Reset to Zero

I play golf with a large group of retirees several times a week.

There are 50 or so players in the total group with about half playing in any given round.

Over the course of the year everyone plays a few rounds with everyone else.

The interesting thing about the group is that most of us know very little about the lives of others before we got together to play golf.

Some worked for large corporations. Some had their own businesses. Some were professionals. Some worked in blue collar jobs.

It does not matter what they did before.

Today is all that counts.

The only thing that matters now is what happens on the golf course. Or what is going on with their grandchildren, the next trip they have planned or the score from last night's Reds game.

We were talking about this one day after a round and one of the guys mentioned he knows someone at a high end club who is always talking about what he did before he retired.

He had 4,000 people working for him. He controlled a $500 million budget and all the rest.

His playing partners are always telling him.

"Nobody cares what you did before."

How true that is.

In fact, isn't that the way life works?

You may have been an all-state quarterback or head cheerleader in high school but it doesn't mean anything when you get to college.

You start over in having to build a new resume.

You may have gone to Stanford but it doesn't mean anything when you are in the work world

Someone from Sacramento State may outwork or outmaneuver you in a business deal or for a promotion at work.

You may have been the man about town or hostess with the mostest in Greenwich but when you relocate to Gulf Breeze you are starting over.

You need to build a reputation on what you are doing today. The past does not count much when assessing today.

It is almost as if we are always being reset to zero in our lives.

I found it interesting over the weekend that Jon Rahm understands this despite being The Masters champion and the number one ranked golfer in the world.

Credit: https://performanceoptimalhealth.com/blog/exercise/how-john-rahm-prepares-his-body-for-play/

He finished second in the Mexico Open on Sunday to Tony Finau after having won the same tournament last year.

Rahm was asked this question in the press room after the round. 

Q: Even as someone who’s the No. 1 golfer on the Tour and has won so much out here, how valuable is it to have this experience continuously being in the hunt on Sunday like you were?” 

His answer says a lot about understanding the truth of what I am saying.

Answered Rahm: “Yeah, I mean, it’s a great reminder that what you’ve done means absolutely nothing; you still have to go out there and do it.”

It is particularly true in golf.

I don't think there is any sport in which the combination of variables in the swing, the external challenges of the golf course and the weather, and the mental aspects of the game means that your past means nothing each time you tee it up.

As evidence of that, consider that over 10,000 golfers are currently attempting to qualify to play in the U.S.  Open that will be played at Los Angeles Country Club in June.

An amateur must have a 1.4 handicap index or lower to be eligible to enter the tournament.

Consider this scorecard of a player at Medford Village Country Club in Philadelphia on Monday in local qualifying for the Open. 

A birdie on the first hole and he undoubtedly might have had a thought or two about his flight to L.A.

It all changed on the second tee.

When he walked off the second green he added 11 shots to his score.

That birdie on the first hole did not matter much anymore.

Remember that this is someone who is close to being a scratch golfer.

I give him credit for finishing.

He was not alone.

Here are other scores at the US Open local qualifier in Philadelphia of golfers who had a record of playing close to scratch golf.

These were undoubtedly players who were the best golfers at their clubs or in their towns.

It did not mean anything when they stepped on the first tee at Medford Village Country Club.

I am not showing the names below because anyone who has played golf has been there. 

There is no need to compound the pain.

Source: https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3879313

The good news is that tomorrow is another day. For these golfers and everyone else.

Life may keep resetting us to zero.

However, with every new day we have the opportunity to make something better out of it.

We may get reset to zero but there are no limits on what we can do with a new day and a new beginning.