Good evening, gents!
One of the most challenging things to hang onto as one ages is a sense of joyfulness and wonder, and the ability to be “amazed”. It is somewhat of a conflict with our supposed senses of experience and knowledge, as wizened veterans of life. Similarly, on this board at least, it is often felt or assumed that is a virtue to have seen much of what this game of golf has to offer in every different venue, in every different climate, in every different time frame, with every different technologic enhancement, from every different angle…
Sometimes, it might be better to be childlike…
We might all be different culturally, but I suspect that each of us has had, at some point, an experience of child-like wonderment. For example, can there be many experiences to compare with the first time one sees the broad swaths of green grass at a real pro baseball stadium at a real Major League Baseball game, or the sense of marvel on a very first airplane ride!
Today, I was given the gift of joyful wonderment and an opportunity to reconnect with that sense of amazement…
With absolutely no advance notice, and from individuals motivated not by what other people could do for them, but by how they could bring surprise, joy and exhilaration to someone else, I was able to experience Pine Valley for the very first time. For those of you expecting a photo essay or video capturing of some of these moments, I am afraid I will have to disappoint. On the other hand, I might be preserving for you, as these folks did for me, the opportunity to be amazed and to truly experience something fascinating for the very first time.
I was as gullible, surprised, and shocked as I hope all of you will be when a “golf dream” comes true, no matter whether it comes at a particular place, or with a particular accomplishment, or at a particular time in your life—my wish for all of you is that there is still something out there in golf or some other area of your life which has the capacity to truly amaze and surprise you…
While I could recount the round itself, it really makes no difference, as the series of jabs, stabs, swipes, chops and hacks were merely the half-seconds that were interwoven between the true “moments”—the walks between the holes, around the corners, over the rises and down into the valleys—the chats between the engaging host, the more experienced fellow players and the rookie, and the knowing chuckles when shots disappeared into the unknown, as the first-timer quickly met the fate of so many at Pine Valley, but loving the pain all the way around.
In my line of work, I am often confronted by people and situations at often the most stressful and trying of times, and all too often with the knowledge that outcomes cannot always be as hopeful, positive and joyous as we all would like.
We all have various motivations for the pursuit of this passion we share, and to think that we can accurately comment on and perhaps criticize each other’s motives is both impossible and unwise. I feel that far too often in this forum we seek out the negative in each other or in someone else as a way to elevate ourselves to a higher place than we might otherwise deserve. It is disappointing to know that there are posts implying, directly or indirectly, that there might be joy in the misfortune of others—course closures, tough economic decisions, questionable maintenance practices, the parenting of the Wies and others, etc… We all lose out, individually and collectively, when we let those forces push us away from what is fun, and joyous, about this pursuit…
When occasions such as today arise, it brings out the very best in the game that we all love, or purport to love—the camaraderie, the joy of seeing someone else succeed or be elated, the element of surprise (which we often cherish in architecture), the friendship, the interaction with one’s surroundings—all of which came without a sense of entitlement or expectation of any return.
Today, as I rush steadily toward age 50, with all the presumed burdens of advanced adulthood and expectations, I was given the best gift of all—the chance to be a child again, at perhaps the greatest swath of green grass (and pine trees, and scrub, and waste, and sand and air) and “major League ballpark” that golf has to offer.
For that I will be eternally and graciously grateful to those who participated in creating this opportunity. In return I can offer only the pledge that I will try never to lose (completely!) that childlike sense of wonder and amazement, and that I can continue to look for ways to foster that spirit in others…
Yes, Pine Valley was, and will continue to be, all that one could have hoped for, and more---but the knowledge that friends are out there who are willing and excited to go through this effort is clearly the far greater experience…