Thomas Huddleston
Aug 9, 2017 · 3 min read

Now on the Tee… Retirement Life

The guys I usually play with now

It had been 2 months since I had stepped to the tee to play tournament golf. Back in May at Mission Hills Golf Club in Florida, I was playing in the final round of the NCAA DIII National Championship. Two weeks ago, I stepped to the tee at Green Valley Country Club back home in northern California. I grew up learning to play golf on this course, but for some reason things felt a little different. It was the first round of the annual Member-Member tournament. I was playing with my dad, who probably has a “Rounds Played Per Week” average of over 2.0 lifetime.

In the 2 months since the National Championship, I had picked up my clubs twice. I was rusty to say the least. The Green Valley Member-Member was my first experience in playing tournament golf in my post-collegiate life. Or as I call it: Retirement.

It is such a new and strange feeling to play golf in “retirement”. The 3 summers I had in-between college were spent practicing and honestly worrying about the beginning of golf in the fall. Any time I went to the range or played just 9 holes and I struggled, there was a lingering sense of anxiety. I worried about if I was going to be ready to play in the fall. Our fall season always started with us hitting the ground running, so there was no time to get settled in or figure anything out once I got back to school.

As I made the turn in the first round, I realized that I didn’t have that anxiety anymore. There was no fall season to prepare for. I found that I wasn’t analyzing every part of my game and worrying about what I was doing poorly or doing well. It felt freeing, honestly. The impact this realization had on my play in the Member-Member was noticeable. I shot even on the backside to finish with a 74. The next day, I fired a bogey-free 69. Two great scores for me. It seems that I finally got around to listening to that Jack Nicklaus quote…

So, besides no anxiety, what was different?

Well, there was no anger either. When I hit a bad shot or missed a putt, I didn’t get riled up. My dad is a very passionate golfer and strives to hit a perfect shot every time. Even as a 14 handicapper. This means that when his effort to hit a beautiful high draw ends up being a low thin fade, he gets a bit… upset. He might have been playing it up in front of me to show me he cared about playing well; which is funny because I used to do the same thing when I played in junior tournaments.

No, I was at peace… remember? I was playing golf for no one and nothing else besides myself. No teammates relying on me to play well or a college program I had to represent. That anxiety had left my mind and in its place was a desire and clear motivation to play good golf for the fun, not for the prestige.

While I will never miss that anxiety that comes with the pressure of playing college golf, it pales in comparison to the things I will miss: My teammates, my coaches, the long trips in the van all over Washington and Oregon, our journey to the national championship… So many memories that made having that anxiety a small price to pay for some of the best years of my life.

Thomas Huddleston

Written by

A former DIII college golfer. I love to ramble on about all things golf. Marketing grad from PLU. Roll Lutes.

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