A Shot At Greatness
Did you see that shot that Bubba Watson hit at the Masters Golf Tourney this weekend?
Watching golf on television can be tedious for the uninitiated. I like to catch it but my beautiful wife will walk in the room and say the same thing every time, with her nose crinkled.
"Are you watching this?"
A few years ago I was watching sudden death and she changed the channel as the putt was en route to the hole. I screamed and when she changed it back they were hugging the winner.
Yet Watson's shot brings a lot of things to mind. I've played a lot of golf and my biggest problem - and a lot of golfers biggest problem - is handling adversity.
Hook one into the woods...let's look for it...and try to hit it out...before long you're flinging your club across the fairway and breaking out the mother of all curse words.
There's an old adage in golf that an errant tee-shot provides an opportunity for greatness.
As I'm apt to do, I apply it to life a bit.
"Every swing and miss brings me closer to my next home run," Babe Ruth once famously said.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all thought that way every time?
Have you ever failed and then compounded it by failing again?
One dumb decision after another.
On the golf course its real easy to make that mistake. See those two trees in front of you? Can you hit the ball straight between them?
"Punch it out," one of the Grape Apes will advise.
"I got this," I'll answer.
"Remember when you hit that tree?" The funny Ape will say moments later.
"I can still do this."
Whack, clank, "$%&*"!
Bubba could have punched it out Sunday. He probably would have lost. I bet he was nervous. He reached for greatness...and got it.
Every so often I'll screw up in life. Perhaps a bad decision in a crucial spot. Every once in awhile I'll play a bit above my head...
...and the putt will be rolling straight to the hole...
...and my wife will change the channel.
Watching golf on television can be tedious for the uninitiated. I like to catch it but my beautiful wife will walk in the room and say the same thing every time, with her nose crinkled.
"Are you watching this?"
A few years ago I was watching sudden death and she changed the channel as the putt was en route to the hole. I screamed and when she changed it back they were hugging the winner.
Yet Watson's shot brings a lot of things to mind. I've played a lot of golf and my biggest problem - and a lot of golfers biggest problem - is handling adversity.
Hook one into the woods...let's look for it...and try to hit it out...before long you're flinging your club across the fairway and breaking out the mother of all curse words.
There's an old adage in golf that an errant tee-shot provides an opportunity for greatness.
As I'm apt to do, I apply it to life a bit.
"Every swing and miss brings me closer to my next home run," Babe Ruth once famously said.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all thought that way every time?
Have you ever failed and then compounded it by failing again?
One dumb decision after another.
On the golf course its real easy to make that mistake. See those two trees in front of you? Can you hit the ball straight between them?
"Punch it out," one of the Grape Apes will advise.
"I got this," I'll answer.
"Remember when you hit that tree?" The funny Ape will say moments later.
"I can still do this."
Whack, clank, "$%&*"!
Bubba could have punched it out Sunday. He probably would have lost. I bet he was nervous. He reached for greatness...and got it.
Every so often I'll screw up in life. Perhaps a bad decision in a crucial spot. Every once in awhile I'll play a bit above my head...
...and the putt will be rolling straight to the hole...
...and my wife will change the channel.
Comments