It was one of those stifling hot nights that make any effort a chore. Yet being the fool that I am, I elected to stop by a local driving range to work on my game. With the muggy night air the consistency of pea soup, just the walk from the car had me huffing and puffing.

There was only one other person on the range, a lanky teen with dark hair, frosted blonde on the tips. Lying beside him were two empty buckets and he was just starting a third. Considering that each bucket holds 60 balls, this kid was obviously more than your average hacker.

As I took a couple of practice swings to loosen up, I watched the kid pound long irons into the night with the serenity of a monk in meditation. He moved with precision and purpose, utilizing a big shoulder turn, mind-blowing acceleration at the bottom of his swing, showcasing the flexible follow-through that only a young man can demonstrate.

He was wearing a T-shirt that read, “Golf is Life,” and from the look of his polished swing, he appeared to breathe the sport.

Soon we got into a routine, taking turns watching each other hit, having one of those non-verbal athletic competitions that sometimes happens.

Golf is Life.

After I had disposed of the last of my basket of aged, yellow golf balls and bid farewell to the kid, who was going back for another bucket, his green shirt remained etched in my mind. I've seen those words countless times before but for some reason, on this night, they stayed with me.

Mulligans, Foot Wedges and Gimmes
As I drove home, I pondered the meaning of the phrase, “Golf is Life.” There are life lessons to be learned from golf, especially when things go wrong.

Take the mulligan. A mulligan is when a player chucks a ball into a water hazard or the woods and then simply tees up another ball and hits it, pretending the ugly shot that preceded it never occurred. When the round ends, the errant shot that should have evoked a penalty is nowhere to be found on the scorecard.

To anybody who truly follows the rules of golf, though, there are no mulligans. As in life, poor decisions or lack of execution on the links should be accepted and the player should move on, scrapping the ball around the course and still trying to salvage a decent round even with the miscue.

Then there’s the foot wedge. When a player hits a good shot but receives a bad bounce, ending up behind a tree or drawing an unfavorable lie in the rough, the hacker will employ the old foot wedge, moving the ball into a better position to attack the pin.

The purist knows that good and bad luck are all part of the game. It’s how you respond to the unlucky fortune thrust upon you that defines you as a player. Just like life.

And then there’s the “gimme.”

hat’s when a player manages to avoid multiple hazards and moves the ball more than 500 yards to within three feet of the cup, only to then pick it up and stick it in his pocket. That is what golfers call a gimme — a short putt that isn't worth actually putting the ball in the hole.

But real golfers always finish their putts, because even the most routine shots in the game still require diligence and concentration.

Just like life.

Sometimes on the links you can do everything right and still end up with a less-than stellar result. Other times you can absolutely butcher a hole but end up hitting a phenomenal gem to recover. Even when you reach your final shot and the chips are down, the opportunity exists to create something special.

On the golf course, you really never know what is going to happen, which is part of its allure.

Just like life.