My very first golf pro once told me the best way to improve as an amateur golfer, aside from practice, was to set personal goals. It has been years since I’ve actually thought about my game like that. It seemed to work well for me then. Now, at the start of a new season, it is the perfect time to reassess my game and set some new goals. They may be a little less concrete than my early objectives but they are goals none the less and may prove a bit harder to attain.
One of the beauties of the golf, for me, has always been that no matter what your level of skill, personal milestones can be enjoyed. My very first ambition was to break 100. I foolishly voiced it to a few of the “ladies” at the course and received less than encouraging feedback. I didn’t realize that some of them had been playing for decades and had yet shoot in the nineties. It didn’t deter me because, after all, this was about me, not about them. Ignorance being bliss, six weeks later I found myself setting a new goal, that one having been met.
Not much later, still a fairly high handicapper, I entered a regional championship, purely for the experience of playing competitive golf. If you’d added together the handicaps of the top three players in the tournament you’d probably have a total not even half of my index at the time. So, clearly, this was not about winning. But, for my own satisfaction, I set a goal. I wanted to finish somewhere on the board above where I started. That’s all. Not first, not second, not anywhere in the money; I just wanted to play well and try to move up the leader board. With no expectations I could swing away and totally enjoy myself. Essentially I was competing more against myself than the rest of the field, playing against my own handicap. Each day I manage to post a decent score and saw my name move up to the middle of the pack. It was enormously satisfying, probably more so than any tournament win to come. From that experience I garner the first of my new goals; to improve my game within the limits of my own abilities.
There will always be someone better at the game than I; younger – stronger – longer – a better golfer is never hard to find. That doesn’t stop me from wanting to be the very best golfer that I can be. In fact, I admire the skills of better players and they inspire me. It is quite unlikely that I will ever win a club championship but that does not lessen the enjoyment I get from the game. It is a true pleasure to play, however I play. Merely having the opportunity to play the game of golf, belong to a golf club, be a member of a state league… I could be spending time doing things much less pleasurable. Hence, my second goal; to enjoy myself one hundred percent of the time on the golf course, good golf or bad.
I am not able to play as much golf these days as I did when I first took up the game. Playing less, I find, makes it all that much sweeter whenever I do get out for a round. Amateur golfers so often fall into a common hazard, worse than any waste bunker or rough; we forget that we play the game for fun. It is not how we make our living. It is recreation and not to be taken too seriously. It is not a life or death situation even if your name settles at the bottom of the leader board. A bad round might be a disappointment but isn’t really all that important in the scheme of life.
Being an eighth child, I was raised in a competitive environment. Life was a pig pile of competition and it was always good to be the one on top. I still enjoy winning, of course. Who doesn’t? But at what cost? Certainly golf isn’t worth stressing out over. We’ve enough real stress to deal with in life. Golf is supposed to be our escape from it, not the cause of it. The old adage my parents drilled into us as children is so true; it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. Golf, we must remember, for us amateurs, is a game.
Now, for my next goal… a single digit would sure be nice. But like I said before, these goals may be a tad harder to reach.
