Life lessons at Pinehurst

Just got back from a few days at Pinehurst. Was there for work but decided to stay at the resort and mix in some play.

Played my whole life but have become hopelessly addicted this past year. I’ve been taking lessons and practicing. Even manage to shave 10+ strokes off in the past few months.

Needless to say I was in full gear to play No. 2 this week. Woke up early, got in a light workout to wake up the muscles, ate a good breakfast, spent time at the range and was hitting it PURE. Basically treated it like my Masters. I had built this up so much in my head and did everything possible to be as ready and prepared, and I was!

However when my tee time came, its was like I forgot how to swing a club. I shanked, hooked, sliced, chunked it, and thinned it for 18 holes. Wasn’t even like it was one adjustment I was missing, my whole swing broke. Had my moments but ended up shooting the worst score I’ve had in 10 years.

I pride myself on being level headed and never get frustrated on the course, but this day truly tested me. I had so many moments of feeling the urge to chuck my club or swear to myself. There was even a moment where I got choked up because I had put so much into playing this incredible course and I failed. But while feeling the most internal frustration I ever had, I also felt extremely happy and relaxed and blessed to be where I was. And that’s where the lesson came in.

Life will always be hard. You’ll have success and you’ll have failure. But you get nowhere letting the frustration of failure cloud your mental.

Happiness = perspective. Yeah played the worst round of my life at the nicest course I’ve ever played. But I got to play an incredible course with some awesome strangers. I learned to push through the frustration and got to another level of motivation. And best of all, a great excuse to go back and get my redemption.

And that’s why golf is so amazing. You can simultaneously feel angry and happy. Frustrated and relaxed. At the end of the day it’s a battle with yourself and there’s nothing to blame but yourself. Take responsibility and never let a setback set you back.

That night I ended up at a bar with a few members I met and was reminded why we all do this. We play because it’s hard. And the fact you can walk on a course and are more or less automatically friends with everyone else makes it the most special sport I’ve ever played.

I know these are the lessons everyone says about golf but it was cool to truly be tested and see these lessons playing out in front of me.

Thanks for reading my long, probably cringe story. had to share.

Cheers

TLDR: played the worst round of my life at No. 2. Pushed through it and learned a lot about life in the process.