What Golf Really Is

If you ever take a step back and look at the game of golf, you realize that it's really just a game.

The whole point of golf is to hit the ball into the hole in the least amount of strokes. That's it.

The challenges in golf are technical, tactical, physical and mental.

Here are examples of typical demands that the game of golf places on you

 finding the sweet spot on the club head

 producing the optimal speed in your swing
 hitting the ball straight and the right distance 
 maintaining good balance while moving and hitting
 walking 18 holes
 and many more.

When you consider all these challenges, you see that they are quite demanding and interesting to deal
with. You surely gain pleasure and satisfaction by overcoming them.

Yet many of us become totally obsessed with golf and treat it as the most important thing in our lives.

I see many kids and families invest so much time, energy and money in golf that I often wonder if
they can see the big picture.

You are merely trying to become highly skilled in a sports discipline.

Now think about it - is your time, money and energy REALLY worth becoming just highly skilled in one
sports discipline? Aren't there MORE important things in life?

Where do you rank the importance if these things?

- your relationship with your spouse

- a reliable business or job position with good income

- your relationship with your parents and children

- having many good and trustworthy friends

- living a healthy lifestyle and taking good care of your body.

Do you think any of these things can actually compare with the importance of being really
skilled in golf?

I personally don't think so.

But...

There is always a but, right? ;)

Here is why I play golf, coach golf and mentor golf players: I see it as a training ground for
life.

I clearly see that golf is just a game and, in my opinion, mastering a drive down the
fairway isn't really important in life. ;)

But, WHILE you are trying to achieve that swing, you uncover many weaknesses in your
personality and your attitude toward yourself, toward golf, toward others and toward life.

During your involvement in golf, for many years, you will HAVE to eliminate those weaknesses.
You will have to grow as a person and learn hundreds of things about life that work and don't
work.

The game of golf is a greatly accelerated training ground for life.

For example, if you hit the ball with fear and doubt, you will get IMMEDIATE feedback - missing
the shot in most cases.

Then you might try to hit with decisiveness and total commitment. Again, you'll get immediate
feedback - most likely making the shot.

Life doesn't usually teach you lessons that fast.

You might approach a business situation with fear and doubt, and the results occur months
from now, when your business stops bringing income. By that time, you will have made so
many other decisions and taken so many other actions that you will not see the cause of your
failure.

So, when you see golf as an accelerated training ground to grow as a person and learn what
works in golf and consequently in life, then investing a lot of time, money and energy
in golf is a sound decision.

Some of the most important things that you can learn through golf are:

1. Approaching the situation with fear and doubt almost never results in a positive outcome.

2. It takes a lot of effort, time and patience to become a master of something.

3. When you become good at something, you gain the confidence and hope to try other
challenging things in life, which in turn give you much greater rewards than chasing small
goals.

4. Analyzing the situation too much is not as good as going with your instincts.

5. But understanding the game well gives you a great advantage over your competition.

6. Repetition is the mother of skill.

7. Some of your thoughts are false, and believing them will hurt you. You learn to check your
automatic thoughts against reality (facts) and ignore or change them if they are not true.

8. Most emotions, and your responses based on them, hurt your performance. You learn to
release emotions in an appropriate way and at appropriate time (after the round).

9. You learn to channel emotions for more energy and achieve more than if you were numb.

10. And you learn repeatedly that approaching ANY situation with fear and doubt doesn't work
in the long term.

Why did I reiterate in the last point what I said in the first?

Because fear is your greatest enemy regardless of what you are trying to achieve. 

Golf  is a precise feedback "game" of what happens when you try a shot or a strategy with fear
in your mind. The feedback is so clear and obvious - that fear doesn't work - that sooner or
later you start questioning your fear and decide to have courage.
And golf will respond appropriately.

And once you become aware of this connection - how fear affects the outcome - you will
become bolder in other areas of your life.

And for that, I believe golf is worth investing in.