by Kevin J. Browne

Created on: August 31, 2009

I have been playing golf since college and while it has not always been easy to find my A game on the course it has always been a learning process. In this post I'd like to share five lessons I've learned from the game of golf.

1. Patience You have to learn patience to succeed in golf quite simply because it takes time (at least for me it did) to learn the fundamentals of the golf swing and the techniques of putting, chipping, and driving the golf ball. Having learned patience by practicing and mastering some of these techniques you also need patience to play a round of golf since in most cases you will be playing with other golfers both in your own group and on the course and many of these players will be slower than you!

2. Honesty Like any other game golf is governed by rules. But, unlike many other sports golfers enforce the rules on themselves. Even in professional tournaments with referees and observers, there are countless stories of golfers assessing penalties on themselves because they broke one of the rules. Golf is a game where you are really playing against yourself constantly trying to improve. But, improvement doesn't really mean anything if it's not honest improvement. If, after years of playing you are finally on the verge of breaking 80 (as I am), doing so by fudging a stroke here or there or by not taking that penalty stroke for hitting the ball into the water hazard diminishes the accomplishment.

3. Acceptance If you want to understand the ancient philosophy of the Stoics I suggest that you take up golf. There is no quicker way to learn the value of acceptance. In golf, you have to hit the ball where it lies and there are only certain cases where you can take relief from your lie. So, each shot requires that you accept where the ball is and play those conditions. As Epictetus once said people are not disturbed by things, but by the views which they take of things.

4. Embracing Challenges Closely related to the previous lesson and perfectly captured by the Epictetus quote is the lesson of being able to embrace challenges. Jack Nicklaus once told the story of being in the clubhouse and listening to various golfers complaining about the course conditions that day. The rough was too high, the bunkers too deep, the fairways too narrow, the wind too strong. But, one golfer was not complaining but rather eager to face the conditions that day. Jack knew this was the golfer that would prevail on that day. If you can look upon difficulties as challenges

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