Voices Project: A Gap Year to Focus on Golf

The thought of taking a gap year started with an idea I stumbled upon in a book during my studies. I had been reading a great deal on the topic of “redesigning your life” when I found Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of several books including the Four Hour Workweek.

In the Four Hour Workweek, Ferriss argues that we spend the best years of our life working ourselves into exhaustion in order to one day retire during the twilight of our lives hoping we’ve saved enough to enjoy the experiences we’ve always wanted to have. The idea that I should be pursuing new experiences now, in the prime of my life and specifically during my student life, stuck with me.

From a very early age in life, my passion has been golf. I love playing new courses and the challenge of attempting to post better and better scores along the way. Golf had brought me my closest friends and given us experiences that we will fondly recall throughout the rest of our days.

But lately, I had drifted away from the game. With the demands of life taking more and more of my time (and particularly my studies), I found myself stuck in a passionless week-after-week cycle shared between school and my job. I was becoming more robotic in my routine, and my level of joy and excitement in life was steadily decreasing.

Around the same time I had the epiphany with the Ferriss book, another book got me motivated to take my gap year. In Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, she shared the story of a friend who had become unhappy with her life, and in an effort to regain herself, the friend thought back to when she was at her most joyful. What the friend realized was she was at her most happy when she was in dancing classes during her childhood. The friend immediately signed up for classes and her quality of life instantly improved because she lived a live devoted to joy.

With the idea of the gap year rolling around in my head already, but not sure what to do, Gilbert’s story brought it all into focus.

I should take a year and play golf.

Starting at the Tee Box

So I had made my decision to start preparations to take a year off and pursue a gap year. But I knew before I even started, I could overwhelm myself with trying to make a thousand decisions. I knew there was a plan that must be made before I began. Things like money, purpose, and goals would all need to have a focus and fit around a central idea all onto themselves.

With money, I determined that my overall goal was to stay within my means and not place myself in staggering debt. I made the choice that I would search to find work in the field of golf, perhaps giving lessons or working at a pro shop, so I could stay close to the game and cover my necessities.

But what was I after with this adventure? That was the question I knew I couldn’t answer immediately. I knew that it would come long after the journey was over. But being able to be satisfied with not knowing the answer is not an easy hill to climb, especially when you are explaining your decision to friends and family.

From a personal standpoint, I knew that golf would give me instant feedback with my score. If I were struggling in an area of my game, then a bad score would reflect the area of concern. But life doesn’t have a score to determine progress. So how would I know that this gap year would be worth it? After reflecting, I decided to run toward joy.

Time to Jump In

But how did I need to take that first step? I could put myself through a couple of weeks of practice first, but that seemed like I could quickly become tired of the routine. Knowing that I needed to rediscover my lost skill set, I slowly worked through a morning practice routine followed by an afternoon of playing. After each round, I made notes and honestly critiqued myself. The next morning during practice, I made a schedule of drills working to get better.

Instead of getting up each morning with a grim outlook on the day, I began to bounce out of bed knowing that I was focused on getting better at one specific thing. When I hit the course, I attacked the deficiency in my golf game with determination and enthusiasm – just like a beginner would. That attitude kept me focused during the toughest times when I was showing little improvement. I knew I just needed to work harder.

At first, the improvement was slow, but in golf, improvement comes in dramatic leaps. My scores began to drop by two, three and four strokes per round. Soon I found myself at my old handicap, which is a determination of your skill level. I knew that I still had room to get better, but I was also became worried about hitting a plateau.

Finishing Strong

When my scores began to level off, and I found little room to improve from a practice standpoint, I knew I needed a new challenge. So, I started to play in tournaments. This decision was a tricky one because I needed more money to participate, but I found ways with golf related side-jobs and internet freelance work. But, the extra work was worth it, because the challenge of putting myself against other golfers elevated my game. It also put me in a position to compete which was another element of golf I truly missed.

As my gap year started to twist into the final months, I looked back and took some time to reflect. When I initially started this journey, I knew that I wanted to experience something more with my life. We don’t choose the things we love as we age, they seemingly were always there. The challenge is whether we run toward that passion or leave it behind. With my gap year, I chose to embrace something that fulfilled me on many levels – the love for golf, its rules and its clubs.

As I sit here, with that experience in the rear view, if you were to ask me if all the uncertainty and struggle was worth it, I would tell you…absolutely.
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Written by Jordan Fuller, he’s passionate about golf.