Get Good, Be Good

Yesterday morning I went to a nearby sports field to play catch with my youngest son. I’m 67 and he’s 39, but when we throw the baseball around, it feels just like it did when I was 37 and he was 9. So much fun! He is naturally athletic and still has a tremendously strong throwing arm. I am not naturally athletic and never did have a strong arm, but I loved baseball and spent more than 15 years trying to get good at it when I was in my 50’s and 60’s.

I love sports and competition, but I had to give up baseball in 2020 due to Covid and an aging body. Fortunately, I discovered golf, which helped me fill both those voids. However, I also discovered that golf is extremely hard. At least for me it is. And maybe that’s because if baseball is a 5-tool sport, golf is more like a 20-tool sport. You have to get good with all 14 different clubs in your bag, and hit off 6 different types of playing surfaces. So I practice 2-3 times a week and play a competitive golf match once a week, but I don’t consider myself “good” yet.

However, my wife is good at it. Yesterday afternoon, we played golf together at the Coto de Caza course by our house. She is also a naturally gifted athlete, having played softball her whole life at very high levels. As far as golf, she doesn’t practice, she doesn’t even stretch, and yet she plays extremely well. She easily kept pace with me yesterday, even beating me on several holes. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing golf with her and I’m happy when she plays well, but it does point out that if I ever want to be good at it, I am a guy who needs to work at it.

And that got me thinking… I am working really hard to become a good golfer, but shouldn’t I also be working really hard to become a good person as well? Unfortunately, life is more like a 1000-tool sport. So many challenges, so many struggles, so many problems that pop up out of nowhere. It feels like you’re landing in the rough on every shot you take, and the ball just won’t go in the hole. Like sports, I am not naturally gifted at life, but I will keep working at it. Why? Because I don’t want to get good… I want to be good!

Golf is like the game of life; it will show up what you are.

If you take your troubles badly you will never play to par.

~ Edgar A. Guest