Bob Hruzek’s group writing project this month has set us the challenge of using a metaphor for life. I have been wrestling with this since he first announced it and really thought that I should just opt out this time round but I was sitting here after a particularly bad round of golf and got to thinking that life is a bit like that really. Sometimes great with everything going along tickety boo and then at others - nothing seems to go the way you wanted. Why would that be?

It might be the way you are pointed. I understand from my husband that my feet are often not pointing in the direction I intend to hit. A bit like life really - if you aim in the right direction you get better - or more satisfying results.

It might be that the weight behind your swing is not right.  That means you come up short of the hole and - in my experience - that makes for a tricky shot to finish. So in life coming up short -  because you did not put enough effort into what you were doing might make it a bit harder to reach your target.

What about beating yourself up because the previous shot did not live up to expectations. In a recent golf lesson my tutor said that he liked the way that I celebrated my good shots ( oh where was he today when I needed him!)  as too many golfers focus mainly on the bad stuff. In life then - celebrating the good stuff can make dealing with the more challenging issues that wee bit easier!

I always play better if I can’t see other golfers behind me. I make an assumption that they are better than me and that I am likely to hold them up. As a result I go into ”hacking” mode with my shots - which just does not work. And in life too many people I meet compare themselves unfavourably to others without any evidence that they are indeed “better” than them. 

Then there is focus.  After I learned to coach I read the Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallwey. In the book he gives a tip about focus and I created my own “mantra” to chant when taking a shot ( actually I might try again that next time…) which served the purpose of cutting out all other distractions. In life - what we can achieve can be affected by all sorts of distractions - criticism, unfavourable comparison ( see above), limiting beliefs. … I could go on!

At about half way round the course I usually start to flag. We sometimes take a chocolate bar to give us a quick sugar boost but mostly I just work through it . I hit the big 5 0  last year - maybe that impacts on my stamina in the game ( of course it does!!) but it is no reason to expect that the second half of my life will be less wonderful than the first half!

It  might be that you don’t have the right equipment - No! No! No! It is never about not having the right equipment in golf or in life. Attitude, skills and knowledge - that’s what is needed. No fancy putter or Gucci handbag will change that.

So there you go. Non-golfers might well be scratching their heads…well in fact non-golfers probably clicked away at the top of the post. Any comments from the folks out there can empathise?