A Life Lesson From Golf

“Mistakes are part of the game. It’s how well you recover from them, that’s the mark of a great player.”

Alright, picture this: I was all geared up for an epic Karaoke night in Japan. But plot twist: sleep ambushed me, like whooped my ass. No judgements, okay? The day was jam packed with activities. Next thing you know, I wake up groggy and disoriented, to the hum of the TV showcasing-you guessed it – Golf. It hit me that I've been off the green for weeks at this point. Then, in a twist of nostalgia, I remembered a post I'd crafted for my Patreon. Never shared it publicly before, but I think it'll strike a chord with many of you. So, without further ado...

A life lesson from Golf

For the last few weeks i have been getting back into the sport of Golf. Now, When i was younger i would go to the range with my step-dad. I really didn't know what i was doing but i do remember it being really fun, also i was trash. Now i am a full adult and started playing again...i'm also still trash. Okay maybe not trash but like not good, and i can accept that. My first time going back out was about three weeks ago, i was nervous, excited, and ready all at the same time. My boy Los gave me his old clubs cause he said you have to earn your new set of clubs once you become better. I politely said "F**k you, and thank you i understand."

Now, warning for anyone getting into Golf, for the love of God please stretch. My dumb ass went to the gym and then decided to go play that evening with my back stiffer than some extra starched jeans. But the show must go on. So, i get out to the driving range and my boy gives me a bucket of balls and shows me a few things then leaves me there like a parent dropping a kid off at school.

It's funny how the mind works because the first thing i did was look up at everyone else cracking their balls out of the park and immediately i was intimidated. What for though? I don't know any of these people nor do they care what i'm doing but if you allow the mind to wonder this is what happens.

I set my ball up, took a swing, and i hit absolutely nothing. I'm talking about NOTHING. All you heard was air from the swing and disappointment from the deep breath i took. Guess what though? I swung again and to my amazement, i did it! Not hit the ball, but the exact same thing as the last swing. I found myself getting frustrated immediately cause i wanted to just get the ball off the green. I just wanted to hear the sound of the ball hitting the club. I was forgetting one very important thing though...Technique.

As i was swinging and getting frustrated one of my homies friends seen what i was doing and came to me and said "You mind if i show you a few things?" I said "Yes" so fast that even he laughed a little bit. For the next hour he showed me hand placement, leg placement, where the club should be on my up swing and downswing, the different number clubs, breath work, hip movement, elbow placement, just a bunch of stuff that i wasn't going to begin to think about. The most important thing though is that he told me to NEVER take my eye off the ball and lift my head. He quoted " A golfer who lifts heads usually isn't a good golfer"

After all of that and keeping my eye on the ball i started connecting with more power than ever before, without even trying. Keeping my eye on the ball and didn't look up until my swing was all the way through. This whole experience resonated so much because it's just like our life.

We spend so much time wanting to do what other people are doing that we forget about our own technique. How many times have we jumped into something new without taking the proper time to learn it? Then we expect to be experts at it without doing the details. We will look up, looking for the results of something we haven’t done.

Taking a swing at it without even connecting to the process at the beginning. Taking our eye off of the target does nothing but cause us frustration and ends up pushing our minds to a place it doesn't need to be. If the ball is the vision then trust it. Line up to it, take you time, and keep your eye on it as you swing. If all the steps before are correct your going to accomplish that goal easy and connect on a swing you never thought could happen.

You won't worry about looking up at where it's going cause you knew the time you put in before, put it right where you needed it to be. I pray you put the vision down on the paper and treat it as your golf green; and most importantly stretch your mind because the swings you are about to take at life are going to follow through perfectly as long as you keep your eye on the ball.

Peace & Love

-Rome