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Why
Do I Play Golf?
By Rich Yueh
As I go about my daily life, one of the many questions I hear is "What sport do you play?" This does not come as surprise to me because a typical seventeen year-old high school senior is expected to be active in some way, be it Varsity basketball or intramural ping-pong. What does come as a surprise, although not to me, is my answer: "I play golf". People then ask me "Golf? Why golf? Why don't you play football or soccer or basketball?" Often times, I think about that question myself. Golf doesn't have screaming fans, or a funny mascot running around, or even cheerleaders. So why do I play golf? The answer lies not in what I put out externally, but rather in what I gain from an intrapersonal point of view.
My dad started me in golf when I was just barely old enough to grasp the concept of the game. At that point, the stereotypical image of golf being for nerds was still implanted in my head; therefore, I did not take golf too seriously. I gripped my plastic golf club and hit foam balls and laughed at my dad as he put on his silly golf shoes. After receiving a set of junior clubs from Santa Claus, I began to take a new outlook on golf. I didn't have the swing of Tiger Woods and I could barely walk nine holes, but it was still fun to get outside and stay active for two hours. I also learned some simple swing fundamentals and basic golf etiquette. When I outgrew my junior set, I bought some upgraded junior clubs and started a new phase in my golf career. I paid attention to each stroke, started playing 18-hole rounds, and began to push myself to become a better golfer. Throughout this 2-year period, I immersed my senses in golf and tried to let different aspects of the game come to me naturally.
 
After a short hiatus from golf, I decided to try out for the golf team at school when I was a sophomore. During the pre-tryout practice range sessions, I felt pretty comfortable. I looked at the older golfers and thought that I could swing just as well as they could. The coach looked at my swing a few times and didn't say much about it, so I assumed everything was good. Boy was I wrong. When I walked off the first green during the first tryout round, I felt like crying. My shots were going left and right and many times, the grass I hit went farther than the ball. Eventually, after the third or fourth hole, the other three people in my group ignored what I was doing and walked along, paying only enough attention to see that they did not get hit by one of my shots gone awry. By the end of the round, I needed to hit the ball two or three times in order to catch up with a ball that had only been hit once. When I got home from tryouts, I called my coach to tell him I would not be back the next day for the second round of tryouts. He said he appreciated my effort and that I should come back out next year.
Thus began the second phase of my golf career. Immediately following my tryout disaster, I bought clubs that were custom fit for me and found a great golf coach. Before my first post-tryout game, I thought to myself "I need to shoot lower than what I shot last game", which happened to be tryouts. At each game following that, I retained the same mentality. Always improve, never slow down, and never move backwards. By summer of that year (tryouts are in the spring), I had improved my game by about 20 strokes. One important factor of my growth last year is not how I pushed myself, but how others pushed me. Because I was playing well at that time, people would ask if I played for my school golf team. Nervously, I had to tell them that I did not play for the school team. I reminded myself every time I heard that question that next year, my answer would be different. I wanted to say that I play for my school team.
Fast forward to spring of this year. After shooting well in tryouts, I found out that I had made the JV golf team and was even bumped up to Varsity. I'm still on the second phase of my golf career but you could say I inserted a new chapter at that point. I made friends with most of the people on the golf team and came to treat them like a second family. The golf team is also where I learned many of life's important values and lessons.
First, golf can be considered a team and individual sport. It is a team sport because the top six scores count towards the team score and it is your duty to bring in a low score to help the team. On the other hand, it is an individual sport because nobody is there to assist you with a pass or screen other players for you. I learned to handle this division by training with the team and by myself. It may sound repetitive and almost ironic, but golf certainly is both a team and individual sport and you must treat it as such.
Second, I learned to manage my time in a more efficient manner. With the added pressures of junior year, I had to make sure I got enough time to practice and attend matches while saving time for homework and getting to sleep at a decent hour. I realized that I couldn't waste one minute of the day because I always had something to do. Lastly, I realized the importance of setting goals for yourself and how crucial it is to reach those goals. You don't want to set too low of a goal that is easily attainable or too high of a goal that is way beyond practical. I wanted to make the school golf team and knew it would take practice, but with each hour spent at the driving range, it became more and more of a feasible goal. After reaching that goal, I found out I had potential in me to reach other goals.
That is why I play golf. I play for myself and I play for my team. Even if you think golf is for nerds, go out and give it or another sport a try. You may end up liking it or revealing a hidden talent that you did not know you had. That also goes for non-sport activities like drama club or marching band. When someone asks you what you participate in at your high school, you'll want a good answer. And when they ask you why you participate in what you do, you'll want a better answer: because you love it, and that's what counts.
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