Golfing-In-Exile "G.I.E." (1) Plotting Our Return

This is part of my Series on Golfing-in-Exile.

You think launching high quality start-ups is tough? Try playing golf sometime. I think the golfers among us will agree that it’s rather well established that golf is a tough sport to master. (For just why this is so, see this recent blog post by Paul Kedrosky and the flurry of comments it generated)

For the rest of you, just walk along the perimeter of any driving range (at a safe distance) and you’ll see a ridiculous show of lunges, swipes, contortions and seizures all parading as someone’s golf swing and you’ll understand right away.  Watch any given foursome tee off in front of you and witness the unfolding of another gran comedia.  And no, I’m not talking about a bunch of octogenarians either- we’ve all been active participants in this kind of slapstick mockery of the game. I’m sure that as I do, you know plenty of decent athletes who play quite often and never seem to improve.

Like most working-stiff entrepreneurs, however, I’m one of those people who hardly gets to play.  And because I can actually “hit-the-ball”, it only makes things worse for me, because I’m always struggling with high expectations when I do get to tee it up. 

I’ve coined a term for people like myself: “golfer in exile” (GIE). 

What I mean is that we’re basically like Napoleon on Elba plotting our return.  You had a few good rounds in the old days, you shot some decent scores, sank some putts- and then “life” caught up to you and took it all away. One day you woke up and became that guy who shanks it two fairways over off the first tee and 4 putts from 20 feet. So how did this happen and what can one do about it?

For those of you interested in this topic, I'll be penning an entire series of which this is the first post.

For Part 2 of this Series, click here.