I admit that I love to watch golf on TV!  My daughter thinks that I am one sick puppy because of this.  She claims that golf is not even a sport - she might be right on that - it's an obsession!  But, I know there is nothing better than golf on a Sunday afternoon.  Not only is the scenery great but the announcers talk with quiet, relaxed, whispering voices - it's as if they are saying, "we know you might be napping and we really don't want to bother you."  I can watch the weekend tournament (or nap) and walk away relaxed - none of this high stress TV.  Golf is great!  And, by watching golf, I have learned something important - optimism.  Let me explain.

Every weekend, no matter who is teeing off and no matter how long the hole, there is one guy there that is a bundle of optimism.  I think that he must be there just to rally those goofy golfers, just to keep them pumped up.  I'm not really sure how he affords to travel to every tournament - but he gets it done - maybe he's a PGA employee. 

Here's an example of what I mean.  Any golfer can be teeing off, whether it's Tiger (who we miss this year), Vijay, Boo, Phil, Jim, it really doesn't matter and this can occur on any hole - let's pretend we are on a long par five at this particular moment.  The golfer swings his driver making beautiful contact with the ball launching his drive down the fairway and at that very moment we hear loudly from the background our hero yell, "in the hole!"  Now, me being the negative sort of guy that I am, I would never believe the ball, even from the world's best golfers, would be going anywhere near the hole.  But this guy, wow!, he is a true believer - the role model of optimism

I guess I need to apply this attitude more to my everyday life.  Maybe something like -

As my teenage son is dragging himself out the door in the morning for school - barely breathing, barely awake while holding a Pop Tart in his hand, I could yell, "win the Noble Prize today son!" 

or maybe,

As I am dropping my taxes in the mail this year I can yell, "no national debt!"

or maybe,  I shouldn't yell but, maybe I could:

- tell a teen that is struggling, "I believe in you!"
- ask a senior citizen that is alone, "will you mentor me?"
- take a homeless person to lunch.

I want to be more like that guy that is the believer.  I want that optimism too - "in the hole!!"