Lessons From Life: Sometimes, You Do Know Better Than Everyone Else

The other day, I had my first golf lesson in almost a decade. Masa, my instructor, watched with intent, asked me to do some balance tests, followed by pretending to swing a bat and tennis racket. At the end of our first 30 minute session, Masa came to the conclusion that I should probably play golf goofy. In his words, “You’ll probably be fine playing right-handed, but you’ll never be as good as if you played naturally left-handed.”

At that moment, a lifetime of agony in golf boiled down to how my body naturally balanced itself. My center of gravity leaned left, my body rotated more naturally clockwise vs counter-clockwise, and no matter how much I wanted to fight it, I had to agree with Masa. I had learned to play golf right-handed out of convenience – my dad is right handed and I used his clubs as a child when he taught me. The counter-clockwise rotation always felt forced, and I was (and still am not) never good by any standard.

Now as an adult, I find myself wondering – if I had known earlier and listened to what felt most natural, would I have picked the game up faster? Would it have become something I loved, instead of forced myself to play? I still have yet to find out, and perhaps there’s an update post here in the near future. I do believe however that sometimes – just sometimes – you do know better than everybody else… Even if your brain doesn’t know it right now.