Essay Example about The Intricacies of Golf

Golf is often considered a stuck up sport for country club elite, but could golf teach a person how to control emotions while amid chaos? Professional golfers appear calm and collected while hundreds of gawkers and media follow their every move. The pressure to place a good shot is always a overhanging fear that is tucked to the back of their minds. How they control their emotions, simply put, is a thing of beauty. Golf is a sport for all people to play where anyone can simulate what it feels like to be on golf’s biggest stage. “Confidence comes from a combination of concentration and hunger,” Arnold Palmer. Arnold’s quote really captures what brings out the best in a professional or amateur. The combination of the concentration and hunger create a deadly competitor armed with a small ball and bag of clubs. The game includes aspects that are put in place to provoke anger and lift up spirits all in one massive round of 18 holes. The basic components of a golf course, like a bunker or water hazard can really get the blood boiling. All that can change as the heart flutters when a shot is placed close to the hole and shouts of joy fill the quiet mornings and afternoons. The passion that changes from hatred to pure happiness is what drives this sport as well as fascinates the people that play it. The best athletes of this sport have mastered the ability to hold off these emotions until the final putt is dropped and all they hear is the ball hit the bottom of the cup. The logical question is can a non-professional golfer channel those same inherent emotions and output them into not only golf but also into other aspects of life.

Golf has rules just like any other sport for example, use only the ball of each individual player, and a player can only carry 14 clubs. These rules are set in place so that whoever is playing everyone has a fair shot at sweet sweet victory. Handicap is also a term used in the golfing world that allows different skill level golfers to compete with each other. Handicap is at its core - the amount of strokes on average a player is over par. So if a amateur golfer were to take on a professional golfer this would make their matchup fair as they both are equal after strokes are given to one another. Golf is a difficult sport said by athletes and sports analyzers alike. The question that arises is what makes golf so difficult? The answer is not as simple as yes or no, however, in an article written by Britt Olizarowicz she helps readers understand why golf is difficult by narrowing it down to simple factors. She writes that, physical factors, mental factors, and then the golf course itself are all reasons that putting that white ball in the hole is not as easy as it may look.  Of all the factors mental thoughts is one the most significant and hardest to understand. Olizarowicz uses a great example in her article to explain it. “How many times have you told yourself not to hit the ball in the water, and that is exactly where you hit it.” The truth behind this hilariously accurate example is one that most golf players can relate to and it demonstrates so obviously that the mind is such a large part of golf. A professional golfer that is very well known for not only their great golf skills but killer mental instinct is Tiger Woods. He is considered by most the greatest of all time. This title is given to him rightfully so, he dominated the golf world for years breaking about every record one could think of. Tiger over the course of his career he has won “15 major championships”, and “82 PGA championships” (Tigerwods.com/biography).These may be random numbers to the casual viewer, however, achievements are absolutely exceptional. In history only 2 other people have come close to these. Website golf.com notes  Jack Nicholis has 18 major championships, and Sam Sneed with 83 PGA championships. Cleary shown he was a very skilled golfer, but what made him more impressive was his fierce mentality all the time. Jim Moriarty writes about his personality around non friends and family. He remembers his first experience with Tiger as a teenager and it being hard to get anything more than a head nod or uh-huh out of him. Jim says that it almost seemed like Tiger knew he was going to be a superstar. What was even more interesting to Jim though was when Earl, Tigers Father, entered the room he was back to being a normal goofy teenager. Tiger’s ability to go from one emotion to another so dramatically is one that many people in the golf world ponder about. Can this innate ability be honed in by casual golfers to elevate their lives outside of the sport?

Sentimental lessons learned from a round of golf have greater value outside of golf than on the course. Golf can be many things for people, a mental getaway, a lifestyle, a bonding experience,  a hobby, etc. Whatever reason a person may play golf for differs for each individual. What should not differentiate is what is taken away from a round of 18. The biggest struggle to shooting a good score is having a good shot a hundred percent of the time. This mountain of  a expectation is impossible to meet as a human can not possibly fully focus for four hours, out in the elements of the earth. For example, after hitting a bad shot a person has a choice; get angry and let that anger seep into the next shot they take, or they may take a couple deep breaths and calm their mind to make a amazing shot for their next one. Choosing the second option is not always the easiest nor does it seem the best. Letting off steam by throwing a club or yelling seems like the best way to forget about the shank. Especially when a person has four hours to forget about it. Truthfully the best way to continue to do well is to stay calm acknowledge what just happened and move on in a calm matter. Most will find that calming the mind leads to more effective and better golf, which will further lead to at the end of the round is a feeling of accomplishment and true joy.  This is why lessons learned in golf have an even greater impact out in the world. Learning in life to calmly solve problems and situations is hands down the greatest way to handle real life situations. When that boss gives a task that a person may not like, they may return back to the same feeling of calming their mind and accept that the task at hand is going to be difficult. When the work is done the feeling of accomplishment and joy feels all the same just in a different scenery. When looking at all the other examples in these paragraphs, think about how they each relate to real life situations. All this talk of calming the mind and slowing the brain down from its angry state is not solved by one solution. There tends to be many ways to deal with emotions, controlling them can be managed and this may be the most powerful thing to consider in all things that one may do.

The first tee shot of a tournament or just playing with buddies can be dreadful. This is the first taste of nervousness and excitement that a player experiences right out of the gate. This is also the first test of confidence and precision. First the player blocks out all other distractions and focuses on the task at hand. Looking down the fairway they envision the perfect shot, taking into account the water on the right. Most likely this daydream of the ideal shot is what pushes them through the intense emotions. The player then steps up to the white ball, the ball awaiting for it to be sent into the sky. The player addresses the ball with their own club and the intensity builds. These moments that last only seconds can feel like a decade. The player draws back their golf club clearing their mind of doubt. Swinging with focus and ferocity the player makes contact with the ball and hits a fantastic shot. Acting cool, calm, and collected, they pick up their tee while the heart is beating out of their chest. This only explains one shot out of the many the golfer will have throughout the round. Similar feelings will happen with many other shots during the eighteen. Going through a familiar routine for each shot will help give the player a slight comfort. This is just one fascinating detail about golf. Everytime a player hits the ball the goal is to hit the ball straight and land near to where the target is. However, only about one time per round does a golfer actually hit the shot they want. Factors like a crow squawking could throw off the entire rhythm of what the athlete is trying to accomplish. Even more simply, a seed of doubt that the player may not hit the desired shot can throw them off the rails so fast they cannot recover. That seed of doubt then grows and multiplies and now the attitude of the player has entirely changed. From once was confidence is now anger, miserable thoughts, and downright confusion. That same seed of doubt can carry on for multiple holes, truthfully more than one round of golf. This aspect of golf is the most interesting in the eyes of many. Maintaining a perfect balance of control and relaxed thoughts is how the best golfers succeed. Nevertheless it only takes one thought of uncertainty and everything that was gained is now lost. 

Looking back at the previous paragraph, the statement at the end remains unanswered. To fully understand what strategies there are to control emotions, first understanding the situation golfers are in is key to understanding the strategies.