By Rajat Sethi
Executive Director, Direxions
I was a very happy man when I used to play tennis. I could invite my friends for a game secure in the knowledge that I was a much better player and could easily beat them. This was till circa 2009. Enter 2010 and my back decided to play up and a friend suggested that I move on to playing golf. He said it was easy to pick up and being out in the open, there couldn’t be a better and more eco-friendly sport.
I had only watched golf on the telly by default, so I thought it could be the easiest and most relaxing sport to give my poor back a rest. So I promptly got hold of a pro and took some quick and dirty lessons before getting on to the fairway.
Those days, my life used to be pretty much sorted out… but that was before my love affair with golf began! Golf has taught me many life lessons, and I list some of them here, in the hope of transferring some of my acquired wisdom to people who may be thinking of picking up this crazy but allconsuming game.
Lesson1: Every day is a new day
Golf, like life, is a game of glorious uncertainties. Yesterday I had a super round and had a 12 over. I go to the course today thinking I’m going to max it and instead I finish with a 20 over. Lesson - You cannot rest on your previous successes. A new day brings its own challenges and opportunities and we cannot take anything for granted. We need to focus our energies on what lies ahead.
Lesson 2: You are your worst enemy
Golf, they say, is 50% mental, 40% technique and only 10% physical. You are basically playing with your own mind. A relaxed smooth swing produces much better results than a hard heave of the club. And a cool mind helps you focus much better than one cluttered with too many thoughts. Also, over-analysis leads to paralysis, and that is true in golf as it is at work or in relationships.
Lesson3: ‘Golf widows’ are not fiction
This is the toughest one. You want to be on the course over the weekend, but you also have a wife who has waited patiently the whole week for you to spend quality time together. Now, the best way out would be to get her to play as well. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work. The next best option is to complain that you are getting too lazy and you need some outdoor exercise and hopefully, she may just push you out of the house and send you to the golf course. I have, fortunately, two things going for me - a very supportive wife and planning my game early in the morning, so that I am back before she has finished her bed tea. You need to maintain a fine work-life balance and spend adequate time with family.
Lesson 4: Practise what you preach
Many pros will tell you that one just has to keep some basics in mind when you are on the fairway. Keep your eyes on the ball, don’t be tense, don’t take too long, don’t use strength. Hey, hey, hey, isn’t that elementary? Isn’t that what we teach our kids every day? Then why, in blue blazes, can grownups like us not understand such elementary stuff? Often, these are the mistakes which ruin your round of golf…and we never learn! Practise what you preach!
Lesson 5: Nothing’s sweeter than success
No amount of money can match the high of winning and the resultant admiration of your fourball group. Ultimately, that’s what you work for, be it on the golf course or at the workplace. It’s the reward you get for putting in the many hours of practice on the golf range or for diligently doing your work and learning your craft.
Lesson 6: Panacea: a chilled glass of beer
At the end of the day, no matter how bad your game was, all it takes is sharing a glass of beer with your friends and forgetting about the day’s troubles. Never carry over your problems… tomorrow’s another day!
Feedback: rsethi@direxions.com
