One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

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...

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 ...

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...

These days, I am trying to find my golf swing again. I had my own basic swing. But because I wanted to become a better golfer, I started learning from other people’s swings. There is nothing wrong with learning good things. The problem was that I mixed too many things together. A little movement from this golfer. Another movement from that golfer. Before I knew it, my swing was no longer really mine. And it was not really theirs, either. 😂😀 Now I am slowly finding my original swing again. It is not 100% back yet, but at least I know which direction I should go. And that made me think about life. Maybe everyone has their own swing. And maybe everyone has their own way of living, too. I have actually tried many things in my life. I have driven nice cars. I have driven a sports car. I once even lived at the InterContinental Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul, for a whole month. The first week was wonderful. It was comfortable, convenient, and a little exciting. But after that? I was so bored and f...

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...

After playing golf for a long time, I think every golfer has had this thought at least once: “I think I've finally figured out my swing.” I did, too. For a while, I was playing pretty well even without practicing much. My shots were good, my swing felt comfortable, and I started to become a little too confident. At one point, I honestly thought: “Maybe I've conquered my golf swing.” Now that I think about it, that's hilarious. 😂 I mean, I'm an amateur golfer! If Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, or Adam Scott had heard me say, “I think I've conquered golf,” I wonder what they would have thought. They might have looked at each other and said, “You conquered golf?” 😳 And then quietly thought, “This woman must be joking.” 😂😂😂 The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it sounds. But that ridiculous thought taught me something important. Golf is not an easy sport to conquer. When I stopped practicing regularly, my shots slowly became less consisten...