One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

A cold wind suddenly arrived yesterday. Just a few days ago, it still felt like autumn. Now, it feels like winter is just around the corner. This morning, I opened the window and immediately felt the cold air. “Wow, it’s cold!” So I put on warm winter pants and a warm jacket. But I didn’t close the window. I wanted to breathe in the cool autumn air as much as I could. I like this kind of weather. Then I started thinking about yesterday’s golf round. There were golfers in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Just before teeing off, my younger golf buddy, who is in her 50s, suddenly said, “Oh, I left my arm brace in the car. My arm hurts, so I need to wear it.” And one of the older golfers in his 70s had a small bandage around his right little finger. He told me he had been having a problem with it for about two months. Eventually, he decided to have surgery this winter. I looked at them and laughed. Then I said, “As we get older, it would actually be strange to be perfectly healthy. 😊” At the time...

For the past year, I've been paying a lot of attention to my health. After discovering my finger condition, I became much more careful about using my body. Of course, taking care of my health was the right thing to do. But at some point, I started wondering if I had become too careful. Actually, I hadn't visited the driving range for almost seven months. Instead, I continued playing regular rounds of golf. For a while, everything was fine. I enjoyed my rounds, and I didn't feel that I needed to practice much to enjoy the game. But one day, my swing rhythm started to fall apart. Apparently, playing on the course wasn't enough to maintain the swing I wanted. So I went back to the driving range. It's been almost two months since I started practicing again. Getting my old swing back has been harder than I expected. Once my familiar rhythm was gone, it took time to find it again. Only recently have I started to rediscover the swing I had a year ago. It's not perfect ...

About a year ago, I learned a new name for something happening inside my body: Rheumatoid arthritis. Honestly, I was scared. My finger joints had been swollen for quite a while, and eventually the pain became so severe that I could barely hold a golf club, let alone swing it. But the biggest problem for me was something else. “Does this mean I can never play golf again?” That thought made me surprisingly depressed. I thought I could handle almost anything else. But no golf? That was serious. 😂 If I could never play golf again, what was I supposed to do with the rest of my life? Would my golf clubs become decorations? Would the driving range become a place from my past? Would I have to go to the golf course just to watch other people play? I imagined everything. Looking back, it makes me laugh. But at the time, I was genuinely devastated. “This is the end of my golf career.” For a while, I was practically holding a funeral for my golf career. 😂 At first, I thought the finger problem w...

These days, I’m not dating anyone. And honestly, I’m not very interested in dating. I quite like my life the way it is. But somehow, whenever I go to a golf course, I often end up in a group with three men. (smile) When I join a game through a golf group, I’m often the only woman. Three men and one Angie. At first, it felt a little uncomfortable. But then I thought about it. I’m not dating these men. I’m dating golf. The problem is, golf is much better at playing games with me than any boyfriend could be. Yesterday, my driver and 5-wood were unbelievably good at the practice range. I thought, “Ah! My body has finally learned this swing.” I was feeling pretty confident. Then I went back to the practice range the next day, and golf calmly looked at me and said, “Who are you?” For almost 80 minutes, I tried this and that. I thought about my left shoulder. I thought about my arms. I tried to fix one thing and cover another. I was desperately trying to find that beautiful impact again. And ...

Venice, Vienna, Paris, London… I traveled to Hong Kong many times, visited Singapore, and went to Hawaii more than once. I lived in San Francisco and played a lot of golf there. I have seen many beautiful places around the world. And of course, there were places like Niagara Falls that were simply breathtaking in scale. But something interesting happened as I traveled more. The more of the world I saw, the more beautiful my hometown, Seogwipo, became to me. Not just because of the scenery. Because it is home . My neighborhood friends are here. My old school friends are here. My family and relatives are here. If I have a problem, I can call someone. There is always someone who will help me. When I was younger, I sometimes thought having too many people who knew me was uncomfortable. I wanted my privacy. I wanted to be independent. But now, I see it differently. Having people who know me makes me feel safe. Sometimes a relative or one of my siblings will call and say, “Come and get some ...

These days, I’m having a lot of fun just living my everyday life. For a while, especially after COVID, I thought a lot about living a life on my own. I think many people did. Being alone can be comfortable. You don’t have to worry about other people, and you can simply do whatever you want. But these days, my thoughts have changed quite a bit. The better our relationships with people are, the more enjoyable life becomes. I don’t mean that we need to meet lots of people. I simply mean being a little warmer and kinder to the people we happen to meet throughout the day. Sometimes, that alone can make an ordinary day feel much better. Something like that happened this morning. The forecast said it was going to rain all morning, so I had decided not to go to the driving range. But suddenly, the weather changed. “Oh? Maybe I can go after all!” So I quickly got ready and went to the driving range a little later than usual. But when I arrived, there wasn’t a single spot available on the first ...

The Medicine Taken by Someone Who Is Curious About Tomorrow Something strange has been happening to me lately. They are all very small things. One little thing happens, and then another one follows. It feels like good things are coming one after another, like a long string of sausages. A few days ago, I received a golf ball-pocket bag as a gift. And I saved a white bulbul, a baby bird that I once thought of as my lucky bird. For some reason, I felt that something good might happen. And it did. During my golf round, I saw a pink-sand bunker. On the last hole, it was a par 5, and I could not even see the green from the tee. So I talked to myself. “Come on, Angie. Let’s hit a good one.” And somehow, I hit one of my best drives in a long time. Later, I even made a birdie. We were also playing a small 1,000-won (1 dollar) game. Everyone kept making their shots and taking the money, while I hardly won anything. Finally, my birdie helped me win 5,000 won (5 dollars). Then my younger golf frie...

These days, I sometimes ask myself: “What has really changed between the person I was when I was young and the person I am today?” When it comes to social responsibility, perhaps not as much as I might think. When I was younger, I worked hard, kept my promises, and tried not to cause trouble or inconvenience for others. I did not always think deeply about why I should live that way. I simply believed that I should work hard, be responsible, and do my best. Looking back, however, I realize that those habits of responsibility and sincerity helped me grow into the person I am today. So what is different now? I think I can see the bigger picture. I still believe in social responsibility, but I have learned that I also have a responsibility to myself. Golf Can Reveal a Lot About People In Korea, golf is not just an individual sport. A round of golf is usually a social activity. When you play 18 holes with other people, you spend several hours together. You share a cart, wait for one another...