Winning And Losing in Playing the Game
I’ve been enjoying the Celtic location golf tournaments. My ancestors hailed from both Scotland and Ireland, and I appreciate the lush green golf courses, the sunsets, and the ocean’s seaside cliffs near the historic courses. The most recent British Open, held at the Royal Portrush course in Northern Ireland, was both exciting and educational. Broadcasters reported over 250,000 spectators lined the entire course, with many standing for the whole day. While many fans were cheering for Irishman Rory McIlroy, the world’s number one rated golfer, Scottie Scheffler, kept his composure and mental discipline to outdistance the major competition nipping at his heels. He never looked back, had a double bogey on the last nine holes, but quickly moved on as one of the greatest golfers of all time. McIlroy struggled to keep his very long drives on the fairways amid so many iron shots from the Irish lush green hillsides. This is the oldest major tournament in the world, and I wonder how the size of the “cup” was decided by the founders of golf. I think that the cups are too big for the circumference of a Guinness bottle but might have been about right for the bottom of a mug of gruel. Does anyone know the answer?
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While reading a copy of The Optimist magazine, I came across an inspiring message from International President Jan Oord Graves about winning and losing. There are various well-known perspectives on winning. Vince Lombardi of Green Bay Packers fame stated, “Winning is everything.” Meanwhile, Lou Holtz, legendary college football coach, said, “Show me a happy loser and I’ll show you a real loser.” Some believe that it’s not about winning or losing, but how you play the game. I think for most of us, it’s about how we play the game. Grave expressed her view on this topic this way: “I have no doubt you have all heard of Michael Jordan and his extraordinary basketball career. While I’m not a huge sports fanatic, even I know that Michael Jordan is one of the best basketball players of all time. So, I was stunned to learn that his high school team once cut him.” How could this legendary player have faced such a setback? Michael himself said, “I have missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot, and I have missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” I love his attitude! Michael Jordan is an optimist. When facing obstacles or failures, he adopts a positive explanatory style to keep moving forward and reach his goals. This approach replaces failure with positive thinking. It’s okay, that didn’t work, let’s figure out an approach that will,” Graves said. That’s a great message for everyone. Many golfers will go home disappointed, but they’ll give high praise to the Irish links golf course that pushed their skills to the limit with weather, wind, rain, and hillside roughs. They will aim to improve and learn from the experience of this challenging world-class tournament. We all need a winning attitude in these tough times, not just in sports, but in real life.