“Keep Swinging!” A Lesson from My Dad

Yesterday, I watched the entire U.S. Open which was held at one of my top 3 courses to play in the world, Pebble Beach Golf Links.  Even though the golf wasn’t spectacular by any means, I observed a lesson by Graeme McDowell which was was a lesson my Dad taught me over 40 years ago.  Since yesterday was also Father’s Day, I thought that it would be appropriate to share this lesson with you.

I was 8 years old when my dad introduced me to the game of golf.   I grew up in Ripon, WI a small town of about 7000 people in the southeast part of the state.  We lived on about 3 acres and on April 12, 1969 my dad brought home a Northwestern 7 iron and a sleeve of K-28 Wilson golf balls for my 8th birthday.

Dad had buried 6 clay flower pots in the yard and soon opened the Lehman Country Club.  We would chip around the yard going from hole to hole but the course designer had two simple rules.

Rule #1:  I had to play each hole in succession and not skip any holes or try to hit shots over the garage or try to slice a shot around the front porch.

Rule #2:  I had to keep the trajectory of my shots head high or lower.  I guess that dad knew that low shots were low risk.

Well, for the first two years of strolling the fairways of the Lehman CC I was very obedient to the rules of play but when I turned 10 my confidence grew 10 fold and I just knew that I could hit a shot over the roof of the house to the back hole location.

The day finally came when I was going to pull off “The Miracle Shot.” As I set up with my seven iron and got to my back swing my dad was coming down the road at the same time and just before impact I heard the beep of the horn as my dad was watching this ALL unfold.

I caught the middle of the golf ball and sent a low line drive right into the window of my sister’s bedroom.  Ouch!!!  I dropped the club and ran for the back of the house and dove into our big ol’ John Deere tire tractor that was filled with sand.  I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh of what just unfolded.

Let me tell you something, when you hear your dad’s voice shout out your first name, your middle name AND your last name…you had better start crying.  “Scott Nelson Lehman, where are you?” came this bark from the front of the house.

I knew that I was in BIG trouble and the only thing that came out of my mouth was “I’m sorry dad.”  “I’m sorry dad.”

My dad came screaming around the corner and the faster he ran, the faster the tears came streaming down my cheeks.  But something happened in the next 20 yards because as my dad approached me his voice got softer and said, “Son, get out of that bunker and he brushed the sand off of me and said these four powerful words…”Son, you are forgiven.”  Wow!

My dad then shared with me that in golf and in life you are going to hit some bad shots but reminder one thing, “Keep Swing’n!  Never stop swing’n my son!”  What a powerful lesson for me to learn as a ten year old.  Graeme McDowell didn’t hit any miracle shots yesterday, in fact he and many of the other pros hit some bad shots including Tiger and Phil.

But Graeme kept swinging and as he walked off the 18th green at Pebble Beach declared as the 2010 U.S. Open Champion he was welcomed with open arms by his dad.

SWING THOUGHT: God looks on you today with the love of a Father.  He wants you to be the person he envisioned when he created you.

I look forward to seeing you on the course and remember to keep swinging no matter how bad things appear.

Scott