The game of golf is a game that asks you to do only one thing, and that is to hit a dimpled ball from point A (tee) to point B (hole). Dotting the landscape between the two points are obstacles, both natural and manmade, which create the unique challenge that a player finds at each hole. Success is derived by employing the proper mechanics (i.e. a sure swing) and a strong strategic acumen; becoming a master results from needing the fewest strokes possible to send the ball to the hole on eighteen separate occasions. It would seem from a cursory glance that with good weather being a prerequisite and small electric cars provided so one can conserve energy by not walking to each ball location, positive results should be obtained with minimal issues. However, like life, “minimal issues” never seem to be the case. And this is precisely due to the fact that weighty issues arise when our expectations crash head-on with the actuality of the situation (please notice that I did not use the word “reality,” as one’s reality is uniquely their own). In the case of golf and life, the situation never exists in a vacuum – an infinite number of variables compound the difficulty of any situation, and that’s what makes the situation exhilarating, frightening, confounding, etc.

However, unlike life, golf has a truncated version of itself. For those that don’t have the resources, the patience, or the discipline to pick up the game in its original form, there’s miniature golf. Upon first glance, one might think miniature golf is a simpler game, but everything (save for the frustration and the skill required) is miniaturized, and therefore rendered relative. For those who aren’t familiar with highly-competitive miniature golf, during the 1990s, Défi Mini-Putt was a weekly Canadian television program featuring the very best that miniature golf had to offer. Although I’m not exactly sure how or why miniature golf became a commodity worthy of airing, after watching the video above, there is no denying the level of talent that was on display.

Although I began this post by comparing golf with life, it’s somewhat of a fruitless endeavor, simply for the fact that life is not a game. In the hip-hop vernacular, the phrase “hate the game, not the player” is often cited to justify Machiavellian actions with respect to getting ahead in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Some take this to heart, but in my humble opinion, this should be considered solely metaphorical in nature. In sport, the idea of “game” is king, so naturally the “player” has the right to do what needs to be done in order to win, but the idea of sportsmanship does factor in, and the idea of winning fairly still matters (for proof, please see Major League Baseball: The Steroid Years). The equivalent to sportsmanship in life is possessing morals and scruples, but where the two deviate is in the general underpinning of life not being something to win or lose – life is to be lived by giving it all you have.

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