Each year about this time I begin the tedious task of trying to determine what areas of my life need some work. Except each year the list seems to get longer and longer… and I have no idea why, other than the fact that each year I seem to spend more and more time in the remote village of Slothville. Just ask my wife, who has all but given up on the age-old honey-do concept. I have no idea why she keeps me around… it sure as hell ain’t for the money, and she could easily get more sexual gratification humping a dining room chair. But we’ve been together for 21 years, and I guess the fear of change tends to conquer all of us at one point or another, luckily for me.
But that’s just it, I guess… change. Change isn’t easy. I realized that this season when I decided to work on my golf swing, which ultimately came down to me changing the way I’d gripped a golf club ever since I took up the game some 20 years ago. I’ll tell you that of all the hurdles I’ve faced throughout the years of playing this silly game, nothing was more challenging this season than coming to grips with a new grip itself. And sadly – you quickly realize that you can’t yell “fore!” quickly enough if you get a surprise visit from Madame Hoselle. That tends to facilitate even more change, of the terrifying kind at that.
Or how about changing golf equipment? That’s also a catch-22. For three weeks you can’t miss with a new driver – the harder you swing the straighter and further it goes. But come the fourth week – that honeymoon is shot. You eventually go back to old faithful, vowing that you’ll never leave her again. At least not until you’ve successfully taken a $100 hit ebaying the latest mistress. And it’s at that point that we remind ourselves that change isn’t always a good thing.
But sometimes it can be, if you’re willing to learn from it.
My golf resolutions never change… I want to enjoy the game more than I did the year prior. If part of that comes as a result of a longer, straighter tee ball or a lower handicap, all the better. But I’m beyond the days of foolishly believing that my skill with a golf club in my hands defines who I am or what I’m about. Not that I don’t take the game seriously, but rather I’ve learned how seriously to take the game. I still enjoying competing, and I guess that part of me will never change. And for that reason I endure an occasional off-season to try to improve. But the reality is that while golf has changed my life for the better, it’s also found itself on the proper rung on the ladder of life’s priorities.
Outside of golf? I’m seeking big change. As in going from a 42 to a 36. I need to take the necessary steps to remove myself from the ranks of the clinically obese. Besides being better to me – I also want to be a better friend to my friends, a better husband to my wife, and a better father to my children.
My friends, if I can find the resolve to do those things next season – it will be the best year of my life. ; )
Happy New Year!
Scott's Golf Blog 