Before I started golfing, I shared an opinion with many others: "Golfing is for old men." My dad started golfing for business when I was 13 years old. I joked with him about being an old man. However, that didn't stop me from asking him to take golfing with him once. We went to the driving range, and I quickly learned that golf wasn't going to be the easy game I had always assumed it was. I whiffed more balls than I could count that day, but there was one shot, one defining moment, which made me love the game forever. I was so frustrated about not being able to hit the ball that when my club finally made contact, it had felt amazing. From that moment, I was hooked. That day I discovered my long-lasting love/hate relationship with golf.
I continued golfing with my dad after that day. A year later was my first year of high school. The girls golf team at my high school was almost nonexistent. I decided to try out despite my lack of experience. I was immediately put on the team because they were in desperate need of players. It was an embarrassing year for me when it came to the tournaments. I was going up against other girl golfers who had spent their entire lives golfing. I became hard on myself throughout my high school golf career. There was improvement in my personal game, but I was too focused on comparing myself to my opponents, who had been in the game since they were kids. High school golf was fun, but it made me forgot why I fell in love with the sport.
After graduating, I put my clubs down for a while. I still doubted my golf game despite not having to compete anymore. Two years later, I picked those clubs back up. I hit some golf balls into the woods behind my grandpa's house. I wasn't swinging to compete. I wasn't swinging to see how many yards my ball went. I was simply swinging. I fell in love with the game all over again. What I love about golf is that it's a 90% mental game. If you're frustrated, you will have a bad day on the course. You must clear your mind while you are on the golf course. In the moments of swinging, it needs to be just you, the club, and the ball. After high school, I also realized that golf is a personal game. You're not competing against anyone but yourself. You are always trying to beat your personal best score, not someone else's.
I'm not a great golfer, and I don't pretend to be. I am just somebody that is passionate about the game because of the the challenges it presents for me to overcome. I no longer look at golf as a game simply for old men. I look at it as the best game in the world.
