The Golfer's Guide to the Meaning of Life

by Player, Gary

• ISBN13: 9781579544782
• ISBN10: 1579544789
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-12
• Publisher: Rodale Books

Summary

On the Nature of Champions The most significant common intangible among the truly great is that theyenjoy adversity. They want to be put in fear-inducing situations because they know it is the ultimate test. The true prize is not the trophy. Rather, the prize is the knowledge that at precisely the right moment, one is able to exercise absolute self-control and precise judgment. On Fate We who play the game know that sometimes we get pleasant and unexpected surprises, such as a hole-in-one or a ball that skips off the water and onto dry land. We also know we are equally likely to get a bad break-- a wild bounce of the ball, a sudden gust of wind. The game leaves us no choice but to accept the good with the bad and to move on to the next shot. On Competition The game of golf challenges your mind anew every single day and presents you with the ultimate opponent: yourself. I've always been amazed that people can derive so much satisfaction out of beating others when they have never taken the ultimate test of battling themselves. On the Role of Mind The swing is not the thing. The professional tours were and still are loaded with people who can swing the golf club as gracefully as you please. That does not make them great players. The difference between being a good swinger of the club and a great player lies between the ears, in the mind. To keep your mind open to learning new things is to keep progressing forward in life. On Positive Thinking I will say without hesitation that you cannot achieve any goal if you have negative thoughts running through your head. You must have positive and, what might even seem to others, bold thoughts. This is not to say that you should ignore the strengths of an opponent whether on the golf course, on a sales call, or in the boardroom. Acknowledge his strengths? Yes. Dwell on them? No.

Table of Contents

Why Play Golf?	1	(7)
How a Realization as a Schoolboy Has Kept me Competitive for Nearly 50 Years (and Then Some)
Success	8	(7)
The Secret is in the Dirt
Insight The Essential Traits of a Golfer	15	(18)
Learning	20	(6)
Why Self-Education is the Best Education
Gratitude	26	(7)
The Fulfillment Gained by Giving Back
Insight A Golfer's Heroes	33	(19)
Fear	39	(6)
Why It's Easier to Fight Than to Run
Winning	45	(7)
Taking Advantage of Life's Opportunities
Insight A Golfer's Words of Inspiration	52	(21)
Dignity and Honor	59	(7)
How the Game Will Imbue you with the Most Elusive Human Qualities
Physical Fitness	66	(7)
The Ways Your Body will Reward You
Insight The Sounds of Golf	73	(17)
Sportsmanship	78	(6)
The Enjoyable Coexistence of Life
Exploring	84	(6)
Seeking Out Challenges
Insight The Transcendent Moments of a Golfer	90	(17)
Family	96	(5)
Achieving Balance in Your Life
Motivation	101	(6)
Keeping Your Batteries Charged
Insight A Golfer's Essential Reading	107	(20)
Goals	114	(7)
Why You Can't Get Where You're Going if You Don't Plan the Way
Change	121	(6)
The New Life in the Inevitable Process
The Game Eternal	127	(1)
How Golf Will Never Let You Down

Excerpts

Chapter One

lesson one

Why Play Golf?

HOW A REALIZATION AS A SCHOOLBOY

HAS KEPT ME COMPETITIVE

FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS (AND THEN SOME)

    When I was a boy in South Africa, I attended King Edward VII School in Johannesburg. My mother died when I was just eight years old. At the time, my father was busy working in the gold mines; my brother was off fighting in World War II alongside the British, Americans, and Canadians; and my sister was off at boarding school. I was alone a lot of the time, and my extracurricular activities at King Edward VII were often my only source of entertainment and amusement. I played everything --soccer, rugby, cricket. I ran sprints and jumped hurdles. I was a springboard diver, and I participated in gymnastics. Sports and competition were my passion.

    Eventually, my father took me out for my first round of golf on a course owned by one of the gold mining companies. I made pars on the first three holes I ever played. They were very easy holes, of course, but it didn't matter: I was hooked. The golf swing came very naturally to me, similar as it is to the one used in cricket.

