Why I Never Burn Out Playing Golf
The other week I finally went on vacation after 48 straight days on the road. A lot of people ask me what I do to relax and get away from golf when I go on vacation. The answer usually surprises them: I play more golf.
Of my six days off last week, I spent three on the course playing in a pro-member tournament at the Diamond Creek Golf Club in Banner Elk, North Carolina. It's a spectacular course and by far my favorite because of the location -- it's hidden away back in the mountains.
Obviously, I know the risks here. I know that a lot of guys start out doing what they love but eventually burn out and lose a lot of their interest in the game. That risk runs especially high for athletes, though I'm sure a lot of business owners know what I'm talking about.
Sure, I get tired of traveling. I get frustrated with my game and feel like I just need to teach my golf club a lesson. I play golf for a living, so why would I "work" on my vacations? The short answer is, I don't.
When I play for work, everything about the day is different. If I tee-off at 8:30 a.m., my day begins at 5:30 a.m. I'm not superstitious about my routine, but I do have a regimen I follow that involves a certain amount of rest and practice time. I may talk to the guys I'm paired up with during a tournament but the truth is, none of us are really paying attention. We're focused on every shot because every shot comes down to dollars. (You'll remember that it was just one shot that kept me off the PGA Tour at Qualifying School.)
When I play golf on vacation, it's not work. The only reason I don't burn out is because I make a conscious effort to leave that whole mentality behind. It's a psychological shift, which is not always easy but it helps to shift my habits, too.
The regimented schedule goes out the window. If I tee-off at 8:30 a.m. on vacation, I roll out of bed at 7:45. I also make socializing on the course a priority. I went out to Diamond Creek with a good friend who's my practice partner. I'm not able to spend a lot of time with him normally so the game was more about being with him than playing well. We both ended up playing well, which is always a bonus.
The last habit is probably the most important: I take the kind of chances that I would never dream of taking when I play on Tour. For example, I'd never hit a driver off the tee in a tournament. My caddy would break my club before he'd let me do that. But I tried it on a hole that wasn't necessarily drivable and ended up hitting it 350 yards right up to the edge of the green. I putted it close for an easy birdie. I wouldn't come anywhere close to even thinking of trying that shot if the stakes had been high.
When I'm on vacation, I try to bring the game back to its simplest form -- to the reason why I thought it was fun in the first place. I just try to put the ball in the hole. And no matter what happens on the Tour, I'll always love to do that.
So far, it has worked for me. How do you avoid burnout when you love what you do?