There once was a man hanging perilously from the edge of a cliff. Just above him paced a tiger, waiting to pounce if he climbed back up.

The man screamed, "Is there anyone out there that can help me?"

A calm voice replied, "How can I help?"

Startled, the man answered, "God, is that you?"

"Yes," God said.

"Can you help me out of this bind? I will do anything that you ask of me!"

God replied, "All you need to do is let go, all will be well."

The man thought for a moment..."Is there anyone else out there?"

Have you ever found yourself in this type of situation? Holding so tightly onto something that you cant even remember why it was you first began holding on? Be it a grudge, a slight, a debt not repaid... holding onto these things can drain us both physically and mentally.

We need to develop a thick skin or we won't last very long in this profession. There are not too many other jobs that can wear you down emotionally like ours.  Many patrons and members have no qualms about lashing out and telling us how badly we are doing, and how, according to them, things could be fixed.

Our summers can be long indeed. Then there's ice damage, heat, humidity, storms, the crew, the budget, and the Poa bickering with the bentgrass all the time... you know what I'm talking about.

Many of these difficulties arise despite us. We have a certain measure of control over some of these things, but at the end of the day most of them will happen anyway.  It's not ALL our fault, and piling on the blame doesn't make life any easier (just ask your wife and kids). So it's up to us to train ourselves to acknowledge their presence, do what we can, and then let them go.

Many of the difficulties we encounter in life do not happen BECAUSE of us, despite those who try to convince us otherwise.

Learning to let go is tough. It's not part of our culture. Yeah, all the major religions wax poetically about 'turning the other cheek', but out there in the bunkers it can be damn hard to do.

Like anything else in life worth doing, training ourselves to let go of negative thought patterns takes time and practice. If you choose to make your whole life 'practice' and the next difficulty you face as your starting point, you just might be surprised at how helpful simply having an awareness of it  becomes.  

Is there anything that you are hanging onto for dear life that you could let go of? Just try it...pick one thing and toss it. Like the proverbial cat, it will probably come back a few times... but just toss it again; eventually it will get the message. You might be surprised how free you feel afterwards.

It probably won't change the belligerent member or the clerk who short-changed you at the beer store, but it might just make your day go a bit easier.

And some days, that's enough.