My Learnings From Golf

I recently played a round of golf with a group of friends, which turned into a round like all the others I've played as of late...  A good time with friends but a higher-than-it-needs-to-be stoke count.  You can learn a lot about yourself and others on the golf course, from people's knowledge/view of etiquette to how we deal with challenging situations and/or mistakes.  I remember when I was young I got my dad a hat for father's day that said "I hate golf, I hate golf, nice shot, I love golf."  At the time I had no idea the significance of what that hat said but for all the once/twice a month golfers out there, like myself, it couldn't ring more true.  


I don't know if there's another sport in the world that teaches patience, reflection, focus, hand eye coordination, strategy and the ability to move on (when things don't go well) better than golf.

Confidence - I find that when I stand over the ball with any club other than my driver I have a feeling of confidence that I can make the shot.  With my driver, I worry and wonder where the shot is going to go.  It's no surprise that I'm very inconsistent with my driver and the opposite with every other club.  Off the course this tells me that if you go into a situation with a positive mindset and confidence them you will have a better chance for success after mentally creating the success first.

Focus - When you have a friend chattering at you in the hopes that you won't win the hole, can you block that out?  When you're putting and the people on the next tee box are talking loudly, can you block that out? When you're faced with a pressure putt or drive can you overcome the pressure?  This is all about focus to me, and off the course your ability to focus through the distractions is a great skill to have.

Reflection - After I hit a bad shot I always try to think about what I did that lead to the bad shot.  In golf there are many small things in my swing that can lead to a bad shot, but trying to understand what went wrong helps me to attempt to correct it on my next shot.  On the flip side, when I have a good shot I use that to build my confidence.  Off the course, reflection drives learning and growth.  At the end of each day you should set aside some time to reflect on the day and ask yourself, what went well and what didn't go well?

Get over it - This is the toughest one for most people, definitely myself included.  Take that bad shot and simply move on, get it out of your head and don't let it ruin your next shot.  Off the course, it's hard to let go sometimes, but if you can master that skill then you will find yourself getting to success faster and more often.

Patience - You've got 4-5 hours to work on your game.  If one shot goes bad, there's going to be many more chances to make up for it.  Enjoy the time your spending with friends/family.

I love to golf and will do so as long as I can.  One day, by remembering to focus on the things above and much more practice I will be able to enjoy the game at a level that I'm not at today.  My goal is to be a scratch golfer.