The Mulligan
I missed out on my passion for golf and this article is designed for a younger generation to learn from my mistakes in order to develop your skill for the game and potentially a career out of it.
My temper as a kid hampered my golf game. When I would get a bad grade in school I would destroy my room. I would throw and tear everything in my path. When I would play golf and execute poor shots, I would get angry as well and keep swinging harder. I would shout out to my parents, I am HITTING 20, NOW 21! I remember hitting practice golf balls in the front yard and my somebody said, “Oh, what happened, you lost your swing”. That sent me into a fit of rage as well. Combine that with the time my Dad met me at the golf course to play and he showed up intoxicated. This scarred my golf experience at one golf course for life. Looking back, I needed mental coaching. Mental coaching could have helped me control my anger. The mental game of golf is important, after all their are books written about it. See Golf’s Mental Hazards: Overcome Them and Put an End to the Self-Destructive Round.
I wished I could have recognized this mental issue and spoken with a professional that could have helped me control my rage. My rage on the golf course would mean that I would walk away from golf for weeks or months at a time. That anger and disappointment I had in my game would stay with me longer than I should. Now that I am older, I know the mental hazards. I don’t let the bad shots bother me and can move on, but as a kid, I was angry as a disturbed hornet!
If I had recognized the lack of mental coaching, I might have recognized my lack of practice. If I had to do it all over again, I would find the open space and practice 100 yd shots with a bag of practice golf balls. I would combine that with more time at the driving range and lessons. All of these tasks take money and too often I asked my parents if I could play soccer, baseball and <!Gulp!> hockey! I could have easily traded the cost of hockey for all of the golf I wanted. I am not sure at what point in my life that I thought I wanted to be “cold” and graduate into a sport where I would eventually get “hit”. Fortunately I exited the sport of hockey before high school and avoided that physical nightmare.
My lack of practice was also combined with my lack of equipment. My initial golf clubs were a woman’s set from Patty Burg. My next set were shared with my Dad and he had installed super huge grips. The grips were so large the teacher once asked me, “Do you have arthritis?” I think I was 12 and no I did not have arthritis. Imagine if I had taken the hockey money and bought new clubs.
During high school, I was “Asked” to join the baseball team. Looking back, I should have recognized that I had “thrown” out my arm somewhere around the 5th grade. Furthermore, I had reached the point where I did not want to have objects thrown at me. I was a terrible baseball player. Looking back, I should have traded my lack of interest in baseball for more golf. I failed to recognize my golf passion and instead stuck with a sport that I had no interest in developing and a sport where I was physically unable to perform.
My passion for golf was clouded with un-necessary extra curricular activities. Instead of riding my bike around the block, I could have been focused on my game and practice. I wasted more time as a youth than I care to remember at this point. Instead of riding around my home town on Friday and Saturday nights, I wished I had gone to the driving range and hit golf balls. Nothing good comes from riding around on Friday and Saturday nights in your friends Caprice Classic station wagon.
Moving on from high school to college, I failed to recogizne the copious amount of spare time and lacked extreme time management skills. Looking back, my schedule should have been, sleep, class, driving range/play golf, study, sleep. While I met an amazing group of friends in college, I could have still met the same group without the crazy antics or wasteful time. Similar to riding around in the Caprice Classic Station Wagon, nothing good happened on Friday or Saturday nights in a dorm room. I should have gone to the driving range.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have:
- Gotten a mental coach
- Managed my time better and traded all other sports for golf
- Focused on school, golf and minimize/eliminate other extra curricular activities.
The game of golf is a choice. It is a choice I wish I had made as my passion and sole focus. Unfortunately it was not until after my “prime” did I realize how much I loved the game and how beneficial it is. If you are even slightly interested in golf at a young age, you will not put yourself at a disadvantage in life if you focus on golf. On the contrary I believe it will help you with your math skills, (must calcuate yardage very quickly in your head) and mental well being, (must remain calm in pressure situations).