Golf and Art. Abolish The Scorecard and Find Joy

November 5, 2025. Jeffersonton, Virginia.

The warm days are few now, and we cherish every opportunity to be outside. We ventured away from the city once again to the South Wales Golf Course. The scene is now different from that perfect fall day a few weeks ago. The trees have shed most of their leaves, and the fairways have turned brown. The greens are still a vivid green, surely the result of great care and hard work by the groundskeeper.

Today, I had a golf breakthrough. By the third hole, I became frustrated by my inconsistency and lost what I call “Emotional Control”—that is, my ability to keep my feelings in check, causing me to become visibly upset. I only experience this problem in one other part of my life: Art.

I had this thought: the common problem in both golf and art is that I am trying to keep score, and that is the source of the frustration. If I can simply draw and paint and immediately throw it away afterward, I feel accomplished, because the source of enjoyment is the creation of the art, not the art itself. Why can’t it be like that with golf?

Now, don’t get me wrong—if something is a success, keep it. But don’t be afraid to discard the practice. Not every piece should be part of your portfolio, just like every scorecard shouldn’t go on the record.

So, I put away the scorecard on the third hole and had the most wonderful golfing experience of my life. All of a sudden, I felt free of the pressure to perform and was able to take in the beauty that surrounded me. I was joking more and simply took myself and the game less seriously. I am choosing to only record my successes—by that, I mean the pars. The others? I’ll just crumple up that paper and throw it in the wastebasket, looking ahead to the next opportunity. I came home relaxed after our game and sat down to draw for a bit. It’s not perfect, but I can certainly throw it in the wastebasket.