The sights and sounds of summer are arguably the best of the year. Ask most anyone and they will list summer as one of their favorite times of year.
If you ask why, you will get a variety of answers. Some will cite the long, sunny days filled with enjoying time at the beach. Others might mention backyard cook outs with family and friends. Still others will bring into the conversation an occasional round of golf.
The game of golf is unique in that there is something in the game for everyone. You can start playing when you are young and enjoy it until you are in retirement years. As long as you are able walk a few feet and swing your arms, you can play golf (not necessarily well, but you can still play).
You can play golf for fun, just passing the time as you chase that little white ball down the fairway (and through the sand, across the rough and sometimes into the water). Or you can be ultra serious about it, working to push your handicap ever lower and lower. Or you can be somewhere in between.
You can play golf with friends and relatives, using the game as a vehicle to re-live old times and create new ones. You can play with those you know just a little in hopes of knowing them better. Or you can play it with total strangers, hoping to add these new acquaintances to your stable of contacts.
There are lots of ways to enjoy the game of golf (or be frustrated by it). There is the traditional game – one person maintaining an individual score over 18 holes. There is match play – two people pitted against each other, with the best score moving on to face another opponent. And, of course, there is the scramble format.
A scramble is usually played with a team comprised of four golfers of varying abilities. In a scramble format, each player tees off and the foursome decides whose ball is in the best position for the next shot. Each player on the team then moves his or her ball to that spot and hits again. Then the process repeats until the scramble team hits the ball in the hole.
What is interesting about a scramble is that these four very amateur golfers, on average, bring in scores of six to eight strokes under par. While the best professional golfers – even the likes of Tiger Woods – usually only score four or five under par in rounds where they win. That is right, a handful of self-proclaimed duffers can out play the best of the best in golf.
My point is that nothing beats a team. A collection of so-so individuals, each with a remarkable skill at one particular expertise (perhaps one driving, one putting and one with the chipping game), outplays the best of the best almost every time.
Always consider tapping into your network to get the job done. Tap into the advice of colleagues. Ask for the encouragement of friends. Use the experience of those who have come before you. Each of these will surely enhance your overall performance.
Individually, you cannot effectively handle every type of challenge and you cannot put forth the very best effort. Collectively, however, the combined talent and experience of your network is an unstoppable force. Nothing beats a team.
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