One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

Nobody is happy every day. Me, either.  😂 This morning, I played nine holes with some good golfing friends. They are always friendly and nice. They are a little older than me, but they are all passionate golfers. The weather was beautiful, the course was peaceful, and we simply enjoyed playing together. Honestly, just being able to enjoy a beautiful morning like this should have been enough to make me happy. But apparently, I wanted more. 😂 My golf swing has been a little inconsistent lately. Sometimes I hit a really clean, beautiful shot, and I think, “Ah, my swing is finally coming back.” But the next day, it somehow disappears again. Today, after nine holes, I decided to practice some more. I had 90 minutes at the range. I practiced for about an hour. But my body just wasn't cooperating. I knew what I was trying to do. At the beginning of my backswing, I need to let my lower body start naturally and then let my upper body follow. But I was keeping my lower body too still a...

I never planned to share so much of my private life with the world. Actually, I have never been a person who wanted to tell everyone everything about me. But somehow, I started writing about my ordinary days. My dogs, Ruby and Rich. My golf practice. My little garden. Walking around my neighborhood in Jeju. Something funny that happened during the day. Something that made me smile. And sometimes, something I learned about life after 60. At first, I thought I was simply keeping a diary. And in a way, I still am. The difference is that I write my diary in English, too. That changed everything. If I wrote only in Korean, my little everyday stories would mostly stay inside Korea. But English is a global language. So now, a very ordinary day in my little corner of Jeju can travel much farther than I ever imagined. Someone in another country might find my blog while searching for golf. Someone might find a story about life after 60. Someone might be learning English and happen to read one of...

I used to think that after turning 60, I wouldn’t have many reasons to feel excited about tomorrow. But lately, I’ve been looking forward to tomorrow more than I expected. There are actually two things that make me excited these days. One is golf . The other is my blog . ⛳🌏 First — My Next Golf Shot I had so much fun practicing golf today. For a while, my 5-wood hadn’t been working well during my rounds. Last year, I could hit my 5-wood about 170 meters with a really satisfying strike. But at some point, I lost that feeling. I couldn’t figure out exactly why. Today, though, I think I finally found a small clue. I started to understand when to add power and when to relax, how my shoulders and body should rotate, and how everything should come together at impact. Of course, I still hit some bad shots today. 😂 But strangely, that made practice even more fun. I thought, “Maybe I can finally solve this swing puzzle.” I have no idea whether today’s new feeling will show up in tomorrow’s ro...

My body was still a little achy this morning. I have a regular golf group round coming up on Monday, and I wanted to go to the driving range today. In the past, I probably would have followed my schedule anyway. “I'm playing golf on Monday, so I should practice today.” But this morning, my body seemed to be saying something different. “Take it easy today.” So I slept for most of the morning. And surprisingly, after getting enough sleep, I woke up feeling great. I looked at myself in the mirror and gave myself a little smile. “Maybe I'm still young after all.” 😂 After taking my dogs for a short walk, I went to the local market. I bought some seeds and seedlings for my winter garden—Chinese cabbage, young radish, and lettuce. I also picked up seeds for cilantro and chicory. And, of course, I couldn't resist an old favorite. A hotteok. I also brought home some jokbal, Korean-style braised pig's feet, for lunch. I had it with rice, salad, and kimchi. My dogs got a little ...