It goes without saying you need to be mentally tough to compete and possibly even win the United States Open. There is, obviously, a long list of players who have won the tournament, however, the list is quite short of players who were lucky to win. Most, if not all are or were mentally tough golfers.
What can this be attributed to? Or rather, who can this be attributed to?
Let me venture to say that most golfers or people who are successful in life’s endeavors have a mentor or figure that pushed them in the right direction. This could have been anyone. But on one weekend in June, we can look to one person in particular.
Dad.
In honor of the U.S. Open and its correlation with Father’s Day, this post is dedicated to the men who dedicated their time to shape and mold those of us into the people we are today. Now, I know many of you might say that mom is equally important. I agree. Totally. But, because we often see Dad walking the course with the next winner of the U.S. Open and getting a heartfelt embrace on the 18th green, this post is for dad.
One cannot minimize the affect a father has on a son (and daughter). Although at the time we are getting life’s most valuable lesson we rarely realize it. It’s not until we are fathers ourselves do we understand why dad did the things he did. Many of us have amusing life stories of when dad taught us a lesson. Many of those lessons we had to learn the hard way. I think dad knew this.
What about the lesson of mental toughness? What specific moment in your life can you look back at when dad taught you the value of being mentally tough? The lessons are numerous. The situations, although comical now, were not so much at the moment.
Take a moment when the winner of the U.S. Open and his dad meet on the 18th green to think about the times when your dad was bestowing a lesson upon you. I bet that many of life’s mentally tough lessons for the winner of the U.S. Open were the same as what you and I experienced. It just so happens the winner of the U.S. Open is good at golf.
What are you good at? I bet dad had something to do with it.
From one dad to another-Happy Father’s Day.
Scott Kapla, Mike Fay Golf Staff Writer
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