Scramble

Golfing with friends for a great cause.

Scramble

I might be the worst golfer, well, ever.  So, when someone asks me if I play, my answer is, “Sort of.  I play once or twice per year, whether I need to, or not.  After all, it’s a game I don’t understand.  I always get the highest score, but for some reason, they say I haven’t won!”  But, this week I gained some new insight into an old game.

I got up early, one day, to drive to Hill Air Force Base to play in the Coldwell Banker Foundation fund raiser event with some friends.  They invited me to come and while I knew I would add no value to their team score, I knew I would enjoy their company and help raise money to assist others.  The event was organized in a scramble format.

A scramble format allows four players to play as a team.  Each player hits from the tee and then each player hits their next shot from the position of the best ball and so on, until the team’s ball goes into the cup on the green.  It’s an interesting take on a game that is individual in nature, while teaching some valuable lessons:

·      Individuals are encouraged to play their best. 

·      The round of golf is sped up. 

·      It takes advantage of individual expertise. 

·      Players collaborate and learn from each other.

When I’m playing in a scramble format I try much harder to play my very best.  I feel a different motivation from when I’m playing as an individual.  I don’t want to let my team down so I stay focused the entire round.  When playing on my own, I begin to lose interest after five or six holes because I can see that the course is designed to defeat me.  Because others on my team make a better shot than I do, I feel hopeful and want to contribute to the success of the whole.

As we succeed as a team, our focus is on moving forward from success to success, and our progress through the course is faster than it otherwise would be.  I don’t get as discouraged or lost in the weeds looking for my errant balls as I would on my own.  My friends keep me motivated toward winning, good shot after good shot.

That means I enjoy the advantage of the individual expertise of my team mates.  I’ve found that each one of us have special skills in each aspect of the game.  One may be a great putter.  One may be skilled at driving.  Another may be able to hit out of the rough well.  And, I get to stand right there as they evaluate and hit. 

That means I learn more about each part of the game.  Player collaboration allows me to ask questions so I can understand the how and why of each situation.  Members of my team have taught me things I never would have considered individually.  It’s a great way to learn and teach. Perhaps the scramble format is simply a better way to play golf as well as to live our lives off the golf course.

I might be the worst golfer, well, ever.  But, when someone asks me if I play my new answer is, “Sort of.  I play once or twice per year, if I can play in a scramble format.  After all, that makes it a game where I am encouraged to play my best, quickly learn from the expertise of my team mates and collaborate so I can become better.”

Perhaps my brain is a scramble, but this week I gained some new insight as to a better way to approach living life.

A Belly for a Roof

One horse and two goats standing in a spring rain storm

A Belly for a Roof

The wind was forcing the trees to mimic the actions of a buggy whip as it ushered in a spring micro-burst-rain-storm, which is common during this time of year in the valley resting between the Stansbury and Oquirrh Mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountains.  It was the kind of storm that made me feel grateful to be in the shelter of my car as I was making my way home from a meeting.

The water pelted my car and made looking through its side windows a blurred vision of reality.  In fact, as I took a glance to my right, I worried just a little about whether my peripheral vision was accurate.  I had to look again.

My neck and head made the same whipping motion as the trees outside.  I slowed the car.  I stared!  Had my friend Terry Ehlers been looking through the windows of his home I’m sure the look on my face would have given him a laugh.  My eyes were fully wide and combined with my mouth to demonstrate a text book gawking position while attached to the end of a rubber neck.  I had never see such a sight!

One of Terry’s horses was standing, rump to the wind, as they instinctively do.  There was no surprise there.  My disbelief stood between the front and rear legs, below the belly of the horse.  Two goats stood, sheltered, beneath the horse.  They had a belly for a roof.  It made me smile and admire their ingenuity.

I also admired the horse.  She stood stoically, steadily for the benefit of the smaller creatures.  I watched as the wind blew the strands of her long flowing tail, like streaming horse feathers between her legs.  The rain likely stung and caused her skin to quiver.  Yet she stood tall, a monument to goodness, shelter, safety and the strong caring for the weak.  It made me want to be more like her and nurture those same qualities within my own character.

