Canada Day was my first time golfing on a real course. Sure, I have gone to the driving range to beat a bucket of balls (and beat is the right word when you are perfecting your golf swing!), but never attempted a full round of golf.
Let me tell you, I was REALLY nervous going on that course. There are rules that I opted not to read about before I went on the course as I relied on Brad, my golf-addicted partner, to help me. However, there are several things I did not expect:
- It is surprisingly easy to get up in the morning for something fun ( as much as I love my career, a morning person I am not )
- Golf-lovers are patient and a very generous group of people. Their love of golf makes them supportive and kind.
- Trees and water on the course seem to have a magnetic pull, which your ball likes to follow.
- Tantrums are not just for 2-year-olds.
- It is very easy to lose your ball in plain sight, or take someone else’s ball by accident.
Despite the ups and downs of the day, it was a really brilliant experience. I learned something very important that day, which was shared by several golfers when about hole 14 I could not get my swing to contact my ball properly. Impatient by nature, I was told “There is only the swing you have in front of you. The swing before is finished, and you have this swing to change your game.”
Unbelievable profundity for 10 am. What an important point for us all to consider in life also, as so many of us choose to look backwards and lament over our mistakes rather than considering our opportunity to triumph in the present.
Taking such advice, I decided to calm down, and triumph I did. Holes 17 and 18 were my best swings of the day.
A thank you to my golf new friends, and my partner Brad, for reminding me about an important life lesson that we can always use in any sport or activity we undertake.