We've launched the new forums! Read more here

How has golf helped you?

evand23mc

evand23mc

Master of my own Domain
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
1,617
Reaction score
23
Location
Indianapolis
Handicap
15
Saw a comment regarding Marcus Mariota, starting QB for the Oregon Ducks, saying that playing golf has helped him to deal with adversity. It got me thinking....how has golf helped me?

For one, I think it helps me to slow down. Taking a few hours out to get into nature and just enjoy what God has made for us is very enjoyable to me. Also, I have made countless friends through golf, including my THP friends, all of whom I have yet to meet. Perhaps the most important thing golf has helped me with is connecting with my dad. We have always been on good terms, but for some reason being on the golf course together is a time when most of our really great conversations have taken place.

That said, how has golf helped you?
 
Golf as a game was tge catalyst that brought me here. It's cliche, but it's here where I've started to peel the onion of life, and see the good in myself, the relationships I've developed and enjoy the game that much more.
 
Its my sanity.

It got me out of a truly dark place, who knows how I'd be without having fallen in love with the game
 
Golf is therapy for me. The serenity of walking 18 holes is magical for me. It's also brought me to THP, which in turn has brought me the opportunity to travel to new places and meet new friends. And by friends...I mean FAMILY.
 
It has got me to calm down. Golf has slowly got me to keep my frustration/anger in check
 
It helped me in life and dealing with my patience and anger management. As I grew in the game I learned to be more patient and not always in a rush. Being one who tends to have a short temper playing the game helped me to calm down and focus on the now and let the last be the last.
 
Golf has really made me more of a person of perseverance. it's giving me that it's not over till it's over attitude. it's made me a better people person and its help me to relax
Golf is also giving me an outlet to spend more time with my father I cherish those moments
 
Golf had been my sanctuary. A place where I can go and clear my mind of real world problems. As a kid growing up I used baseball and basketball as similar avenues and am glad I have something as an adult that allows me this avenue. It's given me the drive to want to improve and do better and has allowed me to form some amazing bonds with new friends.
 
mikedean441 said:
Golf had been my sanctuary. A place where I can go and clear my mind of real world problems. As a kid growing up I used baseball and basketball as similar avenues and am glad I have something as an adult that allows me this avenue. It's given me the drive to want to improve and do better and has allowed me to form some amazing bonds with new friends.
Click to expand...

I am with you. I played sports growing up and through high school. After high school I played softball and rec league basketball. After that I performed Improv comedy for a number of years. When I fell in love with golf about 4/5 years ago it took over everything. I "retired" from the comedy thing. I had a new escape.

It really is an escape. It clears my mind while playing it (yet consumes my mind when not playing it...) It is a challenge. I am not good at golf and it drives me to get better and drives me nuts all at the same time. Every time out is a new challenge whether it be the course, the weather, the pin placement, conditions, my swing etc. Its never ending and its beautiful.
 
A great stress reliever, although it can bring it's own. But I found myself being a LOT more social, always meeting new people that now when walking around downtown I run into other golfers every other block. This of course leads to short conversations with the usual 'how was your game yesterday or you playing tonite'. Then of course the fitness level has improved just from the walking and snacking/fluid intake during a round (less junk, more nutritional).

It has also been a learning tool when it comes to other places, getting paired up with people from other places you get to learn what it's like where their from etc.. and of course it's another venue that shows just how small the world is, ie: I've met people while on golf holidays that know someone that I know at home.

All-in-All golf has broaden my life experiences, friends (more to come from THP), outlook.
 
It has given me patience, tolerance and the ability to deal with the unexpected as well as disappointment. THP and golf have taught me about friendships, team work, and how to live and let live, took some time though lol.
 
Nice thread

For me golf has brought me closer to my youngest daughter. Her love and passion for the game has given us the opportunity to spend more time together away from distractions where we can have real conversations and fun moments together. It's also a test (in a good way) for me to show character, maturity and support at all times so that she sees the way to carry yourself. My time on the course with her is the best part about golf and gives me hope that it is something that will bind us for the rest of my days.
 
Besides helping lighten my wallet :act-up: it is a chance for me to get away, forget about everything and enjoy nature and good company.
 
Golf has helped me in numerous ways. Without the game, I would have never made my way here to forge some friendships that I wouldn't have otherwise had. It gives me a welcome stress break for my M - F 60 - 70 hour work weeks, it provides a good form of exercise by walking 18 or 36 holes every weekend after sitting in a car for an average of 1000 miles a week and it taught me to be appreciate being healthy enough to playing and walking the course at a couple of weeks shy of 50.
 
This game helps reinforce a couple of my strengths: achiever, competition. It's such a difficult and challenging game that it's nearly impossible to be perfect. So you're always working hard, trying to hit your goals and milestones. I love it. Even on my worst days it drives me to want to practice and get better.

This ties directly to my personality, how I was raised, and my career.
 
