Continuing to Compete

So we all know the fun of competing in a variety of sports when we’re in our youth, and the feeling once we enter out twenties that our days of competing in sports are over. And that’s often the case. But it doesn’t have to be.

For me, there was tennis in my late 30s and 40s, and a chance to compete with some success, particularly in doubles. Then at 55, I took up golf, joining Islington Golf Club and taking lesson upon lesson to try and be able to make up for lost time while playing with guys who had played their whole life. It’s taken a long while, a visit to Andrew Rice’s splendid golf school in Savannah, Georgia and an awful lot of lost golf balls. But now the handicap is a single digit, I don’t feel like a lost and desperate soul EVERY round and this week with my buddy Walt Skobel we won the IGC four-ball title together. It was just as fun and exciting as winning a Jr. C lacrosse championship when I was 17. At 62, i sure am grateful for the chance to be part of a club, one that’s celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, that has a healthy competitive tradition. But you realize that it’s not really about winning. It’s about competing against people who also like to compete, and about trying to get better at a really hard game. Playing with people who are a lot better at the game than you are, and learning how to shut up, watch and learn. And, of course, trying to become a player who understands that not every round has anything to do with another round, and every hole isn’t linked to another hole’s result. In other words, the whole “golf is an metaphor for life” thing starts to click into view.

This post isn’t about me winning something. Walt actually played better than I did and did the heavy lifting. It’’s about encouraging everyone that getting older doesn’t mean you can’t take up a new sport, have fun with it and maybe even compete against other enthusiastic athletes. And when you have a pal like Walt to do it with,, it’s even better.