Golf: The Game Of Life

By: Brent Beshore

“Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play the ball where it lies.” – Bobby Jones

“One of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life. No matter what you shoot – the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something.”- Peter Jacobsen

Golf has an interesting way of imitating life or, I guess, vice versa. For those who aren’t golfers, this may seem like an odd topic. How could a game about controlling a little white ball be so relevant? Let me explain with a little help from some of the game’s legends….

“I get as much fun as the next man from whaling the ball as hard as I can and catching it squarely on the button. But from sad experience, I learned not to try this in a round that meant anything.” – Bobby Jones

Swing Hard and Pray: When I first started playing, I thought golf was all about swinging hard and hoping I made contact. I reasoned that if I needed to hit the ball a long distance, I must need to create lots of force. Quickly, I realized that making solid contact created distance – and I rarely made solid contact from swinging hard. The more I analyzed my game, the more apparent it became that there was a negative correlation between how hard I swung and how far I hit the ball. When I slowed it down and focused on making solid contact, good things started to happen. This perfectly mirrors my experience in the game of life. Rarely is much accomplished from merely swinging hard. Sheer force does create action, but it’s often negated by a lack of strategy. Like in golf, I’ve learned to pull back a little, focus, and work on specific objectives.