I’ve heard it said that golf is becoming a less popular leisure activity, doubtless in favor of passive X-box types of pursuits. A real shame, times being the way they are, as I cannot think of anything more pleasant than half a day in the out of doors, pitting one’s own mettle against a small, dimpled white ball.
My life has in the main been a fortunate one, but, frankly, I had the joy of reminding myself how fortunate in the weekend just past, spent playing golf. In the middle 1990’s, Keith’s mother and father purchased a home at Blacklake Canyon, a golf resort on the coast about an hour north of Santa Barbara. At the time, with its landscaping and homes new, it had the bare earth rawness of any new development, but, in the intervening years, the edge has worn off beautifully, with a combination of natural native oaks articulating perfectly with that landscape introduced to make a playable golf course. Suffice to say, we really have a good time there, with the course about as challenging as anything I will ever require. Moreover, with the house itself adjacent to the 11th green, and looking to the westward toward the ocean, it is about as pretty a spot one could choose.
A brief interruption to the travelogue, to say that I am not the first to impute spiritual properties to the game of golf, but that does not make its spiritual aspects any less of a facet for me. From a mechanical standpoint, the club and the ball do all the work- with very little physical effort, the connection between the club face and the ball itself makes the ball travel a long, long way. Everything else is dependent on how the club is wielded, and that is dependent on the unity of mind and body. Does this sound like yoga? It should, as achieving such a unity, with the reward the ball flying off the club face and heading straight down the middle of the fairway in the direction of the flagstick, it all becomes a metaphor for success in life. I defy anyone to play a successful round of golf with a lot on the mind. And, for me, success during play and enjoyment are not consequentially dependent, but concomitant. And the same goes for life generally- as one does tend to keep score, a round of golf requires play hole by hole, and provides plenty of opportunities for success and, if success is not achieved on one hole- or with one stroke- there is always the next. And- you are able to do it all on your own. Of course, in life one isn’t always complete master of one’s fate, but I think that playing golf makes one realize that one has more control than one realizes- or cares to admit. And, there is always another chance.