Lost On The Links

I'll be honest, I had every intention of mailing this one in. What I mean is, I (along with a good portion of the rest of the country) was watching the Lost finale last night. I wasn't thinking about golf, and I certainly wasn't thinking about blogging about it. I was much more interested in Jack vs. Locke and what goofy comment Hurley was going to make next. But it ended up being Hurley who motivated me to make an effort here.

In watching the two hours of hype leading up to the actual episode, we were taken back to season 1. During that season, Hurley realizes they may be on the island for a while. So in a time when everyone else on the island is understandably freaking out, scared to death and confused..... Hurley is constructing a golf course. I didn't realize until now the beauty of it. A simple thought popped into my mind - Life sucks...let's play golf!

It's like life for most of us. Well, life doesn't necessarily suck. It just sucks sometimes. But when life sucks, we play golf. And that's exactly what Hurley had in mind. They were playing golf simply for the fun of it. For the relatively short time they were on the course, golf was taking their minds off of the horrible situation they were in. They weren't taking the game serious, and likely weren't even keeping score. It made me realize, this is exactly how a round of golf should be.

OK, I can't speak for everyone, but I'm certainly not stranded on an island due to a plane crash. But that's not the point. The point is, my bills could be piling up, the kids may be pissing me off, the job might be incredibly stressful...but when I'm out on the course, none of that matters. Golf should be so simple for all of us. It shouldn't be taken so seriously. It should be just a simple distraction for us. Something we do to keep our minds off of the things that will be there later.

So my swing isn't perfect. I don't putt all that well. My short game sucks. So what? What does any of that matter so long as I enjoy what I'm doing, right? If I was to get myself too wrapped up in trying so hard to do it all perfectly, it would no longer be fun. Rather, it would be more like a job. I don't want my distractions from everyday life to become jobs. I don't want to feel like I know I could do better and just wind up frustrated when I don't. Where is the fun in that?

So, thank you Hurley. Thank you for reminding me this sport is just my distraction from the everyday world. Thank you for reminding me to not take it seriously. Thank you for reminding me that I should play this game for no reason other than the fun of it. It took a fictional character to remind me of these realities.

And to think....I was considering taking a lesson! Thank you again Hurley for saving me the time and money.

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