National Golf Day: Why I Play Golf

On this 10th National Golf Day, I take a moment to reflect on how the game has changed my life.

National Golf Day gives me an opportunity to reflect on my personal relationship with the game.

Golf. It wasn’t my favorite sport when I first started out playing it. I grew up as a kid playing basketball, football and baseball. At that time, golf wasn’t even on my mind. I started playing golf as a teenager.

It’s Not an Easy Game

At first, it was hard. I started out and I couldn’t even make contact with the ball very well. When I went to the driving range, I would hit golf balls left and right. I felt frustrated and had thoughts of quitting.

I remember multiple times on the golf course where I just felt like walking off or throwing my putter in the lake. I specifically remember times during tournaments when I would make multiple bogeys or double bogeys. I questioned why I even played game.

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In situations like that, many people tend to just give up. But I have always been an optimistic person and even through the tough days on the course, I had a gut feeling that I would be good at golf.

Golf is Like Life

I am glad I stuck with golf because the sport is just like this journey that we call life. There are a lot of ups and downs in golf, as in life. Golf is also unlike any other sport due to the fact that each day is different. One day, it would be sunny and I would be making all my putts, but the very next day, it would be rainy and I couldn’t even make the easy two-footers.

Golf has also allowed me to meet new people and make friendships that will last a lifetime. The sport has allowed me to get to know people of all ages. One example was when I was paired up with an older gentleman. Throughout our round, I learned that the man served in Vietnam and he talked about when he was younger.

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Golf is also a stress reliever for me. As a college student, there’s an enormous amount of homework and extracurriculars that I constantly have on my mind. Going out to the golf course on a Saturday helps me take my mind off the stress that I have and allows me to just focus on my game, one shot at a time.

So I would like to take this time to say thank you to the game of golf. Golf has taught me a lot about life. It has taught me to always keep my head up, even when you’re having a bad day. To think, just seven years ago, I thought about quitting golf, but now I realize that golf is the one thing in my life that keeps me grounded.

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I know that golf has and will continue to help me grow as a person. I will continue to play the game for many years to come. So, again, from the bottom of my heart, on this 10th National Golf Day, I say thank you to the game of golf for what it has done and will continue to do for me.