10/21/2011
#6 at Pebble Beach- Lemmons
I was lucky enough to be invited to Pebble beach to play in the Taylor Made Pro-Am tournament in February this year. What a magical place. I was told to prepare for all types of weather; cold, rainy, foggy, and windy; basically anything but blue skies, no wind and perfect. Well perfect was the kind of weather we had for the entire trip. The only problem was I was not perfect. My heart hurt, my brain had fog in it and the wind was blowing at hurricane force and in tornado shapes around my little village upstairs…
My partner was a pro from Houston Texas, who will remain nameless in order to protect the innocent. I will tell you that he is a great player and great man who will be a good friend for the rest of my life. My padsy ( golf speak for partner) had the unfortunate opportunity to live through my little internal life storm and my external golf meltdown.
Number 6 at Pebble Beach is a great short Par 5 in the PGA event they may even play it as a par 4. From the back tees its right at 500 yards. The terrain slopes from left to right and on your right lies the Pacific Ocean in all its glory. The pro tees are situated far enough back that you can hit a cut down the left side and likely have no chance of mother ocean swallowing your Titleist. The amateur tees however were way forward begging the decision of three wood for safety or driver and possible disaster.
It was the second round of the tournament and I had finally played 5 holes of decent golf. I was shaking with every swing because I knew my next disaster was just under the thin veil of confidence I had forced myself to muster that morning. My Pads was safe in the fairway and I asked him what he thought, 3 wood or driver. Ken looked at me and said with a smile, “ I think if you’re gonna be a pussy you should have stayed home”. Translation- Driver…
Well I proceeded to hit the worst 100 yard long 300 yard high pop up driver you have ever seen. Here I am at Pebble Beach, sun shining sea lions barking and worst of all people watching and I just showed my be-hind. Somehow however, I found a cure… laughter. I walked straight up to our score keeper and joked; “I just wanted you to see a different way to make birdie”.
I found my ball on the side of a hill way left in terrible rough. Looked in front of me and realized I had nowhere to hit the ball. The ocean was still short right, the green was 400 yards away and nothing but a huge uphill slope and thick rough lay ahead in my only possible landing place. So I made the decision to hit the ball as hard as I could right at that nasty uphill lie in the rough. Good graces shown upon me and somehow my 3 wood made solid contact and the ball jumped out of the hay and landed in the next set of hay just 145 yards from the pin.
Now all I had left was 145 yards out of a buried up-hill lie to a small green that I could not see. Lemmons… I swung hard and with the slope of the hill and sent an 8 iron on its way. I trudged forward with hope and when I arrived at the green, found my ball 6 inches from the pin. My padsy smiled and said,” I knew you were gonna make birdie after that drive…”
It is funny how everything about that hole patterned my life of late. I had no idea how much until I woke up this morning. The turmoil in my head before that golf tournament left me with no confidence going in. No confidence on the golf course and no confidence in life. The only real difference in the golf tournament was my partner.
I was in a bad place in February of 2011 and really until I got to late August 2011 (which I realized this morning is metaphorical for 6 tee at Pebble Beach that day). I didn’t love myself, in my everyday life I was surrounded by negative, hurtful, evil people and I had very little hope of hitting a good tee ball in life. There were good people near and good people who cared, but I wasn’t letting them be my caddie. That day on 6 tee at Pebble Beach something woke up in me on the golf course. In late August something woke up in me in my life.
Now my golf game wasn’t cured. A lack of talent doesn’t go away after one lucky birdie…, so my pards had to struggle through the rest of the tourney with me. There were good holes and bad. Birdies, bogies and… others, but we made it through with love, laughter and our eyes towards a better day. In the end the rest of that tournament was harder on my partner than me. I set my burdens aside if only for the rest of our time together and somehow he was able to make it through. Ironically enough my partners in life are going to have the same challenges and so will yours.
Who do you surround yourself with? Who are the good influences? Who loves life? Who loves others? Who of them love themselves? Ask these questions from your core about your partners- your caddies – about their core.
Superficial is one thing…
Remember that all of us are human so every member of your life team will have their own problems. Their own meltdowns, their own needs for a caddy, but are they good at the core? Are they a positive life force? Are you and they both there to better one another and each other? Do they make you better or do they make you want to be better.
You might ask these questions about situations, about jobs about decisions, just insert “ this” instead of “they”…
We have all made so many mistakes and drawn so many bad lies in life. I know I have acted out of fear and without confidence and the results of those actions led to a bunch of double bogeys; I am way over par. We have all at a time attracted unhappy partners and unhappy caddies. In August I found light. I found a good caddy, I found a good partner, I found a good team. Because of that change I have also found myself. Thank all of you who are a part of that.
Shake that life tree. Laugh, Live, Love! And do it with those who will experience it with you and do it with the same fervor and commitment. Let the devil have the people that suck…
Laugh in the face of your fears. As the saying goes, “that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”
Peace Out
Will
love this!
ReplyDelete