Putting it in Perspective

This morning at the golf course my partner and I were joined by two gentlemen in an early morning "shotgun start." A shotgun start means that groups of four may be assigned to begin some or all of the 18 holes at the same time. The time was 7:30am, the course was wet after two days of downpours, power carts were not allowed, and many holes were empty. We four hitched up together.

A Scotch mist began to turn into a steady drizzle and missed shots became the order of the day. I was feeling a little frustrated with the game. One of the gentlemen told a little story that put everything into perspective. He recounted one time playing with a group when one of the players became very angry and disgusted with himself for missing his three-foot birdie putt. One of the group looked up at a nearby hospital and said, "why worry about missing a putt? There are maybe 300 people your age up there who would give anything to be outside here right now having a chance to try to make a three foot birdie putt!"

Suddenly the day seemed brighter. The light mist felt rather pleasant, the air was warm, the company was congenial, and we were able to walk, talk and laugh together. The chance - the possibility - was there that we would make a great shot, do something that would make us want to come back. Sure enough, on that hole one of the group sank a 40 foot putt and immediately afterwards I sunk a 15 footer!