Golf / School

I have a love/hate relationship with golf. I love talking about the shots, the pro’s, the tournaments, the courses and all things golf. I love to spend money on magazines and equipment — all in the hope of improvement. Once, I’ve even been on top of the golfing world. I won tournament after tournament. Competitors crumpled with fear at the sight of my name on the leader board. It was the stuff of legends — a sight to behold. But it wasn’t to last. My career came to an abrupt and tragic end — a power failure forcing me (never a good thing in golf) to abandon the “Tiger Woods for PC” fantasy world.

The hate dimension of the relationship comes into play on the fairways (I wish) and greens. I have been playing golf for more than 10 years now, endured many troubles and toils. Golf is a humbling game — where one day you have the game figured out, and the following day you’re reminded that its math is not that simple, and it doesn’t always add up. One perfectly executed shot though, is enough motivation for rounds on end.

I’ve considered giving up numerous times. The agony and frustration sometimes gets to me. Why not just stop and try something else? Am I not wasting valuable time and energy? Wouldn’t it be wiser to look for something else, somewhere else? Giving up would be the easiest thing to do, relieving me from this emotional roller-coaster.

We often walk away from the very thing that holds our growth and transformation. We quit our hobbies, decline new opportunities and give up relationships — opting for the easy way out. We put an end to the hardship, and forfeit tremendous learning. Of course, our deepest challenges don’t disappear — they travel with us to the next venture. Without us knowing it, we always play the same way albeit in different games.

How has this been true in your life? What would happen if you had the courage to face your deepest questions? What would happen if you didn’t run from suffering, but embraced it? (See Matthew 16:24, The Message). Could the very thing we avoid, be what we need the most?

We sometimes learn and grow through the strangest things. Golf is an important class in my school of life. It’s taught me patience — to keep cool amidst great difficulty. I’ve learned to humbly accept defeat — to own my greatest and weakest moments. I’ve tasted success — the pay-off to prolonged focus and determination. The most important thing I’ve come to realize is that I play, not how I play. Better to be out on the course, than forever analyzing what others should have done.

I gain tremendous insight and growth in opening up to the help of others — both on and off the course. We’re often too close to our own life to see things in perspective. Without others we tend to make the same mistakes again and again. Practice doesn’t make perfect when we are doing the wrong things. We learn the swing of things from others, discovering our sweet spot. And as fellow students in the game of Life, we get to help each other grow in its art.

What have you learned from your sticking it despite great difficulty? What could you have learned if you didn’t walk away? Feel free to leave a comment and share with us.