How a child could help you with your golf game.
I have just recently become a Dad. About three years ago my beautiful daughter was born and it changed my life in ways I could never imagine. I never thought that my three year old was so damn smart. Let me explain why my daughter is a genius, and no I am not just “that” dad.
It was Sunday and my daughter and I were watching the golf tournament’s final round. She looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes and said “Daddy, what are they doing?” I, of course said “they are playing golf, honey.” She promptly said, “I know that daddy, but what are they doing?” With my extraordinary knowledge of the game I gave her a long, convoluted story trying to explain the pros hitting drives onto the fairway, then iron shots onto the green, and then putts into the hole. My daughter then, in that amazing way that children rationalize things asks me, “why don’t they just swing and hit the ball into the hole.” This got me to thinking…
She was absolutely right! Why don’t we just swing and hit the ball in the hole? We worry about score, hitting drives into the fairway, irons onto the green and putts into the hole, when we should really be thinking about trying to get the best results possible with each individual shot. The score we shoot that day will just happen and should be a result of all of the attempts we make in a round to get the best possible outcome from each shot. The better we perform on each shot should in turn, if we have done what we set out to do, result in a lower score.
Thank you my darling daughter for explaining the game of golf to your old man. You have brought clarity to a game that is filled with gadgets, gimmicks, and overthinking. I hope that you who read this also learn from my daughter as kids do say the darndest things. A lot of the time, those darndest things are also the most obvious things that we adults seem to forget in our lives that are filled with overthinking. Remember the next time you are out on the course, “just swing and hit the ball into the hole”.