On Monday I participated in my third Cohn Weil Memorial MS Golf Outing benefiting the National MS Society. My father and a family friend accompanied me. There was a breakfast, 18 holes of golf, lunch and then we returned in the evening for a silent auction, dinner and awards. This year I was eager to play well because last year I won my first golf trophy for ‘closest to the pin’ on a particular hole. It was so exciting and I had hoped for a repeat, yet I was unable to make it happen.  So it goes! All in all it was a fabulous, fun day!

Play was slow due to a high volume of participants on the course and it gave me a lot of time to think. Here we all are chasing a little white ball down the fairway and into a little hole. Is that really considered a fun game? So often I witness people chewing themselves out when they miss a shot or have a high score for a hole. What fun is it when they are so intense, determined and judgmental? I wonder if they still consider golf a game or rather a 4-letter word. 

I began to correlate golf to life. Both are not as much games of “achieving perfection” as games of “striving for excellence.” A person has to fight FEAR (false expectations appearing real) of past performance and trust in himself/herself that he/she will do well. If stress can be released, performance will improve. We all know that stress causes us to stiffen or clench up. Remember golf, like life, can be considered just a game with focus on how well we play it versus winning or losing. It requires physical and mental skill and the only true competition to playing well is ourselves!

So I ask, what are you thinking when you address the ball? What are you thinking when faced with any challenge in life? People become who they think they are – if you have limiting beliefs, you will limit yourself. If you dream big, the opportunities are endless! So is golf/life a game to you or a 4-letter word?