There are few activities that someone can take part in and enjoy their whole life. For me, it is golf. When I get to spend a day on the golf course, it is a good day. Lee Trevino once said, “A bad day at golf is still better than a good day in the office.” When on the range or on the golf course, it becomes easy to lose track of time, especially when I am with friends and family.
My dad introduced me to the game when I was young, and I only started taking it seriously during my freshman year of high school. When I started playing, I was anything but good at the game, and that frustrated me. I went to two different coaches and got my swing consistent, but that was not good enough; I needed to be better. I loved improving and started spending more and more time practicing. I went to another coach, and by the middle of my sophomore year, I was shooting respectable scores.
The competitive side of golf is what most watch. When golf fans watch the best players in the world, they personally think they are not that good. Then they go out and get frustrated because they lose three balls every hole. I believe competition is enjoyable, but the most fun and best memories I have are with my dad on Sunday afternoons, with my cousins at the Easter golf tournament, or just playing a round with my friends. It is times like these that I lose track of time, and it goes by too fast; a five-hour round of golf seems like half an hour when I am done. I could be disappointed about my score or performance, but it was never completely awful, and my friends remind me of that fact.
I also enjoy teaching others how to golf, basics such as how to score, play, or even how to swing. My family hosted a foreign exchange student four months ago, and he barely knew how to hold or even swing a golf club. Roberts would want to hit a bucket of balls with me. When he did, I could not stand back and watch him endlessly struggle. Instead, I helped him adjust his grip, stance on the club, and basic swing thoughts. Now, whenever Roberts can, he is out on our turf mat, hitting balls in the yard.
Brooks Koepka said that golf is a game of mistakes. He said, “A round of golf is nothing but mistakes. You know, I’m trying to hit it in the hole, and I missed every single time. I’m never trying to hit it in the water, but that is a mistake too.” Golf is impossible to perfect; even the best players in the world have poor shots. I think about the Vince Lombardi quote about perfection, “We will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.” That is one of my favorite things about golf; I love constantly chasing lower scores and attempting to perfect my game, all the while enjoying the game.
