Play

Play

Greetings Golfers,

“It is the evening of the day, I sit and watch the children play” …

Many of us remember that line from the old Rolling Stone’s song. A lonely guy trying to get joy from watching kids play … a great image that captures someone’s sadness.

He needed the joy of play.

He needed to play golf.

I’m serious. I’m serious about the need to play. We all need to play - not just kids.

The other night, I was wrestling with the grandkids (toddlers) and the dogs … it was hilarious! We were playing.

The next day, we were hosting a football team fundraiser. So … I was talking about the need for play … and that when I was a kid, we played neighborhood sports day and night. And that two of the kids played football at the U of MN. And that they became so good because they loved to PLAY football in our neighborhood. Just for the sheer joy of playing the game. Of course we played to win. But we played because we loved to play … winning was just frosting on the cake.

I fear that we’re taking the play out of sports. Sports are about playing. You say that you PLAY football or baseball or hockey or golf. You don’t say that you WORK football, etc.

Before you go crazy … I want to make it very clear that I’m a believer in the value of work … and hard work! But not everything we do should be the Puritan Work Ethic.

We need joy in our lives … and play can be a great source of joy. More stuff doesn’t do it. The treadmill of constant work and constant consumerism doesn’t provide joy.

I wish that kids could play neighborhood sports like we used to. It’s all become too organized and too serious.

You can play golf your whole life.

That Stones’ song is “As Tears Go By”. Don’t sit around sad like the guy in that song … get out and play.

Play golf!

Cheers!

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com