When I was about six years old, I got my first set of U.S. kids golf clubs. I would go to the driving range with my dad and we would go out to the course every once in awhile. When I was younger, I didn't take the game seriously and it was just fun to be able to go out to the course with my dad and grandpa and just be able to hit the ball and enjoy it.
As I got older, I started paying more attention to the game and started getting more serious. I take lessons with a swing coach, play as much as I can and am always looking for ways to improve my game. I am far from a professional, but I can hold my own. You might be thinking golf is a slow, boring game, it's not even a sport, etc. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but in mine, golf has taught me many things throughout the last 15 years that I am able to carry on with me everyday.
Patience
It is not something that is easy, but it is something that is necessary to succeed at this game. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have gotten frustrated at a shot I knew I could have hit better. Getting frustrated about one shot leads you to get frustrated about the next bad shot and the one after that, which ends up ruining your entire round. Learning to be patient is the key to having a good round. Learning patience here has taught me to be more patient in life. When things aren't going my way or I feel frustrated with something, patience is key to remaining calm.
Perseverance
The game is not easy by any means. You will probably start and shoot 120 and you will say you hate the game and you're never playing again. But before you do that, think. What do you accomplish if you just give up? Nothing. There were so many times I wanted to quit and stop playing because I thought I'd never get better. But here I am today, shooting scores and hitting shots I never thought I'd be able to do. Stick with whatever it is you think you want to give up on. You'll be happy you did later.
Practice makes perfect.
You don't just pick up a golf club and can automatically hit a perfect shot to the middle of the fairway and par every hole. It takes time. A lot of time. The professionals make it look easy, but that's because that is their job. In a survey of adult golfers, only 5% report breaking 80, 29% shoot between 90-99 and 24% shoot between 100-109. Clearly that says something about the difficulty of the game. Practice makes perfect, not only in this game but in all things in life. If you don't succeed at first, try, try and try again.
It's not fair between men and women.
I think this is one of the most important things I have learned that can be carried out to say many other aspects of life. In high school, there was only a boys team, so if I wanted to play, I had to play with the guys, against the guys and from the white or blue tees. There were some other girls, but it was rare that you actually played against them. I was able to hold my own, but still, there are some disadvantages. I can hit the ball far, but naturally, men have more power to drive it further.
It's different for women on the LPGA and men on the PGA than for professional golfers. Men generally don't want to play behind a woman because they think were slow. Rangers are quick to suggest the pace of play is slow because the woman in the group is taking too many shots. It's annoying and frustrating to be grouped into a pre-determined category that you don't fit into. I was at Golfsmith buying golf balls for my dad, Titleist ProV1's, probably the best ball in the game. I like to play this ball also, but these weren't specifically for me. The guy at the register had asked if I was buying these for myself, to which I responded 'no they're for my dad.' He then proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't be playing that ball because it is a very high compression ball and I would be better off playing a ball that was much softer. It took every ounce of being in me to not go off on him about how he has never seen me play before and let him know my swing speed and handicap and ask him if he would like to give me any more tips while he knew nothing about me and the way I play.
There are rarely any selection of clubs for women at the major golf stores and if they do have stuff its all pink and sparkly, as if that is all a woman cares about. The apparel for women is selective and usually what they have is more pink sparkly stuff because a woman only cares about looking good on the course, right? And of the small selection we do have, it is twice the price of the mens. So if there is one thing I have learned, it is that the game is slanted toward men. It's catered for men and women need to just go along with that. I've learned to deal with it and I play from the mens tees (mainly because the ladies tees are a joke in yardage) but just because I've learned to deal with it doesn't mean that it doesn't bother me every time.
I hope that this changes in the future and that more young girls are encouraged to take up golf and not feel as though it is a male dominated arena. I hope that stereotypes go away and it becomes a more fair and even playing field. And I hope that maybe in the near future I will able to help with these issues. This isn't the only place where you see these differences, but it is a place where it has helped me notice these issues.
There are many more things the game of golf has taught me, but these are certainly things that have helped shape me into the person I am today. While golf may not be the sport you played, I think there are many people out there who could say they have learned so many different things in life from the sports they grew up playing.
