My Dysfunctional Relationship with the Game of Golf

Mar 1, 2011 by

“For a number of years now, I have had what I would label ‘a very dysfunctional relationship’ with the game of golf…  I haven’t played much golf at all since 2003, and even before that, the relationship was dysfunctional.  During the late ’90s and into the early 2000s, I  attended many many seminars/educational programs,  and became a very proficient teacher and coach of the game, winning several teaching awards and honours.

My growing client base told me that people connected with me and their games were improving as a result of my teaching/coaching.  This part of my life was very satisfying but yet there remained a part of me that was very unsatisfied with my relationship with the game itself.  As I was helping to create healthy relationships for my clients with the game of golf, especially the junior golfers I coached, my relationship with the game remained unchanged.

My ‘excuse’ for not practicing or playing the game was that I was ‘too busy.’  No doubt, there are only a number of hours in a day but this was ‘an excuse’ or a way of avoiding what was plaguing me inside.  I have practiced yoga for a number of years and have a number of friends who are yoga teachers … as I observed and spoke with them, I realized more and more the ‘disconnect’ that I had with golf…  Yoga teachers practice what they preach – they live their yoga!   Here I was a widely recognized golf instructor who’d won all sorts of awards and yet never practiced or played golf!!  There’s something not right with this picture … and I wasn’t proud of it, it was just the way it was and had been.

During the fall of 2010, I set out in my mind to change this … I became open to the possibility that a shift could occur…

The Golf Belles Golf Whisperer

 

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2 Comments

  1. Bill Hutton
    March 6, 2011

    Listening to your story Kay..reminds me of my own Dysfunctional relationship with golf. I’ve been teraaching this game for 28 years now…but..in recent years…I play it less and less. Coincides a bit w/ the birth of my son Brandon nearly 5 years ago. The past 4 years I’ve played less than 10 times a year!…Oh, I can still play very good…maybe the game is too easy for me!…Just kidding!…I’ve played once this year…shot 75 at Unico GC.I do want to play more…but feel guilty if I skip teaching to go play!….Strange!….Gotta go…students are waiting!!

  2. D Wong
    March 1, 2011

    I have been playing (or should I say attempting to play) the beautiful game of golf for many years. I profess I don’t have handicap but that does not lessen my passion and drive to better myself. I think tha,t like you say, you got to practice what they preach. Golf can be a fickle game, one day you play brilliantly the next time it’s in the dumps. I have got to the point where I no longer believe anything (apologies in advance and no offence intended) most pro tell me for the sole reason that they try to “force upon” their misguided philosophies upon me and that ain’t going to happen. I go by the Magnificent Seven’s Gospel (Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, David Peltz, Phil Mickelson, Geoff Mangum and SC) and since then I am appreciating a new perspective on golf, with no stress or frustration and nothing but the hum of my golf clubs and it’s beautiful! If I, a humble golf enthusiast can do it, so can you my friend! Carpe Diem as they say!

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