I recently went on the trip of a golfing lifetime, taking in The Masters and playing some of the best courses in the world, such as the Kiawah Island Ocean course and the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass.
On the practice day at the Masters, we were told to leave the course at around 11:30am because of a tornado approaching and electrical storms. This was my only day at Augusta National as the other 7 members of the group were going back on Friday for a tournament day.
As we sat drenched in a bar near where we left the cars at 1pm, the guys kept on saying how upset they were for me. Whilst this was a nice gesture, they were a little off the mark with how I actually felt.
You see, I wasn’t disappointed. Sure, it could have worked out better than it did but I was still at The Masters. I cannot replicate the initial feeling of excitement of being on Washington Drive and going through the gates for the first time, ever again. We saw Tiger Woods on the putting green for 15-20 minutes; a true bonus if there ever was one! I got to walk 5 holes of the course and appreciate the undulations and beauty that the place has. Also, I wanted to play more than to watch on the trip so my expectations weren’t fully invested in that day being “successful”. I was more into playing 17 and 18 at the Stadium course.
The guys went back on Friday and had a blast. I played another round at a course we played on Wednesday and got paired up with a group of great lads from Yorkshire and we too had a blast and had lunch together after our round.
The Masters announced that it may allow tickets to be reused for next year for the patrons whose experience was cut short. If that is true, I will go back but only to complete the memory if it's possible. This may seem a contradiction to my claim of it being enough but if you are given a free shot at completing something, my view is to take it. If it does not pan out that way, then it is fine with me as it currently stands. The experience was wonderful.
I really learnt that a lot of the work I have been doing in my life over the last 24 months and more, is paying off. My thinking and defining what success is and means to me, my definition of enough, knowing my values and what matters to me; these all help with us managing our feelings about things that do not work out as we intend. Because, most things don’t. It provides us with room around expectations and can provide higher feelings of life satisfaction. The old version of me would have said it was hugely disappointing and would have found lots to be critical about. The fact I could even go on this is amazing and already beyond dreams I had at age 15 when life was a lot tougher for me than it is today.
I am so grateful for the last 10 days.
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