One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

Today was a special day for me. I shot 81, which is 9 over par. Yes, I finally had a single-digit over-par round! But here is the interesting part. I think my golf swing has only recovered about 80%. My swing is still not perfect. I still have things to work on, and I am still trying to find the swing that feels right for my body. So, how did I shoot 81 today? 😊 My 4-Hybrid Was Fantastic! I had been practicing hard with my 4-hybrid, and today it worked beautifully on the course. My 5-wood was also great. I lost a little distance, but I made every shot without a mistake. That made me very happy. Sometimes, hitting the ball farther is not the most important thing. Hitting it well and keeping it in play can make a big difference. I am learning to trust my clubs and my own swing. My Driver Was Terrible Yesterday! Here is a funny story. Yesterday, I went to the driving range, and my driver was a complete mess. My younger golf friend, whom I am close to, saw me struggling. She laughed and s...

I check the weather forecast several times a day. Some people check the weather just because they want to know if it will rain. But I have a few more practical reasons. First, walking my dogs! Ruby and Rich wait for me to take them for a walk. But when it rains, things get a little complicated. I check the forecast to see when the rain might stop. A little later, I check it again. The weather in Jeju changes so often that I sometimes feel I need to check the forecast every few minutes! Laundry is another problem. I dry my clothes outside in the yard. If rain is coming, I have to decide whether to do the laundry or wait. If I hang the clothes outside and it starts raining, I feel unlucky. But if I don't do the laundry and it never rains, I feel a little sorry that I missed my chance. You can't win every time! 😀💗 And then, there's golf! Tomorrow, I'm playing a fun round of golf with some friends from my small golf group at Phantom CC, which is close to my home. Our tee ...

Today, I practiced golf like a golfer in my twenties. Why? (smile) Let me tell you what happened. Am I Living Like a Little Old Lady? For a while, my fingers had been hurting, so I became very careful with my golf practice. If I hit a few good shots, I would stop. Even when I felt like practicing a little longer, I would tell myself to take it easy. Of course, taking care of my body is important. But little by little, I started getting bored with this careful way of living. Then one day, I suddenly realized something. Wait a minute! Am I living like a little old lady already? I'm only 60! I still consider myself young! (smile) When did I become so careful about everything? I was acting as if I had to save every bit of energy for some distant future. But that's not really me. I love golf. I love swinging freely and watching the ball fly. I want to keep improving my swing and enjoy the game for as long as I can. I don't want to spend so much time protecting myself that I forg...

I used to think that getting older meant slowing down. I thought that as I got older, I would naturally prefer quieter music, take things more slowly, and play golf a little more carefully. But now that I am 60, I am not so sure. I still love rock music. Of course, I enjoy quiet music too. There are days when I want something soft and peaceful. But sometimes, I still want a strong beat, a powerful guitar sound, and music that makes me feel alive. And golf? I definitely don't want to slow down my passion for golf. Yesterday, I practiced for about 80 minutes. My full swing wasn't working well at first. So I picked up my 7-iron and worked on my full swing for about 20 minutes. Again and again. I focused on the swing, the impact, and finishing the swing properly. Then something changed. During the last 20 minutes, my swing suddenly started feeling really good. The kind of swing I love. A sharp, clean sound came from the clubface. Crack! The impact felt great. The swing looked good....

Today, I like myself. It feels a little strange to say that. Golf can make me frustrated. Sometimes, it can drive me crazy. 😂 But today, I came home from the driving range feeling proud of myself. About nine months ago, my driver impact was pretty accurate. Since then, I took a break from practice, started again, and spent quite a while trying to figure out what was wrong with my swing. I practiced my 5-wood and 7-iron a lot. Little by little, I found and fixed several things in my swing. But my driver was still not quite right. I practiced my driver on Wednesday, and it still didn't feel right during my round on Thursday. Today was the first time I went back to the range after that. I kept hitting balls and thinking, What is wrong? Then I finally found it. I was putting too much tension into my left shoulder and arm. Because of that little bit of tension, my go-through was not natural. My balance was off. And that affected my impact. Then suddenly— CLICK! Ah! That's it! No on...

Yesterday, my golf swing felt really good. The impact felt solid, and my finish came naturally. I was practicing alone and thought, “Wow… I look pretty good. 😂😁” But you know how golfers are. When something is going well, sometimes we still want to make it even better. So this morning, I watched YouTube. I found a video about how to make the backswing easier . The coach said that keeping the left armpit close to the body could help make the backswing and body rotation easier. Hmm. That sounded interesting. So, of course, I tried it at the range today. And…… Nope.  😂😁 It was terrible. When I kept my left armpit close to my body, my rotation actually felt restricted. I couldn't turn as comfortably as I normally do. I tried again. And again. Still awkward. I thought, “Wait… what happened to my swing?” I had worked hard to find my comfortable swing, and now I was almost losing it because I wanted to improve it. Honestly, I was pretty frustrated today.  😂😁 Finally, I stopped ...

