In For A Penny, In For A Pound: What Golf Taught Me About Investing In Myself
Picture this: it was a pretty rough month for you. Work’s been kicking your ass, you’ve found yourself pretty down bad suffering severe blows to your self esteem. You’re going through relationship problems not knowing if things can truly be better. You look at yourself in the mirror and don’t totally love who you’re looking at both physically and mentally. You spend nights feeling sorry for yourself, cringing at the thought that things could be better now if somewhere on the road behind, you did something different to trigger a different butterfly effect ahead of you. But you realize that life isn’t all bad. You start to look into new and exciting hobbies, you give intermittent fasting another try, and take steps forward towards rebuilding yourself back into someone you can be proud of again.
Got that grim scenario out of your head yet? *record scratch* Let’s switch up the tone a little bit.
I’ve just gotten back from a light shopping spree to get myself new golf clothes at the time this was written. I’ve wiped the dust off the old golf clubs sitting in the back of the garage and have become determined to become a respectable golfer. No, I’m not trying to go pro or even be considered good. I’m at an old age of 24 and that ship is slowly sailing as my time can’t be spent dedicating myself to the game anymore. As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve got grown up responsibilities now.
Not to toast your eyeballs with a flaming hot take, but golf is a pretty expensive hobby. It’s quite an investment to even get started and it’s not like any caveman can pick up a club, swing at a ball, and launch it 300+ yards straight down the fairway (or maybe they can and I’m just naturally awful at it). The thought of spending hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars on a sport that I’m still trying to even look like I know what I’m doing is scary. So why would I do it?
I’ve conditioned myself to believe that if I don’t invest in something, I’ll never truly get into it. Realizing that golf is mentally and physically taxing, it’s a challenge that I’m determined to take on to prove that I’m capable of overcoming a psychological fear of failure.
In the movie Knives Out, Ransom, the suave villain, says “in for a penny, in for a pound” before attempting to plunge a dagger into the heir to the inheritance he believes he’s entitled to, after being caught by Detective Blanc (played by Daniel Craig). Forgetting that the quote was followed up by an act of evil, I find it extremely relatable in my situation now.
In for a penny, in for a pound. While golf has burnt a hole in my pockets, I am also my greatest asset. Time and money will continue to be spent in embarking on adventures and picking up new skills and getting into new hobbies. If I don’t invest in bettering my mental health, then I’m going to be miserable in complacency for the rest of my life.
I ask myself, why bother developing a new hobby you know you don’t have the time for? To put it simply: it makes me happy. Golf brings me closer to my friends who enjoy the sport, to my dad who’s been itching to get out and play, and most importantly to myself who’s been desperately trying to find the confidence I’ve lost along the way.
Lorenzo Riego
Lorenzo Riego is an account executive at a healthcare-centric advertising agency in midtown Manhattan. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 2019 with a degree in Media Communications.