Stoicism has great relevance for the golfer and the game of golf. Hands up if you have heard of the philosophy of Stoicism? What about Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations? The stoic golfer fits well alongside these markers and guidelines for a particular style of living. The stoic grins and bears it. He or she makes do with the status quo and doesn’t try to avoid the bad stuff when it happens. Golf is a game where unfortunate things regularly occur during a round. Bad bounces and the rub of the green are all part and parcel of the game of golf. Golfers frequently have to grind out a score in the face of adversity. 

A famous golf book is called Golf Is Not A Game of Perfect by Bob Rotella. This title sums up the stoic approach to life itself – life is not a matter of perfection. Real life happens in-between all our plans and desires. The stoic philosophy calls us to accept and surrender to the things we cannot readily change. To meet pleasure and pain with indifference, as pretenders on the true path to divine reason. Stoics endure hardships without complaint and displays of feeling. Think about those really bad moments out on the golf course when you read these words.

In this excerpt from my new book The Stoic Golfer I take the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius and apply it to the great game of golf. Remember  the movie Gladiator  with Russell Crow and you will get a taste for the Roman stoic approach to battle and life. Golf can challenge the golfer out on the links amid the wind and rain. Things can get rough out there and it is hard to hang tough sometimes. Enjoy some insights derived from one of the greatest sources of inspiration, which has come down to us through the ages.

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Golf Book: Green Cathedral Dreams, which is available from Amazon.