I’m not sure if this is correlation or causation, but I have experienced noticeable changes in my life since taking up the sport of golf.

This game has a reputation for being frustrating, slow, boring, uppity, pretentious, exclusive, etc… and I honestly can’t deny any of those things. I have personally experienced every one of those characteristics at some point in my adventures. But despite all of that, golf is an activity which has the potential to be grounding, relaxing, challenging, and exciting all at the same time. It really is a paradox in every sense of the word.

Golf has had an enormous impact on both my physical and psychological fitness. Despite not being overly physically demanding, this sport requires a completely unique set of movements which I had to train endlessly just for it to stop feeling completely unnatural. The pivoting, weight transfer and spine motion in golf is unlike any other sport. Learning this new movement was a challenge, but once I began to grasp it I felt an incredible sense of achievement and reward. Since taking up golf, I have learned to love the process of gradually teaching your body to perform in new abstract movements, which led me to taking up yoga and pilates as well.

In order to stay focused on your game for a whole range session or an entire round of golf, which can be up to 6 hours long, you have to be able to remain focused on the task at hand and not get discouraged no matter what comes your way. In order to perform on the course, you need to know how to regulate your emotions and not let them get in the way of the task ahead of you. We’ve all seen the videos of people losing their temper and throwing their clubs in the water; the urge to do so is a feeling that every golfer has experienced, and the only thing that has kept us all from doing it is our differing levels of impulse control.

Golf is like its own form of meditation. You’ll undoubtedly experience an emotional rollercoaster along the way, but you also learn the power of consistency and perseverance. The level of focus required in this game has turned golf into a bit of a mental sanctuary for me; for the time that I’m at the range or on the course, I’m not concerned about anything but my club and the ball. Nothing else matters.

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