While we can…

I stopped playing competitive golf 45 years ago. My game has been gradually disintegrating. Don’t get me wrong, I can still play the damn game; just no where near where I once was. I’ve played less and less over the years until this past year I hit a new all time low. Played this great game only eleven times all of 2024. Two of those rounds were with Jordan and his friends out west. Somewhere while walking Pebble Beach and watching instead of playing, the bug bit me again. I decided right then this year would be different. Set a target for playing thirty rounds in 2025. 

So, fast forward to today. Played my fifth round of the year last week. Playing three rounds with Jordan and friends this week. Playing with Lil Jeggie the last day the club’s open prior to the Memorial Tournament. Playing a round with Peej’s son later this summer. My college roomie and I are playing late summer too. Golf, remember, is a game you cannot win – only play. Thanks, Steven Pressfield. I’m enjoying playing it. Again…

My dad turned me onto this game when I was nine years old. Loved it at first contact. Never forgot the feeling of hitting a pure seven iron from the putting green, late at night, into the Saline Elks swimming pool. I was somewhere early teens and my job was to drive the Cushman around the 18 holes and move sprinklers. Loved it. In between rounds, I would grab range balls and try to make ’em splash in the pool some 140 yards away. Intoxicating. Naturally. 

Now I’m much older and mature, you know. This past weekend I replaced my forty year old sand wedge. It was a classic, square grooved PING bronze special. Been in my bag forever. A few friends had sent me pictures of a new sand iron by Calloway. The name grabbed me. It’s called OPUS. So, I went out and bought it sight unseen. Stuck it in my bag. All because the name means more than anything. This week I’ll play golf with Jordan and friends. I’ll use my new sand wedge. I can only imagine how it’s gonna feel when I hit it square. Won’t much matter now, you know. OPUS. Labor of love. Gonna play it and smile the whole way round. Nuf said. 

Let’s play. Let’s work. Let’s integrate work and life. Let’s learn to do hard things well. While we can. Damn.

Live hard. Love ❤️ harder. Much harder….