by William Wright

Created on: September 25, 2010

Mark Twain played golf, his often quoted comment was, "A good walk ruined." One can go to church, or workshops in order to learn humbleness, yet golf will teach you how to be humble very quickly. Even the Pro's know that disaster lurks around every approach to a shot, ready to test the resolve and mental abilities of staying cool , calm, and collected. Some are able on a particular day to pull this off and they recover, while others dissolve into silly putty. Professional golf is rife with infamous meltdowns, like when Greg Norman entered the last round of the Masters Tournament with a six stroke lead, or just about anytime John Daly plays; the point is, all golfers know humbleness and humiliation.

Excellent golfers are a strange breed. I believe that they are human, but seeing them play makes one wonder. How can any human keep hitting a little tiny ball so consistently over and over? They say practice makes perfect, so obviously they must practice all the time. How that must interfere with leading a normal life, they play then practice, and play then practice ... it's their life. Take a look at Tiger Woods recent troubles, and you'll see someone who practiced too much. He will be back in full force once he gets the cool, calm, and collected stuff back into perspective.

What of the rest of us mortal people struggling around golf courses of the world trying to keep it all together?  We hit shaped shots, but we are not planning on a shot that curves into the next fairway, nor do we have any idea how it happened. Pity those people who bought houses on a golf course with thoughts of serenity ... they may get it at night. There is a beautiful Par three hole on a course in Bend, Oregon, with a house sticking out almost into the right side of a narrow fairway. After seeing this house get pounded four times in a row, a little old lady presents herself to the group by staring us down, not a word, just a very condescending look. We wondered if she had a gun, and abandoned any hope of finding our golf balls. That was one humbling walk past her, it took courage, and the ability to not look her way. She certainly never played golf, or she would not have been living in a house that attracted golf ball bombs. Maybe she came out to protect her supplemental income - used golf balls. One feels bad for hitting an unintended target, sort of like collateral damage in war; but darn it, we didn't put that house there.

With golf one has to learn

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