Getting back into golf has rekindled a spirit of learning and desire in me that has been on a bit of hiatus. Today I played in the local skins game at the 9-hole course, Penmar, by my house. Last week was my first week playing in the game and my skill level was about as close to being ready to play as someone waiting for the sun to rise in the west. I realized that the first thing I needed to do was to start having fun again and just go out and play. Once I started doing that, then I needed to work on the skills so that I could play the way I wanted to play, and strike the ball with better precision. After todays round, I realized that the next cobweb I needed to shake loose was my ability to compete. I haven’t competed in so long, that the residue of staleness was evident in my competitive self. I had 6 pars and 3 bogies. I realized that the 6 pars I had were a waste. I was holding, back, not going for it, and in a skins game you need birdies. I would have been better running my putts 3-4 feet pass the hole, instead of lagging as many putts as I did for Par, but again, rust in still in my game.

I thought about the Movie Tin cup and how Roy, on the final hole of the fictional US Open, insisted upon not laying up, event though it could cost him the open championship. As a golfer, when I first saw this movie in the theatre, I was disgusted at the ending. I said to my wife Gail, that no one would do that in real golf. Exactly, in real golf, no one would. Right now, real is a “real downer”. Let’s see what’s really real. . The economy is really been hit hard. The Jobless market is almost at double digits in most states and people are having a hard time really paying bills, putting food on the table, etc. The real American Dream no longer exists. If you think it’s like television show that goes on hiatus for the summer and returns in the fall, wake up; there is no more American Dream. There is the Fantasy.

There is no better time to tap into the fantasy than there is right now. Hell, what do you have to lose, your credit rating. I had a golfing buddy that has a 820 credit score, and the bank rescinded his line of credit, because they determined that he was in an at risk business-construction. It’s a time to not be real. This period in our lives calls to reach for something with a little bit more substance–fantasy. Many of the ideas and products that have been produced in our world have come out of fantasy. Fantasy is having an idea, putting vision to that idea and then going to work to produce the idea. Dreams are without vision and purpose. Fantasy allows one to tape into vision and purpose. By the Wright brothers tapping into fantasy, we can now go from coast to coast in 6 hours. If you saw the movie Tin Cup, what first comes to your mind, Renee Russo, Kevin Costner or the finals scene?

In the PGA tournament final round on Sunday, Y.E. Yang, dared to live out his fantasy and refused to listen to all the media, fans and even me, who said he didn’t have a chance against Tiger. By doing so, he won the PGA championship and denied Tiger of winning a Major this year. Did Y.E. Yang tap into something that Tiger has always known? If you want to beat a Tiger, you better not be laying up and learn to go for it, and definitely, don’t think in real terms, because the world that Tiger lives in is full of fantasy.

Tags: Fantasy golf, Kevin Costner, PGA championship, Tiger woods, Tin Cup, Y.E. Yang

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