I almost cancelled my tee time today. I can’t remember the last time I‘ve golfed, but it’s been a long time. I used to play a lot growing up, but lost touch busy with life in my college and law school years. I’m picking it back up again now that I’m in Florida.
It’s busy season here so I got paired with a group of three, and I almost cancelled because I hadn’t played in so long, and to make matters worse, the range was closed and I wasn’t able to warm up. And playing with complete strangers. I was embarrassed about how rusty I would likely be.
But I went anyway. To ever be good at something, we sometimes have to be comfortable being bad at it. Start somewhere. And for me that meant starting over after a years-long hiatus.
Needless to say, it was pretty ugly. But I started getting “into the swing of things” each new hole. Just like old times.
My cart partner was Mr. Grillo, and his wife and daughter played with us too. He’ll be 87 this year. He told me he finished dental school at 25, just like me finishing law school at the same age. He went on to practice dentistry for more than 53 years, including some of his early years in the Air Force. It was an honor to play with him; and it reminded me of all my years growing up playing this same course with my own grandpa.
And guess what else! His daughter is a legal recruiter in New York City for some of the world’s biggest law firms.
The takeaway is to be careful what you say no to. Just start – or start over. Even if you’re bad at something. Sometimes you have to be bad in order to eventually be good. And be very careful what (or who) you say no to.
I almost cancelled my tee time today.
