Hello everyone and welcome back to TaylorHarveyGolf! It has been a week since the Waste Management tournament and I am still processing how incredible the experience was! Watching and interviewing the best players in the world up close is inspiring and was a motivation booster!
Saturday at Waste Management is always a crazy time, add the Superbowl being in town and it’s a whole different ball game. On Friday and Saturday, the tournament sold out of tickets and it showed! My day started in the media center and looking back, it was amazing to see all of the professional golf bags lined up in the caddie barn and slowly disappear as the players headed to the tee.
After my media shift, Katie and I decided to go watch Scotties group and join the massive herd of people watching the defending champion. The atmosphere was alive, the sun was shining, and the people were more than vocal about the good and bad shots happening at TPC Scottsdale. After bouncing between groups and watching other golfers, we started the trek back to the media center and got to watch Rory Mcilroy finish out his round.
Battling our way through the sea of golf patrons, we made it back to the media center and soaked in the craziness that is The Waste Management Phoenix Open. It was surreal seeing the best of the best walk in after their rounds, seeing their interactions with their friends and family, and how at the end of the day this is just golf.
Television and media are factors that influence unreal standards and expectations for people and yourself. For these professionals, the eyes, cameras, and scrutiny of the world are on them nonstop, constantly critiqued for playing an insanely hard game. For some players, this level of competition mixed with the intensity and discipline to succeed is what separates a college golfer from a professional golfer.
When speaking to Viktor Hovland, he said
“Being around good players makes you better. Always think about how to get better in every area of your life, and really analyze why you played badly. Look around and see what other guys are doing.”
For other tour professionals, it is about what matters on the inside and not what the scorecard says.
When speaking with Sam Burns, he rang true to my heart and was very honest about his journey and identity as a professional golfer.
“Whatever happens on the golf course, I kinda have to leave it on the golf course. Golf is what I do, it’s not who I am. I’m going out there and knowing that no matter what happens on the golf course it’s not life or death, and it does not define who I am. So I think it is about going out there and playing with freedom,” Sam Burns.
Talking with PGA Tour professional golfers opened my eyes to the realness of what it takes to be at an elite level. This past week Full Swing premiered on Netflix and it is so surreal to watch these golfers I just met and spoke with. A common theme that I have noticed is that the golfers who contend and consistently are at the top of the leaderboard are those with the most confidence and belief in themselves. It also showed how the golfers who are struggling internally with their mindset are the ones who are going through a tough season on and off the golf course.
It is important to remember who you are, even when those around you may not see it. If no one believes in you, you should try your best to make yourself one of them that does. We are blessed to be able to have a good father who is always in our corner. God has chosen us, and is waiting to bless those who will draw near to Him!
The day came to an end at Waste Management, but my perspective and drive were continuing to grow as I interviewed and met with some of the best golfers in the world. The experience of watching interviews happen live with players such as Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, and Scottie Scheffler is dreamlike, and I owe it all to God.
Going into tomorrow, I will leave you with this verse for the day;
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finished of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”
Hebrews 12:1-3
As always I love you, but God loves you more.
Stay tuned for tomorrow, I always save the best for last (:
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