Golf and Life
For the first time, I spent a weekend at golf school. I hit a lot of balls, watched videos of myself, sometimes alone and sometimes by split-screen next to professional players, and did some work on and around the greens. The teacher identified one bad habit, ingrained over the last 50 years, that I wasn't aware of. Usually, I've found it difficult to eliminate long-standing bad habits. However, in this instance, when I was able to focus on correcting the error, it made an immediate and dramatic difference. The experience reminded me, once again, that golf is life in microcosm. In both golf and life, we can make mistakes, develop bad habits, produce poor results, fail to achieve our goals for a long period of time. Then, with a little effort and help, we can identify our problems, find the causes and make things better for the future.
I've often been guilty of dwelling on the past. I've sometimes thought it's too late to change, it's not worth correcting the bad habits, I can only solve this problem with a time machine. I think that we all look back sometimes and wonder how things went wrong, regret the errors of the past, wish we could go back in time and do better, have a second chance at life. But there's no use thinking in this way because there is no time machine, we can't go backwards, we can only look forward, we can only do the best we can every day. The great golfer Ben Hogan is quoted as saying "As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round." While I don't usually look to Hogan as a guide to a better life, in this instance he was clearly correct.
I've said before that the only reason to look back is to learn how to do better in the future. In my golf example, I already feel better for having learned of a fundamental error. I believe that I will play better in the future and I'm excited about that. It's the same in life. I won't forget my mistakes, I will continue to search the past for clues as to how to do better in the future, but I won't be feeling any regrets. An old friend always said that if you do the best you can, you're doing all that can be done. It sounds trite but it is true. If you do your best, try as hard as you can, learn from your mistakes and try to correct the flaws, you're doing all you can, whether in golf or life. You can be proud of your efforts so long as you keep trying.
Look back to learn how to do better in the future but then only look forward. Accept all the help that's offered, seek all the information you can find about how to correct your mistakes and move forward. There are better things out there, better things to come.
2-21-05
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