Skip to main content

Navigating Catholic Life - Part 5 Golf vs Life Analogy: Pay Attention!

Image
By
 +
JMJ
 
By Lilrizz - Personal Photo, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16381754

NTS: Journal July 14, 2022

 A number of factors conspired to make me decide to spend more time golfing this year.  Stress relief was the major factor.  Getting up early in the morning for a 7am tee-time is, frankly, great.  I was able to beat the heat of the day (which was gruelling this summer) and take a two hour 'walk' to exercise and disconnect from the issues causing my stress levels to increase.

On one of these 'walks' I realised that golf has some analogies for life:

  1. You don't hold life in your hands, it sits there waiting for you to do something, while all the external variables continue to shift.
  2. You need to pay attention to a lot of subtle variables to make a good shot and even then the wind and other hazards (ie. bunker) can suddenly change and make a great shot into a good shot (which I would be happy with) and a good shot into a bad one.
  3. You are responsible for your own performance. No one is going to tackle or block your shot.  You are competing against yourself.
  4. You will be better than some and worse than others and practice (ie hard work) is the only way to improve your performance.
  5. Sometimes the course will beat you even when you are on your game. Your best game may not be enough.
     

Playing on this Golf is like Life, you need to pay attention to move in the right direction, and I have made many missteps. Here's the 'process' that I am trying to follow to improve my game:

  1. Ball: Tee-up or examine the lie of the golf ball = Know where you are or situational awareness. If you don't know your starting point you won't be able to make a plan from 'here' to 'there'.
  2. Target: You need to look at your target and plan the series of shots needed to get to the green and put the ball in the hole. Then note the current point the your are aiming for in the drive from the tee-box.  This first point may be only 12 inches from the ball in order to try to correct for a 'slice' or 'hook'.
  3. Club: Check the distance and select an appropriate club for the lie of the ball and shot you are trying to make.
  4. Ground your club: The club is designed to hit the ball in a certain way.  You need to setup your stance etc to hit a good shot.  Happy Gilmore is a fictional piece of work. As a friend said, golf is hard with a combination of fine and coarse motor control functions. Note: I have noticed that some professionals ground the club with their right hand and then setup their grip.
  5. Landmarks: Orient yourself to the ball (distance and position relative to your lead foot), and look at your far, medium and close landmarks that will lead to the green.
  6. Stance: Settle into the stance appropriate for the shot. Make certain to remember to breath :-).
  7. Agility: To swing well you have to be warmed up and flexible.  Maybe the warmup should have been the first step. Anyway, stretch before each shot and take a couple practice swings.
  8. Ready: Check both your position and your mindset for the shot.
  9. Aim: Check that the club face is aimed correctly, look at your target in front of the ball and ... take another deep breath.
  10. Fire: Check another deep breath and take a deep breath and let it part way out (just like in other shooting sports).

In an ideal world, the ball will take the path you wanted and land by or near your target.  That seldom is the case for average golfer and in life we are all average ;-).

 Learn from the shot, then put it behind you. This definitely applies to golf and life, if you can't learn from the past and then leave the past behind you, then the burden will continue to grow until you are crushed.

In life, a lot of these points help us practice life and Catholicism in a more deliberate way instead of leaving the autopilot in control.

I hope this is as helpful to you as these journal entries have been to me.

P^3

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II: Dr. John Lamont

By
+ JMJ This is the second article from Dr. Lamont from his lecture given in May 2014. P^3 Source Part A: Society of St. Hugh of Cluny Source Part B: Society of St. Hugh of Cluny 8 May2014 The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II By John Lamont To understand how the Jesuit conception of obedience departed from earlier conceptions, it is helpful to compare it with the teaching of St. Thomas on obedience. The fundamental difference between the two is that St. Thomas considers the proper object of obedience to be the precept of the superior (2a2ae q. 104 a. 2 co., ad 3). Obedience that seeks to forestall the expressed will of the superior does not bear on what the superior wants or thinks in general, but only on what the superior intends to command. St. Ignatius’s lowest degree of obedience, which he does not consider to be virtuous, is thus what St. Thomas considers to be the only form of obedience. St. Thomas holds that St. Ignatius’s alleged higher forms of o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin - July 6, 1988

By
There has been some discussion (read lots) about the term 'Conciliar Church'. I have posted this letter written by the Superior General and District Superiors of the SSPX after the 1988 Consecrations. Of particular interest is that the 'Conciliar Church' being referred to as a system. My paraphrase would be that the SSPX regards the 'conciliar Church' as an error within the Church. Source Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
Post a Comment
Read more

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

By
+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3
Post a Comment
Read more

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 6b: Principles and Rules for Surviving this Crisis of the Catholic Church (Principle 1)

By
 + JMJ Principle 1: Realize that something is amiss in the Catholic Church The world in which I had my Traditional Awakening, is one in which practically anything pre-Conciliar such as liturgy, doctrinc, and even dogmas are either suppressed, ignored or re-framed to be acceptable to the ‘world’. What is more, the people adhering to these pre-conciliar teachings and liturgy are persecuted by other members of the Catholic Church. The things that non-Trads say about Trads can be quite extreme. For example, accusations against Traditionalists include that they are: A revival of the Jansenists (link) , Schismatics, Heretics, Uncharitable, Lefebrists Radicals Integrists When one group of Catholics is persecuted by the others for simply wanting to live as Catholics before them did for generations … well something is wrong. Further, we need to realize that when what was previously condemned is now promoted and what was previously promoted as the trut...
Post a Comment
Read more

How is the SSPX prepared to accept the Second Vatican Council??? - Reblogged and Updated.

By
+ JMJ The Archbishop remained steadfast. In the 1980s, in his correspondence with then-Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop Lefebvre stated his position that the criterion for interpreting Vatican II in light of Tradition comprises three elements: 1) He and the SSPX would accept anything in Vatican II that is clearly consistent with Tradition; 2) Any ambiguous texts of Vatican II must be interpreted strictly according to Tradition; according to the consistent teaching of the Church throughout the centuries. 3) Anything in the Council that cannot be interpreted according to Tradition should be revised. The Archbishop laid this out explicitly in his letters to Cardinal Ratzinger in 1982 and 1985. CF News: Rome-SSPX: Background to the Doctrinal Discussions CF News: The April 15 Deadline A few years ago Tony La Rosa (aka ecclesia militans a Toronto based 'resistor') had a difficult time accepting this approach to the council. He held that it must be completely tossed as...
Post a Comment
Read more