“Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.” – Anonymous

When I read this quote I tried to focus on a specific part of my golf game that would fit these sage words. The challenge I have is that it fits my entire golf game regardless of how I am playing. Basically, the efforts I make today are more valuable than waiting for the perfect time (which is an illusion) in the future to practice or make changes. Regardless of how strong our golf game appears, improvement can only be created by action today. I am not trying to be a philosopher, however this quote applies to life as well.

Over the past few years, my golf game has remained on a plateau of mediocrity. Of course this is a relative scale because my expectations of my game compared to others is mine alone. I have tried to practice more to improve my game and in small spurts of effort I was successful. Unfortunately, I find myself pushing my practice time down stream. This conscious decision to not ‘get to it later’ is starting to affect my game, especially around the green.

During golf season, my passion is greatest at the beginning. After a long winter’s nap I am ready to play and knock the rust off my game. I create the game I want for the entire season by working on areas I know need work. This process has not changed for many years; rightly or wrongly, living in the northern climes forces me to adopt this feast or famine golf game. I accept these limitations, however there are many times, especially in recent years, I find myself not taking advantage of the time I have with the intent of working harder in the future. Well, this process is folly and hurts my overall game.

As I think back, I realize that I wasted many opportunities to improve my game. Instead of practicing my putting and chipping for 10 or 15 minutes before my round, I found myself chatting with my playing partners. Instead of arriving 30 minutes early for my round and establishing a solid pre-round routine, I would us that time to chat with my friends. I realize that the social aspect of golf is very important, but I could manage my time a little better to maximize both.

There is no epiphany about my musings today, just that in the future I will have to focus on doing small practice sessions more often to improve my game. Actually practicing a few minutes more on a relatively daily basis is far more beneficial than thinking I will set aside an hour sometime of work on all aspects of my game. This thought process does not work and likely does not work for most people. We are all busy with life, so doing a little something today will be far more beneficial to our future than planning (hoping) something for later.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!