Golf was introduced to me by my Dad, Grandfather and Great Grandfather. It was like something that was past down from Generation to Generation, for me. When I was young, it was just fun to get out and drive the cart, then when I got into my very early teen years, it started to become fun. Then, as I got into my middle teen years it started to become a passion. That passion turned into a love of the game, and the desire to become really good at it. Though I never fully reached the level I wanted (PGA), I was able to accomplish a lot that some of my fellow classmates growing up said I would never be able to do. So I hang my hat on that in my mind.
Now, that passion and love for the game is stronger than ever. I still desire to be the best that I can be, but I understand as of now my game is not where I want it to be, or can be. So, I grind and enjoy the challenge that it brings to me. When I golf, it's an internal give and take of wanting perfection and understanding that it probably won't be achieved (by anyone) in this game. It's a way to take 2 to 4 hours of my day and fill it with the beauty of the game and the surroundings I'm walking in. As well as a way to be with friends (from home or THP) and enjoying their company. It's a way for me to relax and have fun at the same time.

This game will be with me until my last day on this earth, and for that, I'm grateful.
 
It helps me get through the work week...I work with a couple of guys that are in my regular foursome and we try to play twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. Our job can be mentally taxing at times so knowing we are playing a couple of afternoons a week helps, that and we talk golf all day.
Also it is a way to spend time with my son, he started playing some last year, and we have enjoyed the father, son rounds together.
 
I've had cancer (multiple myeloma) since I was 43 (54 now) and after the second bone marrow transplant in 2009 I was tipping the scales near 350 pounds. Started playing about 21 months ago now, walk 60-70 percent of rounds, play a lot and weigh in the 240's. My wife described as preparing to die before, and now I feel like a different person. The issues are still there, but I'm a 100 pounds smaller and I golf now. She thinks this is an improvement (I agree).

Allen
 
Golf has given me something else to spend my money on, women and booze was getting destructive.
 
When I moved to Nashville 3 1/2 years ago, I wasn't too happy about it. I was injured in Afghanistan in 2002 and, because of it, I was forced to end my Government service and repatriate back to the US. I was having a hard time dealing with it. I became stagnant and withdrawn. More or less confused about leaving work that I loved and starting over. I took a job and was befriended by a Vietnam Veteran who has played at least twice a week since returning home in 1971. He took me to the driving range. Of course, I was rather discouraged by not being able to hit a stupid little ball in front of me. We had long conversations about how golf helped him assimilate back into making him feel normal, and how a golf course was the only place where he didn't feel out of place. I stuck with it.

Fast forward to the present and, not only can I hit the ball, but I can make it do what I want it to do, which gives me a huge sense of accomplishment every time. Walking down a fairway with friends, or even by myself, taught me how to smile again and believe that, even though I was going through a rough patch, that we are ALL extrememly lucky. I've lived in places where dirt floors and no shoes were the norm, without a blade of grass for hundreds of miles. And here were are, using some of the most beautiful, manicured landscapes in the world for a game. Some of the friends I served with don't have the arms to swing a club, of the legs to address a golf ball, yet we get to walk a course and play whenever it strikes us.

It's not always pain free, and it isn't always a good round... But it is always great.

I am a golfer because I am lucky enough to be a golfer.
 
Golf has helped me become a patient person, a good listener and given me the ability to literally talk to anyone about anything.
 
ACovington said:
When I moved to Nashville 3 1/2 years ago, I wasn't too happy about it. I was injured in Afghanistan in 2002 and, because of it, I was forced to end my Government service and repatriate back to the US. I was having a hard time dealing with it. I became stagnant and withdrawn. More or less confused about leaving work that I loved and starting over. I took a job and was befriended by a Vietnam Veteran who has played at least twice a week since returning home in 1971. He took me to the driving range. Of course, I was rather discouraged by not being able to hit a stupid little ball in front of me. We had long conversations about how golf helped him assimilate back into making him feel normal, and how a golf course was the only place where he didn't feel out of place. I stuck with it.

Fast forward to the present and, not only can I hit the ball, but I can make it do what I want it to do, which gives me a huge sense of accomplishment every time. Walking down a fairway with friends, or even by myself, taught me how to smile again and believe that, even though I was going through a rough patch, that we are ALL extrememly lucky. I've lived in places where dirt floors and no shoes were the norm, without a blade of grass for hundreds of miles. And here were are, using some of the most beautiful, manicured landscapes in the world for a game. Some of the friends I served with don't have the arms to swing a club, of the legs to address a golf ball, yet we get to walk a course and play whenever it strikes us.

It's not always pain free, and it isn't always a good round... But it is always great.

I am a golfer because I am lucky enough to be a golfer.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your service.
 
I was speaking to a friend of mine (he started golfing about the same time as me, and is just as addicted) about this awhile back...

Both of us noted how golf is an almost perfect analogy for life in so many ways.

If you want to get better at putting, you practice putting over and over.
Learn as much as possible about it, but then it is the actual physical action of practicing the putt over and over again that gets you where you want to be.

There is no other way around it.

But, in life, way too many people can't incorporate that same simple truth into their life so they can achieve their goals.

If I want my business to grow, I can pray, meditate, visualize the success I want to achieve, but at some point I have to get off my butt and actually take the physical action required to make it happen.

Too many people simply want to talk about what they want, but not actually do any of the work involved to get there.
 
When I was working, time spent on the golf course was limited, but it got my mind off of stressful work issues. Now that I'm retired, it gets me out of the house to exercise, spend time with friends, BS, and smoke a few cigars.
 
Its my anti work, working in retail gets old quick. Its a beautiful challenge that keeps me humble and gives me patience. Nothings better than walking a course, and it requires quality. I love quality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top