Golf: A Life's Game
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 7:07PM Hello, golfers! A very happy 2012 to everyone!
As you can see, I've been quite out of touch lately. Although some hours have been accumulated since we last spoke, golf has been in the back drop most of these last few months.
Ironically, the winter in my parts has been mild, and getting a few practice sessions in should have been easy. But the drive was missing and I instead continued to hibernate. During this time, though, my mind raced faster than ever. I've always had a passion for writing and sharing parts of my life with you has brought me much enjoyment. But I felt a change coming. What would The Golf Blog look like for 2012? Should I allow it to fizzle away? What about shifting gears and branching out to a larger audience? This last one kept bubbling to the top, and my thoughts compounded and fed into it.
I contemplated letting The Golf Blog fade away and starting an entirely new venture, but that wasn't in my DNA. Quitting something that I hold dear to me didn't seem right or fair to myself. But altering it to fit my new thinking did.
Maybe this change won't make much sense for The Golf Blog, but more and more I'm realizing there's more to life than golf. In turn, I'm also realizing how much golf's core philosophies should be implemented into society. Follow me here...
Right now, I'm focused on sharpening aspects of my game. It's true. Golf will never NOT be a part of my life. I'll always consider golf a permanent fixture and will continue to preach excellence through hard practice. But similar to how I figured combining writing with golf made sense to me, combining golf and life makes even more sense. After all, golf is a small fraction of life, while life is, well, life.
There are a ton of ideas rattling through my mind that I want to accomplish on this path, the first being to create a network of healthy and positive individuals. Golf is a subplot to our existence. In other words, they go hand in hand. If you're a jokester off the course, there's a great likelihood you're one on the course. If you're a gentleman off, you're probably one on. And so on. Our time on this earth is short. Why not spend it with great people.
The second thought for The Golf Blog is to incorporate everyday life with you here. Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with mundane stories of my encounter with the woman in line at Dunkin' Donuts (at least I hope I won't bore you), but I am going to share life's little tidbits that make us better people, or as I see it.
Finally, I'm going to stop trying to be perfect. I should say I'm going to stop expecting to be perfect. I'll still try. As much as I want to perfect this game of golf, and life, I've come to the realization that it's not going to happen. Actually, it's not a question of it not happening so much as it's not going to happen how I want it to. One day I will shoot in the 70s, but I'll be damn if I beat myself up trying to get there. Personally, I'm getting older and loosing my hair, along with a step or two compared with those younger than me. But I'm also getting wiser and more appreciative. So I'm not going to be a perfect human being either. As with golf, though, I'll still try.
For all of you that visited this blog to follow my pursuit towards golf perfection - don't go. It's still an integral part of my journey. I'll continue to share my experiences on the course just as much as off it. At times, the line separating the two may become blurred. But the distinctions will always remain. Golf is a game. Life is not. Let's try and enjoy the two nonetheless.
Will The Golf Blog still hold your interest if it's not centered around hours of golfing practice? Only time will tell. I will ask that you give it a shot and tell your friends that at The Golf Blog, not only does practice in golf make perfect on the course, but practice in life makes happiness everywhere else.
As Winston Churchill once said, "Don't ever, ever, ever give up."
Hours of golf practice: 620
Years of life practice: 36
Reader Comments (2)
I (for one) am definitely more interested in this blog after reading the entry above...and I was pretty interested before. I was thinking about the golfblog recently and hoping it hadn't faded into the woods forever. For me, diminished drive has been a tell-tale sign that I've lost the scent I originally set out to follow. Sounds like you may have picked up the scent again by broadening the scope of the blog. Looking forward to where this new, wider path is going to lead us...keep em coming!
Richard, great to hear about this new direction. You have discovered something that is reflected in my blog: lIfe and golf cannot be separated. They are like politics and religious views, very difficult to keep apart for most people. My only wish is that you will post more often now that you have had this epiphany. Please keep on keepin' on.