I’m performing my weekly ritual of arranging my golf bag, purging unnecessary things.
Do I really need to carry twenty golf balls? The most I’ve ever lost on a really bad day is six. The pros only carry about six, so why do I carry so many? Carrying so many balls ignores the fact that on my course I typically find about a dozen balls per round on the low end and two dozen on the upper end. And some of these are high-end keepers, a sign that too many people grossly overestimate their potential.
Two hundred tees? I can play an entire round with one and have done it multiple times, not to mention the tees that other hackers leave on the tee box. Why do I need so many in my bag? They take up space more than weigh me down. I could use that extra space for more balls.
Do I really need three wind shirts and Nike athletic sleeves? I only wear one shirt at a time and if it’s cold, I wear a heavy golf sweatshirt. This excess crowds out space I need to carry four golf gloves, which on a hot day is useful as I change them every couple of holes as they are saturated with sweat.
According to the USGA, we’re limited to fourteen clubs; otherwise, I fear I would carry an extra driver, putter, and irons.
I wear a GPS golf watch and carry a range finder, which is really amusing since my accuracy is limited to the proximity of the green. I would get closer to the pin if I dropped in a mortar round on the green.
I’m reflecting on the excess in my bag, the unnecessary stuff that I carry when I play golf. If one is good, two is better, and three is not enough.
Unnecessary stuff isn’t limited to my golf bag. I’ve loaded my life-bag with too much stuff to carry on my journey. Like most people, my bag is filled with regrets, disappointments, guilt and other completely useless emotions. They weigh me down at times.
Most of us have an unhealthy attachment to those emotions that serve no purpose beyond haunting us on our life odyssey. They interfere with our enjoying this gift of time. And this time is a gift.
If I were loading my car for a beach vacation, I wouldn’t include any of these useless emotions because they would take away from the enjoyment of the trip. Why do I pack these useless emotions for my daily odyssey through life?
Recently, I read a study, a meta-analysis, of guilt and remorse. Researchers discovered what most of us know from common sense: People regret more what they didn’t do in life than what they did do. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of guilt out there for the dumb stuff we’ve done. But, since we are imperfect beings, created that way, combined with free will, we are going to do some stuff we regret. But, why so much angst about it?
Why cry when a simple shake of the head acknowledges our disappointment? Why throw ourselves into the abyss of a psychotic despair when a moderate amount of disenchantment achieves the same thing? Why weigh ourselves down with enough guilt to tilt the world on its axis when a modicum of contrition expresses our ownership and remorse?
All this extra weight—in my golf bag and my life-bag—is just too much to drag around. It tires me just thinking about it. Do I really want to keep lugging this stuff around for the rest of my round or life?
I have gone the minimalist golf route several times. I carry five clubs, three balls and half a dozen tees in a golf bag with three pockets—two more than I need. I’ve found that my score doesn’t change that much. Sometimes, I even play better since I conserve energy by not wasting it on lugging excess stuff—like too many balls or regrets.
So, my prayer for us is, “Lord, help us to release our grips on the unhealthy attachments that interfere with our enjoying the blessings You have graciously given us.”
Tom Reilly is the author of Hope in The Shadows of War (Koehler Books).
