5 incredible life lessons we can learn from golf

Many sports aren't just about the competitive edge or the exercise; they're about the skills they teach you along the way. Golf is undoubtedly one of those sports.

When you're out on the green, you need to focus, concentrate, and perhaps most importantly, be willing to make mistakes and learn. It can be frustrating because, of course, you want to be the very best you can be. If you're playing with others or directly against them, the competitive spirit can quickly take over, and sometimes boil over too!

We're always being told that we should encourage our children to play sports because of the global problem with childhood obesity. However, sport isn't just about weight control and health; it's about the life lessons it can teach you along the way.

Whether you're an adult, child, or somewhere in-between, golf is a great discipline to enjoy, both for fun and competition.

Let’s look at five of the best life lessons that this fascinating sport can teach you.

1) Precision And Focus

All too often, we rush through our days, not paying proper attention to things or properly appreciating them. Golf is a game which takes a considerable amount of mental focus, and the more you play, the more you'll find that your ability to concentrate improves.

Throughout 18 holes, you need to focus on your game, on improving, on watching for environmental factors, and you need to concentrate on one single task at any one time. That can be harder than you think! Multitasking isn't possible in golf; if you try to multitask, your game will suffer. By playing golf, you'll therefore learn to focus on one task, finish it, and then move on to the next with total focus and precision.

2) Patience

Again, rushing through life doesn’t teach us much, but learning to slow down and be patient does.

Golf teaches you how to be patient because, as Centre De Golf says: "you can’t rush, you can’t do more than one thing at a time". You have to focus on the shot in front of you, and you can’t just skip to the end.

They say that patience is a virtue, and that's undoubtedly true. Golf teaches you this but it also helps you to destress at the same time - when you cut out the noise and chatter and focus on the thing in front of you, it's an incredibly calming feeling.

3) The beauty of nature

The majority of golf courses are found within areas of natural beauty. When else in life do you take the time to look at your surroundings and truly appreciate them? Probably not very often.

But when you're out on the fairways, and the beauty of Mother Nature surrounds you and you can't help but embrace the situation. That allows you to slow down and become more mindful and "in the moment".

Never underestimate the healing and calming effects of nature!

4) The realisation that you can't control everything in life

Trying to be perfect can be extremely stressful, mainly because perfection doesn't exist! Trying to control everything and be as perfect as possible is merely going to lead you down a path towards exhaustion and burn out. Golf helps you to understand that you can only control the thing you're doing at the time, e.g. the shot, but even then, outside influences can play a part. Perhaps the wind takes a wicked turn at the last minute, or maybe the green has a small divot that you didn't see.

Trying to control everything means that you aren't living in the moment and you're not embracing life. By playing golf regularly, you slowly start to understand that there are things you can control, and somethings you can't; both are okay.

5) Honesty

When you're playing golf, you're often out there alone, and that means the only person you've to answer to is yourself. It can be effortless to let the small things go, but sometimes that means you're going against the rules. Golf teaches you that the only way to improve is to play entirely to the rules and abide by them at all times. Sometimes this means you have to call yourself out on something you've done, but the honesty it takes to do that is something which will serve you well throughout the game, and of course, throughout life too.

What's the biggest life lesson you've learnt from golf? Get in touch and let us know!