This game of golf is something else. It is such a skill game and a social game played on beautiful pieces of nature. A lot of it is in the mind as well.

However once we start to compete, it can be very humbling and painful. I run a junior girls league and my three daughters are in it. I suggested to my oldest daughter that she might compete in our club championship as there are no other girl members. She seemed to like that idea and was doing quite well on the range. However, when we went out to play, her first shot was not that good and I could see her shoulder slump and she was upset. Later on she hit a short shot and although it got up in the air the direction wasn’t that good. A couple of weeks ago she would have thought it was a good shot but this time she turned to me and said that it was an awful shot and started to cry. Immediately I thought, why am I teaching my kids this game? It is such a wonderful game but it can be very difficult to handle. It reminds me so much of life but when you see someone you care about going through something like that it hurts.

I was at the Ontario Junior Championships where some of my students are competing and I picked up one of the juniors I think has a great chance of winning. He made a birdie on hole # 16 and as it turned out was playing quite well. I was walking with his father and he hit a good drive on #17 and it was a par 5. He attempted to go for the green in two shots and hit it a little poorly and it ended up in the water short of the green. He was visibly upset and after a penalty of one shot he dropped his ball and proceeded to hit the next one in the water. He dropped again and hit it clear across the green and the ball was lost. He hit another just over the green, chipped on and two putted. 11!. Watching that was so painful, as I know what he was going through. He is out there alone dealing with that. I talked to him afterwards and he seemed to handle it quite well and ended up shooting 80 and with a couple of good rounds he can get back into contention.

It can be a cruel game but if we get back in there and fight we are better off.

Tags: General, Golf General //