Please Play Golf

3 Reasons (one you wouldn’t guess) why golf is much more than a hobby

A word from our founder

"I’ve played golf, technically, since I was three.

My first taste of the obsession phase came when I was 17. 

I was trying out for the high school golf team at Washington High School in Washington Missouri. I was bad. By pretty much any standard. 

I convinced my mom to give me a summer’s worth of allowance a little early and got a discount set of modern irons.

My driver was a hand-me-down from my golf obsessed uncle. I think it made him happy to share his addiction. 

No 3-wood. No sand wedge. No fancy putter.. In fact, I can't even remember what putter I had. 

I hustled and got on the team and played 8 weeks of HS Golf but it wasn’t until a year later that my relationship with golf would become a life altering addiction. 

And, it wasn’t until 15 years later that I learned how much my golf life had given me.

Three reasons why you should play golf (as often as possible)

1. Exercise! 

Guys, we all need to move! So many of us have found ways to offload the heavy lifting tasks of manual labor and daily physical work. That’s a good thing most of the time. We get to use our creative and intellectual brains, we get to add value to the world on a larger scale, we get to use those gained hours to deepen our relationships with our friends and families. 

HOWEVER, optimizing for productivity and pay has led to a lot of sitting around. Sitting in a car on the way to work. Sitting at a desk at work. Sitting on the couch at home after driving home from work, sitting. 

GOLF is a standing thing. And, if you have a lightweight bag (hint, hint) it can be a walking thing! 

So let’s golf more and sit a little less 🙂

2. Mental acuity. 

When I was 32 I met Jason Goldsmith and my life changed forever. 

Jason has coached Jason Day, Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington, Mike Weir, and countless others - 100% on the mental side of golf.

What I learned from Jason should take up volumes, but you don’t have that much time (and if you did I’d tell you to go golfing).

So, to summarize, what I learned from Jason Goldsmith; ask yourself what you want, see it in your mind, feel it in your body, and do it. When it’s over, compare the outcome to the intention. Was it the same? How was it different? Walk on and do it again.

This process - discover, intend, act, measure - is the most simple way to sharpen your skills on the course and in life. As we all know, golf is a metaphor. 

3. Relate.

WE ARE HUMANS who need to relate. We need to spend time with other humans. Introverts, extroverts, nothing-verts - - we all need to relate. Golf gives us an insane opportunity to relate with one another in a non-work, non-family, non-sexual environment (ok all three of those could and probably have happened to most of us but you know what I mean). 

In golf we relate on the challenge of the game. We talk about the balls we play, the gloves, the shoes, the wind, the course, clubs, the BAGS, the everything golf! We relate on and to and with golf and with EACH OTHER in a unique way. 

Guys, golf is one of the only modern sports where players spend four to five hours actively talking while moving together outdoors. That combination — movement, nature, and conversation — is scientifically linked to lower stress, better mental health, and stronger emotional connection. 

So COME ON! What are you waiting for? Book a tee time! Text your golf crew and get out there!

Grateful for the gift of golf