3 Foundational Benefits of Golf
Life is moving fast in the 21st century. The symbiosis between physical and digital has produced a whirlpool of information and services that demand utmost attention 24/7. Trying to keep up with the battery of work-related obligations, family matters, and the latest global developments is an expressway to anxiety and neuroses. How can one remain calm and composed in such a world?
Thankfully, people are waking up to the benefits of lifestyle promoting hobbies. On the one hand, yoga, Pilates and meditation do wonder for countless individuals. On the other hand, some people require more structured, gamified activities that nevertheless promote mental focus and reinforce their motivation. This is where golf comes into the picture.
1. It’s a game of life
A game of golf is more than a sport. As a matter of fact, you can relearn yourself numerous crucial life lessons while golfing. It’s the very essence of the game – hitting the ball as skillfully as you can to get it closer towards the hole – that mimics the aspects of real-life.
You might plan to get to your goal in as few steps as possible, but you are simply not in control of where your ball will end up, considering the unpredictable obstacles and fluctuations of the terrain ahead. Thus, golf shares another important feature with life as we lead it.
No matter how much you train or how prepared you feel, the unpredictable variable will always throw curveballs at you. Consequently, you will always have to be open to new learning experiences, no matter how many hours of practicing you’ve accrued under your belt. It teaches you how to harness disappointment.
Coming to terms with these variables in golf will help you come to terms with all of the unpredictable aspects of life that come at such an unbelievable speed in the 21st century. You will come to realize that it has become easier for you to deal with the coming difficulties and you will react to the oversaturation of parameters with more calmness than before.
2. Consider the outdoors
People are waking up to the importance of physical activity, which is why gym memberships are booming. However, most gyms are trapped between four walls, offering ‘playgrounds’ for physical activity among the sweat-laden equipment as you breathe in the stale AC air.
On the other hand, golf entices you with the promise of the great outdoors and wonderful greenery. Even when the golf courses are situated smack in the middle of large cities, there are certain parameters that they have to fulfill. More specifically, the patch of greenery needs to have a well-kept lawn, meadows, trees and gentle hillsides. This ‘imitation’ of nature has an unbelievably calming effect on any individual that decides to spend some time on the golf terrain.
It also represents an exciting environment for physical exercise as you try to overcome the obstacles and bring the ball closer to the hole. The calming surroundings also strip away all of the extraneous distractions and prompt the player to concentrate on the game, focusing the mind on the singular goal.
3. The social component
When we are under a lot of stress, looking for understanding in the faces of our friends and family can represent a source of respite. Humans are nothing if not social animals and we take stock in our social connections.
Golf is a flexible framework that doesn’t only allow sociability; it promotes it. Golfers will often team up in pairs and compete, but since the activity offers a lot of breathing space, the conversations you can have can become positively therapeutic. A mixture of rivalry and friendship that can be found in the framework of golf is a potent source of reinforced motivation and confidence.
Conclusion
Our senses are constantly bombarded with a relentless stream of information coupled with visuals that are practically burning into our cortex. 95% of this information will be sensationalistic in nature, simply because it ‘sells’ better.
Unfortunately, one of the most reliable ways to entice people to read or watch something is to emotionally compromise them by hitting right where it hurts – their sense of security and confidence. Because of this, we live in a world of individuals plagued by neuroses and insecurities, giving their best to endure throughout the day.
Beneficial activities such as golf are not only an amazing framework for reestablishing confidence and training one’s brain to calm down and rediscover patience, but they are also a healthy outlet that can keep individuals occupied, thus reducing the input of sensationalistic news and anxiety-inducing information.
