The Greater than Golf Podcast

The fullness of life (and joy on the golf course) happens when you enter into adventurous play with people you trust and honor. It takes time, effort and intentionality to build those relationships. They have to be reciprocal relationships where people honor and trust you as well. In this episode, John and I talk about the wandering and stumbling through relationships in an effort to find and build a great 'foursome.'

We all remember a few shots in our lives. The course, the conditions, the flight, the contact. It brings about a kind of purity and joy where all things were right in the world. It was the moment in which the physical and the veil of the spiritual became thin and we witnessed the beauty of the feel and the flight. In this episode, John and I talk about how to let go of control in order to play freely. And just perhaps, we encounter another moment where the joy of the game comes freely as well.

We all have a deep longing for being in relationship, and that includes being invited to play. You might already have your posse, you might not. Most guys our age struggle to find themselves in relationships they trust. In this episode, we explore what it's like when we experience being left out, or so we think. We also talk about having the courage to reach out and invite others to play. This is greater than golf.

What do you want? How do you position yourself to achieve or acquire the things that you want. Even more so, why? We explore what is just under the surface about why we want something out of our golf game, and soon discover that there is an underlying depth to the desire for lowering our handicap, or even just keeping the ball in play. Understanding the 'why' gets us closer to the truth, this is Greater than Golf.

There is a tension in allowing yourself to let go while maintaining control. It is a kind of peace within the context of trusting your capability with honesty, and holding a sense of self control for maintaining awareness to gather feedback. The idea is to be intentional every time you address the ball. This comes in pre-shot routine. What follows is allowing your swing to be about trust and freedom. You then accept and respond to the outcome of contact with the ball. This is how we gain wisdom. This is how we approach our game and this is how we can approach moments in our lives. This is greater than golf.

What is experiencing the fullness of life? There's joy, connection, play and work. It is also important to remember that a full life includes loss, grief and sadness. In this episode, we wrestle with having a sense of 'enoughness' and go deep into preventing the downward spiral towards losing hope. While the depth of the conversation is about life, we talk about how this is found out on course. This is greater than golf.

Living the fullness of life is greater than golf. The game just happens to be one place in life where our mindset, practice and play come together. Every shot represents an outcome of these three pillars at the point of contact. It might be pure, it might be a little toey, heely, fat, thin, or shank. But sometimes that's how our lives can feel and the outcomes of lives can feel. In the midst of all of this, however, is an opportunity to experience joy which is at the root of experiencing the fullness of life.

What does it mean to play golf? We remember play as kids, but can we pull some of that joy, creativity and adventure into our golf game? We talk about what makes the game worth playing and why joy is at the root of what golf can bring to our lives and how we can bring that joy to others out on course.

What you choose to practice requires an honest evaluation and acceptance of truth. It doesn't create limits when we find areas in which we need to work on, rather, it opens opportunities for greater distance, less three-putts, or better strategies for going low.

When you come to the first tee with curiosity, it sets you into a position of humility. This leads to having greater awareness for your own game and those around you. That awareness can lead to a kind of wonder that brings joy to the game. John Rahm's putter cover has a reminder for us all, "Putt like a kid." It reminds us that there is still plenty of joy and wonder that can be brought to every round and shared with others.