01
Golfing with my grandfather
Where it started, and why a game you play alone made sense to me immediately.
Written in the order things shaped me, not the order they happened. Each one is a real thing, what it cost, and what I took from it. I add them as I write them.
Before anybody expected anything of me, a coach did. That is where the work ethic came from.
Where it started, and why a game you play alone made sense to me immediately.
The number three spot at Green Pond, and what it does to a kid to be the youngest one expected to produce.
The season that ended badly and changed how I handle it.
Being pushed by somebody who saw a version of me I could not see yet.
What I have built, what I got wrong, and the long stretches where nothing was working.
Small, unimpressive, and it flipped a switch that never flipped back.
what it was, when, what it cost, told without pretending I saw it coming.
The slow, boring version of getting good at something.
What that seat taught me about my own blind spots.
I am not against school. I am against stopping. The real curriculum started after.
school, program, years, and how honest I was with myself at the time.
The skills that actually decided things, none of which were graded.
The method I use, and where it falls apart.
I am more creative than people expect, and it came from the same place as everything else.
Where I came from, and the people who set the standard before I knew there was one.
The first person who taught me anything worth keeping, and he did it without a lecture.
The stretches where I was in the room and not really there.
A short list, why each one exists, and the ones I have broken.
Not things. Judgment, and the reason for doing it this way.
These are outlines right now, not finished pieces. They open as I write them, and nothing goes up until it is true.
The field, the work, the learning and the table. The field is sport and the coach who expected something of him early. The work is what he has built, what he got wrong, and the long stretches where nothing was working. The learning covers school and everything after it. The table is where he came from and the people who set the standard before he knew there was one.
Not yet. Each part is outlined, and the individual pieces open as he writes them. Nothing goes up until it is true, so the story page shows what each chapter will cover rather than filling the gaps with guesses. The order follows how things shaped him, not the order they happened.
From sport, before anybody else expected anything of him. A coach did, and being pushed by somebody who saw a version of him he could not see yet set the pattern. Making varsity as a freshman in the number three spot at Green Pond, the youngest one still expected to produce, did the rest.
Because there is nobody to carry you and nobody to hide behind. Golf with his grandfather is where it started, and in a game you play alone, whatever is on the card at the end is an honest report on how you managed yourself. That is the part he likes, and it is why his story starts on a golf course.