Guest Blogger: golf instructor Michael Dutro
If you have never witnessed the cinematic masterpiece that is “Caddy Shack”, stop what you are doing, clear your schedule, and let the laughs begin.
We all have a Judge Smails in our life and hopefully a Carl Spackler to offset the oppression and share a few laughs with. If you are really lucky, then you have your own spiritual advisor like Danny Noonan had in Ty Webb.
Even though this film is a comedy at heart, there are a few life lessons that can be gained from watching it as well.
Part One: The Golf Ball Doesn’t Care Where You Come From
At the core of the film, is an underdog story. Danny Noonan is a middle-class kid from a large family who is seeking approval of the Bushwood Elite. In his journey, he becomes a self-described “creep”, and struggles to find the balance between what he thought he wanted to be and what he should be.
Golf has been known for creating some of the greatest underdog moments in all of sports. The reason for this is that golf is a fair sport, meaning, you don’t have to be born with a particular set of skills or attributes to be good. In short, the golf ball doesn’t care where you came from, or how you got there, it only cares about where the club face is at impact.
Believe it or not, you can become a good golfer, but like everything else worth having in life, you have to go work for it. I don’t know any good golfers who haven’t spent countless hours at the range perfecting their swing or standing over 3-footers on the practice green until they can make 100 in a row.
Golfers who embrace practice tend to have a lot more fun on the golf course, because they are prepared, and when the pressure is on, they know what they need to accomplish to achieve the outcome they desire.
We can be better than we are, we aren’t destined for the ‘Lumber Yard”, roll your sleeves up and “be the ball.”
Part Two: The World Needs Ditch Diggers Too
Danny Noonan may be described as slacker, or an underachieving member of society, but one thing is for sure, he sure isn’t applying himself. During one scene, Danny Noonan is attempting to get Judge Smails to pick up the tab for college. This doesn’t go well and leads to the line “the world needs ditch diggers too.”
The game of golf doesn’t owe us anything. It exists, and it is up to us to go out and “beat” the course. Just because you devote your resources to getting better at golf, doesn’t mean that you are actually going to get better.
Hitting balls (aimlessly) and playing golf doesn’t magically make us better. Working on (swing) fundamentals and improving the body alignments is the only way to truly see lasting improvement.
I think Judge Smails set the tone for the game of golf when he declared to his grandson Spalding, “You’ll get nothing and like it”.
Part Three: Life’s Short, Let’s Dance
Al Czervik is a dream member for a person working at a private facility, he rains $100 bills on the staff, and generally is just looking to have a good time. Even though Al would never be considered a serious golfer, he was comfortable being in his own skin and tearing down the establishment.
It is the personality of Al that has spawned TopGolf, golf for the less than serious fan. There is nothing wrong with just wanting to have a good time on the golf course.
We need to be respectful of one another, but having some fun in golf is okay. I see more and more junior golfers playing in tournaments and they don’t say anything to one another. Golf should be a social game and should be used to develop our interpersonal skills as well.
In the grand scheme of things, golf is a game that should bring us joy and happiness. We no longer have to install stereo equipment into our golf bag, we can use our phone and a mobile speaker to start the party. So, yea, let’s dance in the fairways.
More from Michael at: https://michaeldutro.com/
