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Opinion & Analysis

The revelations of golf

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I believe the definition of golf should be reinvention. Finding yourself. To be yourself openly and honestly. Developing character through adversity. To evolve as a human being.

Growing up, I was timid, weak and very shy. I was a product of the fear and humiliation I suffered growing up. Fear of being mentally and physically abused by my classmates. I was made fun of because of my situation in life. I grew up poor in a rich town and wore the wrong clothes, had the wrong haircut and rode a piece of junk bicycle. My self confidence could not be measured it was so low.

As a child, I would rarely engage in speaking to people I did not know. I was uncomfortable being around kids my age and found it difficult to make friends. I was self conscious about every aspect of my being.

The teasing and mental abuse grew as I waded my way through middle school.

Burned in my memory is the thought of wanting to be like everyone else, to fit in. I wanted to be accepted for who I was and not fear the first period in school. Years went by, and I only became more withdrawn.

Today, I don’t know why I wanted to be accepted so bad by these punks.

One day when I was around 12 years old, my grandfather asked if I wanted to go to the golf course with him. He had been trying to get me to play golf for awhile and I always said no.

This time though, I said yes.

My grandfather was my rock, my guiding light, my hero.

handstand

My grandfather was a relatively short man who was a tumbler (gymnast) in his younger years. He could still walk on his hands and do flips off a diving board well in to his 60s. His forearms were made of stone and he had thick beautiful silver hair.

We got in his car and drove to Lake Hefner Golf Course in Oklahoma City. I don’t remember much other than how everyone in the clubhouse and driving range knew my grandfather, as if he were a rock star or celebrity. It made me proud to know my grandfather was accepted and respected by these men.

Soon after, my grandfather appeared at my house with a cut down set of golf clubs. Nothing special, a bit rusty, worn grooves and grips that made an old set of worn tires look new. I remember just staring at them and finding them difficult to swing, let alone hit a ball where I wanted it to go.

Time passed, but my grandfather was far from giving up on me. Each time he would come over, he would give me an easy tip.

“Hold the club like this, stand like this, eventually it will all become second nature,” he would say.

In my neighborhood, our home had a tiny yard. There really wasn’t anywhere to strike a golf ball except for our local neighborhood park. I guess all those subtle tips my grandfather gave me had taken hold. I don’t really remember, but I must have practiced holding and standing with the club off an on in my bedroom.

One afternoon after school, I went down to the park with my friend Randy to hit golf balls. Neither of us had a clue what we were doing, but we played our first round of golf. We named the holes like they do at Augusta. Our holes were named more after actual objects though than flowers, “basketball pole” or the “short tree next to the big one.”

The next time I saw my grandfather, I asked him to teach me a little more.

I remember him showing me how to grip the club lightly, as if I were holding a baby bird. Then he issued a challenge,

“When you can hit the practice green at the driving range 6 out of 10 times, then we can think about playing 9 holes.”

Weeks went by. My friend Randy and I were playing almost every day after school. The driving range wasn’t a real option for us at the time due to the expense. So we practiced in our local park.

Finally, grandfather took me to the driving range. I was pretty nervous as we pulled in to the course. I was afraid I would let my grandfather down and I would embarrass him in front of his friends.

The green was roughly 50 or 60 yards away, but seemed like 1,000 miles. The green was oversized and the ground was flat. Even a skulled shot had a chance of making it. That day, I was able to hit the green almost every time.

Something began to change inside of me, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Golf was working its magic. The result of every shot is the direct response to what happens before you strike the ball. Meeting my grandfather’s challenge, easy now as I look back, was a life-changing event.

Time went by and my grandfather would praise my progress athletically. This built my confidence and enjoyment of the game. The more I practiced, the better I got. For once in my life, I felt a sense of pride.

My passion for the game increased.

Like any young boy, I would lose my temper and get angry when I would make a triple or double or even quadruple bogey. I equated the score on the card with who I was. Grandfather was quick to remind me, “Forget that last shot, all that matters is the next.”