    As soon as I began playing golf on a regular basis, I came to a realization that I have been thankful for ever since. When I played golf, I realized, I was not subjecting my body to absurd amounts of abuse and punishment. Yes, I liked to push my body to keep fit, but only in a healthy way and on my terms. The fact that a person could be maimed and crocked (as we say in South Africa) for the rest of his life by playing rugby or football or by boxing was not lost on me. High-speed collisions of human bodies and constant thumping on my brain, I knew, would eventually affect the quality of my life and probably shorten it as well.

    It was this realization that led me to pursue golf, instead of the other sports of my youth, full time. Today, I am still going to the gym, pumping iron, watching my diet, working on my mental toughness, and trying to win golf championships. In fact, as these words are written, I am on a quest to win a professional golf tournament in a sixth consecutive decade. I have won major championships in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, yet, at the age of 65, I play on. This longevity reflects who I am, but more so, it reflects the graciousness of the game of golf. Golf truly opens its arms to all and gives you a lifelong opportunity to rise up, excel, and enjoy.

    My years in golf have taught me another fundamental truth. Any person's life is enriched by the passionate pursuit of something. And in my mind, the best passions are those that last for a whole lifetime.

    That makes most sports challenging passions to embrace. I'm sure you'll agree that there is nothing sadder than to come in contact with people who feel that their glory days are behind them, left on the high school football field 30 years ago or on the university baseball diamond. Even at the highest levels of most sports--the place where people such as Michael Jordan, Willie Mays, and Joe Montana performed--the game leaves them in the lurch by their mid-30s. Joe Montana cannot get the same thrill out of playing catch that he did out of winning the Super Bowl. Michael Jordan cannot get the same spark from a pickup game that he did from winning the NBA Championship. And they are both still young men. People don't realize what a person goes through mentally once he realizes his body will no longer allow him to do the thing he loves most. It certainly must cause various forms of depression.

    The passion we call our own takes on sundry versions for every person. It need not be athletic, although that is what I understand best. The important thing is to have that passion and to make sure it's one without time limitations attached to it. The possibilities for such a passion are plentiful. You can learn to play the piano no matter how old you are. You can develop an appreciation for gardening at any time and pursue it until you draw your final breath. You can even make a passion out of learning to cook gourmet (and healthy!) meals for you and your family, or of collecting and reading all of the classic writings known to man. All of these things are passions you cannot exhaust.

    If your interests lie in the areas of sport and competition, however, golf can provide you with passion and longevity that know no peer in the world of sport. In other sports, athletes are over the hill by the time they reach their mid-30s. In golf, a fellow is just reaching his prime by this age, and that prime can continue for many more years. That includes you too, my friend. Even if you could hit the golf ball farther when you were 18 or 25, you weren't nearly as smart a player as you are now. You didn't have the acquired knowledge of successes and failures that you now have. Whatever age you are, you have the potential to be playing golf better than you ever have! Despite my years, I feel as if I just started playing the game. And I plan to keep on going for at least another 20 years. The challenge is still there and I can still respond to it .

    Golf rewards you with the healthful side effects of long walks (and you should walk when you play) without the high-impact, downside risks you take with your physical well-being in other sports. The game of golf challenges your mind anew every single day and presents you with the ultimate opponent: yourself, I've always been amazed that people can derive so much satisfaction out of beating others when they have never taken the ultimate test of battling themselves.

    It doesn't make sense to pursue any game other than golf when you consider that it will present you with the greatest mental and physical challenge of your life as far as difficulty is concerned, and that it will keep you entertained as long as you can get out of bed in the morning.

    One of my heroes in life is Mother Teresa, the sainted nun of Calcutta. I remember reading about someone years ago asking her the question: Why do you live your life as you do? Her answer: "Why would I do otherwise?"

    As to the question of "Why play golf?" I would suggest a similar answer. Why not play golf? Anyone can do it, and, as you will find out in the following pages, the rewards to the mind and the soul are endless.

Excerpted from The Golfer's Guide to the Meaning of Life by Gary Player. Copyright © 2001 by Gary Player. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.