 In this society there are traditional
ways to define success in golf and life.
These are typically based on the outcomes and
achievements that one attains, and are
regularly measured against certain
standards. Did you “win”? How much money did
you make? What did you get? What was the
final “score”? These are types of criteria
by which we continually monitor our progress
against the progress of our fellow neighbor,
competitor, or friend.
So, what’s the problem with this?
Isn’t
this the way it works in the “real” world?
My experience is that while this thinking in
and of itself is not a problem, our culture’s
focus on outcome has bred some very poor
habits and some very unfortunate
circumstances. For young people, playing
golf purely for the joy of the activity has
slowly been replaced for many by the
incessant striving for “#1” status, higher
local or national ranking, and ultimately for
a scholarship of some kind. For even the
casual junior golfer, there regularly becomes
an obsession with beating someone they know
or getting ahead of a certain person or
persons, sometimes at any cost.
In a nutshell, what this perpetuates
is
a focus on “Being #1” with little concern for
how to get there. One doesn’t have to go any
further than the front page of the newspaper
over the past couple of years to find a
paradigm among American business leaders that
even lying, cheating, and stealing are
tolerated as long as the outcome that is
desired is achieved. Our school system is
full of students who are so worried about
their grades and getting to the next level,
that the integrity and honor of learning for
learning’s sake is far too rarely seen. In
sport, we see this trend in a variety of
instances including steroid use, blood
doping, parents lying about their children’s
ages to get them into events, and parents
moving their children from district to
district so that they can reap the rewards of
their athletic prowess. Not only does this
deteriorate the essential healthy elements
that are a part of the athletic arena, I
believe it threatens to completely destroy
the systems upon which sport has been built.
This situation has evolved into a very
complex and pervasive problem for us as
parents, instructors, and golfers. The
solutions to such difficult systemic issues
can at times feel overwhelming and useless.
While this is true, as someone once
said, “because I cannot do everything does
not give me an excuse to do nothing”.
So here is today’s point: begin the
change at home. Rather than any of us finger-
pointing toward the professional athletes or
Fortune 500 CEOs for their alleged lack of
character or moral transgressions, let us
each point a finger at ourselves. Starting
today, let’s focus our energies more on
becoming committed to pursuing excellence at
whatever endeavor we undertake, not simply
to “win”, but to proceed only if we can do so
with honor and integrity. Specifically this
means putting more into the process of
learning whatever it is that we’re attempting
rather than only being concerned about the
end product. It means having more pride in
the quality of our athletic, academic, or
other pursuits such that the results are
merely icing on the cake. We obviously all
like to be first, to win, and to get to the
next levels. The challenge to us is to do
this without losing sight of what’s really
important in the process.
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