Thankful for the Challenge

Greetings Golfers,

A belated “Happy Thanksgiving”!

I hope it was happy … and I hope you were thankful. Thankful and happy seem to go hand-in-hand.

Are we thankful only when things are going our way? Too often that’s the case. But, we especially need to be thankful when times are hard.

Here’s what I mean: Years ago when our sons were kids, they asked me why the world wasn’t perfect … Why was there sickness, pain, death, etc?

My answer was a golf analogy (of course). I said “What if when you played golf, every shot was a hole-in-one? Would it be any fun? The only reason golf is worth playing is that it's hard. The challenge is to rise above the difficulties.”

Obviously, the analogy applies to life.

But does it have to be so hard/brutal? … well, the consequences have to be real. Consequences? What about random unfair stuff? You mean like bad bounces or terrible lies in golf? Part of the game.

Now, I don’t mean that because life can be brutal and not fair that we have a license to be brutal and unfair. Just the opposite. That’s why being a good person who tries to be fair and do the right thing matters. Really matters. 

The challenge is to rise above the difficulties.

We can do what really matters.

That’s what we should be thankful for. 


Thankfully,

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