I’m not sure how it played out in other living rooms across the United States, but in my living room it was about as fun as it gets. There was yelling, laughing and a few high fives flying as we cheered him on.
Bubba Watson won the Masters. And the game of golf just moved to the next level.
Bubba Golf, it’s called.
In a world of professional golf where most player’s swings are analyzed by expert “swing coaches” from every angle by all the latest technology known to man, Bubba Watson has never had a golf lesson in his life. He has no coach and has never asked anyone to analyze his golf swing on a video or computer.
He just goes out on the course with an enormous amount of raw talent, takes a huge swing and has a lot of fun.
I discovered several months ago when I started following him on Twitter, that there is much more to Bubba Watson than the game of golf though. His faith oozes out of him like honey out of the comb. He will tell you quickly that the game of golf is the fourth item on his priority list. His list, by the way, goes like this: Christian, Husband, Daddy and Golfer.
In that order.
Bubba Watson’s stage suddenly got much larger yesterday as he joined the ranks of other famous Christian athletes like Kurt Warner, Jeremy Lin and a guy by the name of Tim Tebow. I happen to think it’s kinda cool.
Actually I think it is really cool.
I learned yesterday that Bubba and his caddy have a saying they use quite often on the golf course. Quite often because his free-swinging ways cause him to end up in places other golfers with the technical swings never find themselves.
The caddy reminded him of that saying yesterday during the second hole of the sudden death playoff after Bubba hit a big hook in the trees on historically the toughest hole at Augusta National.
“If you have a swing, you have a shot.”
I think I just got the title to my next book.
No telling how many folks I encounter that immediately hang their heads and throw in the towel when their ball is in the woods in the game of life.
The “ball in the woods” in life comes in the form of such things as layoffs, illnesses, death of loved ones, financial crisis, depression and loneliness.
I know there are rare times when the ball is directly behind a tree and you really have no shot. In those cases you take your losses and you move on. But in the majority of cases, you still have a swing.
And if you do, you have a shot.
Visualize it, trust your instincts and keep swinging. And don't be surprised at all the energy you get from the folks around you that will sincerely cheer you on.
2 comments:
Great post Bruce. As Bubba put it yesterday AWESOME!. Bubba is also a UGA grad; we won't hold it against him that he is from Bagdad, FL. Another incredible thing about Bubba and his game is his incredible shot length. On that amazing shot he used a gap wedge and hit the ball off pine straw 155 yds; he can hit that same club 175 yds on good grass; that's a 5 or 6 iron for me. He is probably the longest hitter on tour right now. As you mention, his faith is what makes him the man he is. I hope he wins several more. Greg Bailey
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