Laughing Through the Dark Times

Like every young athlete, you have to realize when your time is at an end to physical sports and when to start taking it easier. I have not played sports competitively since I graduated high school. I played baseball and football almost every day for like 15 years of my life. I have more memories playing sports than I do anything else growing up.

After high school, I chose not to play baseball in college and just work on getting that hundred thousand dollar piece of paper. I would play basketball multiple times a week with friends and pickup games at the park for years. I would play flag football every Sunday with a large group of people from the surrounding towns every Sunday for a long time. But nothing really prepares you to stop competing completely.

My friends all turned to playing competitive soccer in our young 20s and basically left me high and dry in playing sports with them. They weren’t playing in a fun co-ed league or anything a 6’3″ unconditioned white boy can play. They were playing in a semi-pro very competitive soccer league. So I was left out. This allowed me to bond with my girlfriend at the time and also helped me start up my side business of making trophies and awards for local sports organizations in the area. But because of this, I was so inactive it was not healthy.

Fast forward almost 10 years, I gained about 30lbs of weight, developed a tumor in my pituitary gland (we’re all good now), and was just so drained all the time. I was coming home from work, hanging with my parents and gf for an hour or two, and then working on trophies and plaques from about 8:30 pm to about 3 am every night. I was drained and miserable.

Now at 31, most of my friends are done playing any kind of sports and don’t want to risk getting hurt. So besides the gym and long walks with my dog, I do 0 athletic things and I hate it. So like every aging man, I turn to the least athletic yet hardest sport to learn. Golf.

My buddy who is helping me navigate through the equipment and giving me pointers told me that I am closer in skill to him than he is of being a semi-pro golfer. This guy was the captain of our high school golf team and his college golf team. He was a caddy at the local golf course in the area where he made great money because he knew so much about golf.

Now if a guy like him still actively says he is not good at the game, how is there any hope for me to learn it? I am having enough trouble trying to figure out the best grip for me to hold the golf club. Then from there, you have to learn how to hit each club. You are almost never hitting the ball from the same spot on the course, so you can’t practice every scenario.

It is insanely hard to learn and pick up, but so far I am having a great time. I love learning new things. Learning this game is going to be extremely difficult to do. My uncle told me that for the next few years, I am going to have a hard time dealing with the struggles of not being good at it. And man, is he right.

Going to the driving range with a friend who also just picked up the game, and he was hitting great shots, and even he was getting frustrated about how bad he is at the sport. It’s that competitiveness and the drive we have to not suck at something.

I am completely okay with laughing at myself when doing anything. But it is infuriating when you know how to do something and just can’t do it right. Yet for some reason, I keep wanting to learn more. I see why people take on this game later in life. It is something enjoyable that you can play for the rest of your life. You can get out there with the boys on a nice Saturday or Sunday and just have a good time. Enjoying each other’s company and having a few drinks while talking shit to each other.

This is going to be a long road, but if baseball and life have taught me anything, failure is good. That leaves room for growth. I will grow and get better and succeed in this. I will never be perfect or great at this game, but I don’t have to be. I just have to be better than the people around me and have them get better with me. Those are the people I surround myself with in life, and that is who I want to surround myself with in the game of golf.