As I sit here trying to put together my contribution for this month’s Arizona Golfer Magazine, it is a few days before Thanksgiving. By the time this edition comes out Thanksgiving will be a memory and most of us will be gearing up for Christmas and the New Year.  

I’m looking out my window at a beautiful golf course and beyond that is the beach and Pacific Ocean. But my thoughts are a long way from anything to do with golf. I keep thinking about how lucky I am. 

Happens every year about this time.

This past week, I lost a special friend and favorite golfing buddy. Two of my dearest friends I met at the first job I had in golf more than thirty years ago lost their young daughter to cancer. And, one of my brothers-in-law was moved into Hospice care as his battle with cancer is nearing an end. It’s been quite a week.

I’ve been feeling a little down for a couple of days, and as I walked the beach today I realized how blessed I was. I was blessed to know these people. All of these people have had a big impact on my life.  And the reason I know them is because of golf.  

You learn a lot about a person when you play golf with them. Think about it. Watch how someone behaves on the golf course and you will have some very good insight as to how they handle their lives.  

Respect the game of golf, the field we play on, and the history of our game, and I’ll bet you that person has a good soul.  

I’ve played many rounds of golf with these people. Standing on an elevated tee, gazing down the fairway of a spectacular hole with 14,000 foot peaks of the Continental Divide rising up behind it, my brother-in-law once told me, “You know something? We play golf, and we are blessed”. I felt this was quite a statement coming from a man whose ‘church’ was probably out in the field with his cattle. 

I think we’ve all had those special experiences, whether expressed or not, when we’ve had one of those magical days on a beautiful course and just thought, “Wow, if I didn’t play golf I would never have seen this view, felt this peace, and appreciated Mother Nature and the way the golf course architect worked with Her to make his design fit into Hers, seemingly without disturbing it”.

So, as we go through the Holidays and the ‘End of Year’ assessments, office parties, family gatherings, resolutions, and everything else that goes with closing one year and opening another, I hope your view of 2015 is positive and you take from it a great outlook for 2016.  

And, I hope every time you are on a golf course from now on, at some point, you look at the beauty surrounding you and realize, “I play golf, and I am blessed”.

Kim Anders is a PGA Professional residing in Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico. You can reach Kim via email at jkanders4@gmail.com.