Luckily, you and I don’t have to be as strong as a horse to provide shelter, safety and strength to our neighbors.  We need only incorporate the four legs of a horse.

First, we must be able to stand ourselves, take the steps to be self-sufficient and put away a little extra to share with others.

Second, we must know our neighbors one-on-one.  This is not basketball.  It simply means making a little effort to know our neighbors by name, what they like to do, where they work.  You know, just get to know them.

Third, on other days when I’ve driven past Terry’s pasture I’ve seen the goats and horses standing, walking or eating together.  Nothing creates better rapport than breaking a little bread or going on walks with your neighbor.  Spend some time.  You have to eat and walking is great for you.  Why not take a walk or eat together once in a while?

Fourth. Know what to do when a crisis comes.  Horses know they will weather any storm better by putting their rump into the wind.  It protects the vital parts of their body.  Terry’s goats have spent enough time with the horses that they know how they will react during stormy weather and they know they can depend on their strength.  They know they are prepared and have the ability to offer them shelter.  Our neighbors will know if we re people of steady character as well, if we’ll allow them to get to know us, and they’ll instinctively know they can count on and come to us when they need help.  They’ll trust us because we’ve shown them who we are over time, during calm and stormy times.

It was a spring storm outside. I was grateful for some shelter.  The rain pelted my car and made looking through its side windows a blurred vision of reality.  In fact, as I took a glance to my right, I worried just a little about whether my peripheral vision was accurate.  I had to look again.

When I looked, I saw two goats with a belly for a roof!  They knew their neighbor could and would offer them goodness, shelter, safety and caring in the midst of the storm.  That’s what good neighbors do.

Blind Spot

“We should all work together individually to help on many different fronts.”

Blind Spot

My daughter was sitting by my side when she said, “I watched you check your blind spot, that’s good!”

I was driving.  She was my passenger. Now, these many years later, she’s a driver as well.  That’s a good thing, because now, when we’re together, she is very capable of watching out for blind spots right along with me.  After all, I’ve found that there are times when I don’t watch out for myself as well as I ought to.

In fact, there have been at least two occasions when I’ve been in such a hurry and simply sort of driving on “auto pilot” in my own driveway.   I didn’t have any one with me.  I was careless.  I backed into the car of friends of my daughters on both times!  There are no excuses here!  I was so wrapped up in my own head, assuming that everything was the way is almost always is, an empty driveway, that I didn’t take the time to check my own blind spots. So, now, when I’m backing up and my wife is in the car, she reminds me to take the time to actually check behind me before begin to back up.  It’s just a friendly reminder that makes a huge difference.

Her gentile aide-mémoire has been instrumental in causing me to appreciate other types of types of blindness from which I may suffer.  We all have such blind spots in our lives.  Do you know the kind of thing I’m talking about?  Not one of us think completely through things all of the time.  We also suffer from a lack of good judgement from moment to moment because of our own emotions every once in a while.  Recognizing this can make all the difference in potential outcomes!

Appreciation of our own potential weaknesses can open the way for us to enlist some “blind spot identifiers.”  Finding such identifiers can be relatively easy and is as simple as talking through challenges with members of your family or close, trusted friends & advisers that you know have your best interests at heart.  People who have shown you, over an extended period of time, that they have good judgement and care for you.

And, there are times when you also need to show your own good judgement and confidence in them by listening to and accepting the counsel from your trusted advisors. Because, there will likely be times when you aren’t thinking clearly and you don’t want to hear what they have to say.  That’s how you’ll know you’ve likely identified another blind spot!

So, here we are, you and me, driving through life with lots of potential blind spots.  Let’s make sure we include some well selected passengers to travel through life with us, now and for many years to come to as well.  It will be a good thing, because when we travel together, our trusted advisers will be very capable of watching out for blind spots right along with us.  After all, we’ve found that there are times when we don’t watch out for ourselves as well as we ought to.

Those sitting by our side will say, “I watched for your blind spot, it’s all good!”