The fairy tale ends

The fairy tale family  - golf god, blonde beauty, and two adorable children - made for the media and subject of public adulation, is over.  Now divorced, Tiger Woods and Elin Nordgren will still try to meet their parental duties, but the image of the perfect modern celebrity family has shattered. 

The career of the golf god is also in doubt as Tiger struggles to perform at any level near his past performance. His recent play has been far from the super-human heroics on the course that used to fascinate us.  Instead we overdosed on media coverage of his extra-marital sex life to the point of wanting to hear no more.

A very unhappy ending to the fairy tale of Tiger Woods - from child prodigy to Number 1 Golfer in the World for the best part of 10 years.  The image that allowed him to become the the most highly paid athlete by advertising sponsors is also shattered and unlikely to be rebuilt.  Maybe Donald Trump has the best suggestion  - just change the sponsors to products that appeal to chauvinist, sexist, drinking, partying and gambling men (in addition to golfers) and forget the family-oriented role model.

The next chapter of this tale will aslo be fascinating to follow. 

Let's hope it ends better than the last.   

Golf is Cruel

Chunk one in the water, or a putt bumps off line and you LOSE! Not sure you feel better if you got beat by a 59.  On Sunday, Stuart Appleby came from way behind and had the round of his life to walk away with the championship.

Sometimes it's hard to accept, but golf like business and life in general, is not fair.  You don't always get the results you deserve.  Sometimes the good shots end up bad and the bad shots end up good.  The wrong guy often wins.  Our heroes sometimes disappoint us.

My son and I played on the weekend and learned some of those lessons (again).  As did Fred Couples and Jeff Overton.  (No, neither of us shot a 59, but the other stuff, yes.)

We were reminded of that great stress relief phrase coined by life coach and motivator, Rock Thomas, "What's Good about This."  For example: "What's good about this unlucky bounce off a rake and into the foorprint in a sand trap is .... that I get to make a great sand save!"

Making the most of our setbacks just makes the eventual success even more satisfying.