It took years to fully appreciate the lessons my grandfather and the game were teaching me. Getting mad just makes the game even more difficult. The game is hard enough on its own, let alone pouring more difficulty on top of it.

It wasn’t until my early 30s when I figured out what a great gift my grandfather had given me. These lessons have made me strong inside and out.

The truth the ball reveals is the kindest thing it can ever do for you. Life in general isn’t perfect, neither is a round of golf.

Play it where it lies.

Everything worth having is something you have to fight and claw to get. Whenever I have a terrible round, I remember the words of my grandfather and I leave with a little smile remembering the wonderful times we had together.

Golf has been paramount for building my self esteem, my self worth, my self pride.

I have never met a good golfer who does not have a high level of self respect and pride. Golf has made them stronger mentally. When I play with golfers who kick their balls out of trouble, or fudge the scorecard, I see them exposing their true inner being, their character.

These people have not learned the lessons golf is trying to teach them. Perhaps they did not have a wise grandfather guiding them on their golf journey.

A low score is just for ego. Score doesn’t really matter. How you carry yourself during a match is the true revelation. How you respond to adversity, pressure and even a lousy round is what matters.

This game of golf has taught me self confidence and pride. Through golf, I was able to reinvent myself.

Thank you Bill Lewis, words can not express my gratitude for the gifts given.

Happy Father’s Day.

Christian Henning is a professional golf fitness coach and president of GetGolfFit. Chris has embarked on a mission to help 1 million golfers by the year 2020 to improve their health and play the greatest game of them all longer. His golf fitness books and workout programs have sold thousands of copies on Amazon and directly through his getgolffit.com website. Currently, his Facebook page has over 12,000 fans and continues to grow. Typically, golfers who begin Chris's golf fitness workouts gain 10 yards on their irons within 30 to 45 days and improve overall mobility and health. My Mission - http://www.30yardsin30days.net/hit-ball-further/about_us.html Blog - http://getgolffit.com Fat Loss - http://www.shedpoundstoshavestrokes.com/ Distance - http://getgolffit.com/core-to-score/

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Jason

    Jun 25, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    Interesting read, the sport seems to have given you a great bond with your grandfather and some life lessons that you’ll never forget!

  2. Curt

    Jun 19, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    I concur with all the other commenters – Great Lessons!!! More than just golf, and life from golf, but how important it is that school officials are now combatting school bullying. Bullying is a terrible thing, that should be left in the past, and not part of our future!!!

  3. Sean

    Jun 18, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    Well done!

  4. Justin S

    Jun 17, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    Great article reminds me of my grandfather, thanks for sharing!

  5. Scott H.

    Jun 16, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    Great article Christian, thanks for sharing.

  6. Paul Carter

    Jun 16, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    Nice article Christian.

  7. Chris C

    Jun 16, 2013 at 11:09 am

    That is a great article about life, with a little bit of golf mixed in!

  8. San Diego Phil

    Jun 15, 2013 at 11:53 pm

    Couldn’t have said it better myself! Great article! 🙂

  9. John

    Jun 15, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    Great read.

  10. Greg Moore - PGA

    Jun 15, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    Nicely written!

    Thank you

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Opinion & Analysis

The 2 primary challenges golf equipment companies face

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As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!

Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.

Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.

One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?

Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.

Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.

Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”

For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…

Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…

That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.

Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.

@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic

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Podcasts

Fore Love of Golf: Introducing a new club concept

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Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!

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Opinion & Analysis

On Scottie Scheffler wondering ‘What’s the point of winning?’

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Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.

 

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“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”

Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.

That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.

As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.

I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.

One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.

The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.

If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.

Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.

As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.

It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.

David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.

In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:

“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”

Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

Eventually, though, something shifts.

We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.

Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.

Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.

Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.

So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.

I see someone evolving.

He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.

It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.

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