Staying Out of Trouble

"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience — well, that comes from poor judgment!"

John W. Lang

If the quotation above is not one of the great truisms, I don’t know what is. This is so in nearly every aspect of life, and particularly in personal relationships and the game of golf.

My deeper understanding of this truth began one afternoon as I was walking down the fairway with Bill, a keen observer of life and a true gentleman from Virginia. Looking back, I’m inclined to think he must have been observing me for a while as he began to tell this story:

Bill had played a round with an old friend and asked him what his best score was so far. His friend told him, then Bill asked, “How would you like to beat that score by three strokes?” His friend replied that he sure would. Bill said, “In our next round, let me tell you which club to play and where to hit it, and you will.” They agreed on a date, and when his friend did what Bill asked, he had his new best round by three strokes.

I immediately told Bill I wanted to do the same thing, which I think was Bill’s intention all along. He asked me my best score, which I told him, though I needn’t mention it here. We played another round, and I had my best score, by more than three strokes.

So, how did that happen?

Bill was a master of course management, which I wasn’t. If I chose a six iron, he told me to hit a seven. If I was hoping to fly the bunker, Bill had me hit shorter and to the side to take the bunker completely out of play. This went on in every shot on every hole, even in putting.

Bill anticipated the result before making the shot and simply avoided trouble, and with his expert guidance, so did I. Now, you might think that from that moment on, I played every round that way.

I didn’t!

So, why is this so simple to understand and yet so hard to do? I think it’s the same reason I get into silly arguments with others, even though I know better. Yet when I have patience and presence of mind, my golf game and my life go much better.

So, for my next round, I plan to have fun, keep it in play, and stay out of trouble. Might as well try that in my conversations, too.

Thanks, Bill. A little shared wisdom has gone a long way.

-Hank

"Staying Out of Trouble," from The Saturday Morning Post at hankfrazee.com