“Thankful for Golf!”

In a season of uncertainty and getting adjusted to life during the COVID-19 pandemic, for me, golf is a game that inspires gratitude.  To do this I have tried to focus more on the positive aspects of this year and have tried to block out the negative.

Luckily, golf is not a high contact sport and many preventative measures have been taken simply by using the space it provides.

Social distancing is pretty inherent with golf! 

Golf is the game, more than any other I can think of, that mirrors life.  It’s sometimes unfair, but it sometimes rewards us when we don’t deserve it.  We get better the more we work at it.  It trusts that we will do the right thing, observe the rules, accept the penalties, complain….and then work through the bad breaks.

It also allows us to play it for as long as we are able – Just like life. And for that – I am thankful!! Here are a few more of my reasons to be thankful for this great game!

•  Play With Whoever You Want.  I enjoy playing golf with Marc.  We are nowhere close to the same in ability, but because of golf’s unique ability to apply a handicap index, we could (if we wanted) compete against each other. I can play against a low single-digit handicap golfer and be competitive.  I can play with three friends . . . . or two . . . . or one . . . . or even alone if I choose.  Because we aren’t really competing against each other – we are playing the course.  

And the course always wins! 

It always has won and always will win. The measuring stick is not the scoreboard as much as it is how much better (or worse) did we play than last week, or last month.

• Practice is Challenging. A golfer can go to the range, the short-game area, or the practice green, and spend hours working on her game.  Just as the professionals work on drills and practice, golfers of every talent level can work on the exact same drills and practice. I enjoy the practice time, and working on drills, and finding a swing thought that clicks and allows me (at least for the next ten minutes, until I forget it again) to hit the shot I want to hit the way I want to hit it.

• Camaraderie and fellowship. I’ve never played with a jerk on a golf course. I’ve played with people I enjoyed less than others. I’ve played with sandbaggers in charity scrambles, and I’ve played with those who are withdrawn, or angry at how they are playing. But….I have NEVER played with a jerk! Ours is a game of fellowship and courtesy and respect.  I love that about golf – how it can turn people who wouldn’t let you merge in front of them on the interstate into those who will take time to help you look for a ball in the rough.

• Every Round is Different. I know some of you are thinking, “Well, Duh!”, but hear me out. Even if you play on the same golf course every round you play, today’s 18-holes is going to be different from yesterday’s. The wind is different.  The temperature is different.  The hole locations are different.  The tee boxes are different.  And that’s if you are playing the same course! And….I enjoy playing different courses.  It’s one of the pleasures of the game of golf. Every round of golf is challenging in countless ways, not the least of which is that today’s par-3 fifth hole is different from yesterday.

• There are Rules for How You Play; But Not HOW TO Play. It’s widely understood that the Rules of Golf are some of the most detailed, intricate, and complicated of any rules of any sport. This is a two-shot penalty, but that is only a one-shot penalty.  Hit it over here, and you get a free drop.  Dozens of rules officials are at every professional and USGA national championship for a reason. But within those rules, how you play is up to you.  Want to hit a putter off the tee?  Go for it.  Want to putt with your driver?  Have at it. Want to play a pink and purple polka-dot striped ball?  You go girl.  Have a thing for hitting three consecutive four-irons on a particular par-5?  Nothing says you can’t. Countless options are available.  As the old saying goes….

With it being the season of thanks – I want to take a few moments to reflect on how I show my thanks in other parts of my life.  For many years now I have closed out each day with writing down seven things I am thankful for from the day.  Writing it down does help. There are actual benefits to it. But is there another level of thanks I can give? 

I believe a major deficit in our modern society is the lack of formal thanks-giving.  I mean Real Thanks!  Not the …. “Oh, thanks for holding the door open for me.”  Not the …. “Thank You” we dole out to baristas and servers. Those thanks are also important and gracious, and they oil the machinery of polite society …. but they are not what I’m talking about. We have plenty of those and very little of the ones I feel is missing.

I often wonder if there is a secular way to do this? I know there are many different religions that provide an avenue to give thanks. Maybe journals or meditation provide an avenue for giving thanks. Do gratitude journals accomplish the same thing as giving thanks to God, Krishna, or the river spirit that consistently provides ample salmon to our tribes?

Consider how things were for most of human history. We had literal rituals designed around giving express thanks to the spirits animating the world around us…

• To the clouds for their rain
• To the sun for its rays
• To the animals for their meat and hides
• To the fire for its warmth 

These are no small matters.  Later, it got more personal. People would (and do) pray directly to an omniscient god.  Often to ask for assistance in matters of life or death, to pray for loved ones faced with difficulty or disease, but also to give thanks and gratitude for their good fortune.

There have been many ways to express our thanks for most of human history. I choose to give thanks to God. To thank him for the things he provides. Not just for me but for people that I love. And I am thankful for so many things large and small. I am glad that I have God to be thankful to.

Whatever it is for you, I hope today you have things you are thankful for and have a way to show that thankfulness. A way to show the joy that being grateful brings.

My Reads from the Reds: It doesn’t matter how you give thanks – it only matters that you give thanks!

Fairways and Greens Everyone! We are 18 Holes and Counting!

Written by Kathy Festa