Wally Armstrong’s Blog

The late Ben Hogan used to tell of a reoccurring dream he had throughout his career in golf.  In his dream he was at the end of a perfect round after making birdies hole after hole, hitting each shot with pinpoint precision.  He would walk off of the seventeenth green having birdied every hole, elated at the possibility before him.  But on the eighteenth green, in each and every dream, he would miss a 2-foot putt for birdie, blowing his chance for a perfect round.  Every dream ended the same way—with Hogan walking off the green in anger and complete frustration.

During his day, Hogan spent his entire career in pursuit of the perfect round.  Those who knew him said that it was his obsession, his one and only goal.  Though he was unmatched as a golfer, he never achieved that ambition. 

The truth is, he never played the perfect round because it can’t be done.  I’m convinced that even if Hogan had finished a game with a birdie on every hole, he would still go away unsatisfied.  He would simply set his sights on finishing with an eagle on every hole.  Who’s to say that isn’t the standard of perfection?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with someone setting their sights so high that they are destined to be disappointed.  Hogan did, and it made him the greatest player of his day.  But in doing so, we are in serious danger of losing perspective on the game and our lives.  Striving to be the best you can be is a worthy goal, as long as you don’t forget what’s truly important.

The healthiest approach to golf is to strive for progress, but not to expect perfection.  Each time we walk up to a tee box, we should feel as if we know a little bit more about the game than we did on the previous hole.  We should have a slightly better understanding of how to control the ball, how to trust our swing, how to keep our mind in the moment, how to ultimately lower our score.  We need to seek the thrill of the process, rather than agonizing over perfection.

Golf can never be mastered, but it can be played well.  And that should be our primary goal.