One week ago, I wrote a blog post about crying because my golf shots were not going well. Today, I almost cried for the opposite reason. My swing felt more comfortable and natural, from the backswing to the finish. The impact was much better, and the ball flew straight and far. During practice, I also discovered a few new things about my swing. I learned that both hands need to work together, especially with longer clubs. When my hands work together naturally, my swing feels smoother and my shots feel stronger. I still have a lot to learn, but today was a very happy day. I finished my practice a little early. I did not want to put too much stress on my shoulder. After all, today is not the only day I get to play golf. There will be many more days. One week ago, I cried because I was frustrated. Today, I almost cried because I was so happy. Funny, isn't it? The same sport. The same golfer. Completely different tears. KR Version 일주일 전, 나는 골프 샷이 잘되지 않아 울었다. 그런데 오늘은 반대의 이유로 마음속으로 울컥했다....

Today was one of the happiest golf days I’ve had in the past few months. When I arrived at the driving range, Hallasan was right there on my left, perfectly clear without a single cloud. “Wow. Today is going to be a good day.” I started practicing in a very good mood. Today, I didn’t try to force my swing from the beginning. For more than 20 minutes, I simply did some free swings . I just let my body move naturally. After my body felt warm and relaxed, I moved on to full swings. This time, I focused on making solid contact with the ball . I mainly practiced with my 8-iron, 4-hybrid, and 5-wood. And then something really nice happened. My 4-hybrid , which I had been struggling to hit well, suddenly started making solid contact. “Wait… why am I hitting it so well today?” ㅎㅎ I was so happy. Maybe what I had been looking for wasn’t a perfect swing after all. It wasn’t a swing created by force. It wasn’t a swing built around repeating one particular movement over and over. Maybe it was simp...

Today, I played nine holes with my golf band. The weather was beautiful, the course was green, and the sky was almost too blue to be real. And yes, I had a good day on the course. I even broke my personal best. But golf still made me struggle. For a while, I had been wondering why my backswing felt blocked. Today, during the round, I finally noticed something small in my left-hand grip. I had been holding the club with one finger more than I should have. It sounds like such a small thing. But in golf, a small thing can change everything. The club cannot move naturally. The hands change. The wrists change. The backswing changes. And before you know it, the whole swing feels different. I haven't completely fixed it yet. But now I know what I need to work on. That is one reason I still love golf. Golf can frustrate me, confuse me, and sometimes even make me want to cry. But it also keeps me curious. I watch great players like Hyo Joo Kim, Jin Young Ko, and Sung Hyun...

Until yesterday, my golf swing was a complete mess. I had a really frustrating time at the driving range. But today, I went to Raon Country Club for a round of golf. On my way there, I decided to let everything go. “Don’t think about distance today. Just make a light swing and get the ball up in the air.” That was my entire strategy. I didn’t say much before my first tee shot. I don’t like making excuses or giving a long explanation before I even hit a ball. Let’s just play first and see what happens. And strangely enough, my driver was flying beautifully today. I also didn’t lose a single ball. Yesterday, I had put two extra balls in my little golf ball pouch, just in case I lost some today. Both came home with me. 😍😂 Then, on the third hole, I made par. That was when I finally started telling my younger playing partner everything about yesterday. I had been extremely busy last week with interpreting work and my students’ midterm exams, which ended today. And yesterday, I had anothe...

Something feels different these days. There were times when I felt like I was alone in the world. But that feeling has slowly faded. Since I started my blog, more and more people have quietly found my little corner of life. And now, I am getting close to 20,000 visitors . Only 299 more to go.   But honestly, the number is not the most important part. What makes me happy is realizing this: There are people somewhere in the world who think like me. I do not need to be surrounded by people all the time. I just like living my own life, and sometimes finding someone who quietly says, “Me too.” That is enough. Tomorrow is Chuseok, one of Korea's major holidays. But these days, families do not always gather in one place. People have their own lives, their own homes, and their own routines. So I will spend the holiday in my usual way. Today, I went to the golf range. I am slowly finding the swing feeling I had before my finger started hurting. And I remembered aga...

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 ...

These days, my golf practice feels like riding a roller coaster. Yesterday, my irons were hitting the ball so well. I thought, “Oh! Maybe I finally found my swing!” I went home feeling great. So today, I went back to the practice range thinking I would hit the ball even better. But my very first shot was… A fat shot. Oh, no. 😂 I felt a little embarrassed. Someone might be watching me, you know. I tried again, and the ball flew beautifully. “That's it!” But today's practice was not that easy. I practiced for 80 minutes, and for almost 40 of those minutes, I was quietly struggling with my swing. Golf is such a strange game. If just one little thing is wrong in your swing, you can lose a good impact. But sometimes, when I don't think about anything and just swing, the ball comes off the club perfectly. Click! “Wait… what did I just do?” I have no idea. 😂 Today, I went back to some basics with my 5-wood. I tried to feel the weight of the clubhead during the backswing and comp...