The Death of an Illusion

You are on the 17th hole. The tee box to be exact. It is a long, demanding par 4 dogleg left. Thus far, it has been the round of your life. You birdied no. 1, no. 2, and chipped in for par on no. 3 to keep to the momentum. You were splitting fairways like it was your job, and hitting greens like it was your profession. Putts couldn't stay out of the cup. You made the turn at 4 under par 32. Your confidence was through the roof, and expectations of "the greatest round of my life" began forming in the back of your mind. You surpress them for a while, but a 25 foot birdie putt on no. 12 bringing them rushing to the forefront. So there you are on the 17th tee. Deep red 8-under par. Your buddies are patting you on the back. This is it. The round you have waited your entire life for. The swing. Crap. It's going left, and hard. You can feel it at impact. The left wrist flipping over and left, the toe of the club smothering the ball. You watch the ball scream left, left, left, then out of bounds. The entire world feels as if it has come crashing down around you. You feel sick, terribly sick, and nobody can possibly understand. The encouragment of your friends seem like mocking gestures of faceless shadows. You finish triple bogey, double bogey...

To borrow some famous words, "nothing hurts more than the death of an illusion." See it wasn't a perfect round of golf on the 17th tee box. Golf is 18 holes, and you have to play all of them. Life is trickier because every day is a new hole, and you have no idea how many you have. It isn't easy, but you have to stay mentally strong. How do you do that? Listen to your emotions, but don't always trust them. You can't control what emotions you feel, but you can control how you react to them. Expectations of the future have appeal, but they creat a false sense of security. Goals are good, expectations are deadly. Like Ben Franklin said, "little strokes fell great oaks." You reach big goals by completing a series of smaller steps. What is important here is that you are always focusing in the present moment. Perhaps the greatest test in golf, and life for that matter, is not how you achieve greatness, but how you respond to adversity.

Black Bear