew that Golf could be so interesting? Perhaps Oscar Wilde should have paid more attention.