FOUR!

This semester I decided it was time to try something new, challenging, and fun. So I gathered up an limited time I had, some money and my nerves and signed up to take GOLF lessons. I never would have imagined myself playing let alone trying to play golf. I would consider myself an athletic person that enjoys intense sports so I never was too attracted to golf because it just seemed boring.

Since starting college, taking grad classes and through outside experiences, I have realized how important networking really is to a career and in life as a whole. The more people you know the more help you can get, the more you can help others and the more connections you can make through the already existing ones. Networking is a necessity of life no matter who you are or what you do!

Networking can happen anywhere and happens everywhere, even on the golf course. How many times do you see or hear about business deals taking place over a round of golf? About as often as it is show in the movies...so A LOT!

The graduate business school in collaboration with a VERY LARGE grant from the PGA on behalf of a Drake alum who is a successful PGA player, Drake started a "Golf for Business and Life" seminar. It combines biweekly class like sessions where business people come to talk about business, networking, and golf as well as 10 golf lessons with a PGA professional golfer.

I had never held a golf club in my hands, I sucked at miniature golf and still thought of golf as a lazy man's sport. This all changed after my first lesson last Monday and second lesson this past Monday.

The lessons have started out slow...thank goodness for my own sake. We have just been going over and over the stance, the grip, the movements, and basics of clubs. I have learned that the sport is a lot more complicated than it looks, the game involves strategy, and it is actually stress relieving and sometimes fun. I say sometimes fun because right now I still am in the sucky stage and when I miss the ball or have horrible shots the game is frustrating. But as I hit more balls and actually get some out further than 20 feet, the game becomes fun.

The frustration will continue as I practice but even if only out of about 100 shots, I hit only 3 correctly, those 3 shots make it worth going back for more. I will keep you up to date on my golf skills as the semester progresses!