Growing up in Millbrae, CA, I had a hate-hate relationship with the hill between my childhood house on Claremont Court and my best friend, Mike’s, place on Evergreen Way. After walking up a steep, lung-burning section of Larkspur Drive, I’d turn left at the stop sign and then huff and puff up an even steeper section of Ridgewood Drive. The whole journey was probably half a mile at most, but for my chubby, elementary school body, it might as well have been Mt. Everest.
Years later, I went back to my hometown and checked out that hill. It was nothing! I couldn’t believe how small it was, given my current age, perspective, and fitness level.
I have a similar experience upon visiting the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. When I’d watched golfers play this course on TV a million times, it had always looks so big and expansive. But when you’re actually standing there, it’s tiny!
Legend has it that golf has been played at the Links at St. Andrews since ~1400 AD, hence the reason that St. Andrews is nicknamed “The Home of Golf.” Fun fact: golf was banned for a period of time by King James II of Scotland in 1457, the reason being it was distracting young men from archery practice. We can’t have that!
My mom, Shirley, and I tour St. Andrews on a typically cold, drizzly summer afternoon. Although I wouldn’t say it’s a beautiful town, I’ll concede that St. Andrews does have its charms. Some of the grey-brick buildings possess a certain elegance, especially around in and around the university. The ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral are quite impressive. Prince William wooed Princess Kate in St. Andrews—you can visit the café where they met and no doubt shared a hot drink while dreaming of royal children.
But the main attraction of St. Andrews, at least for me, is the golf course. The small-ish, exquisitely-maintained golf course. The one with the final green butting up against those classically-designed, European buildings. Needless to say, when no one is looking, Mom and I tramp out to the tiny stony bridge where so many British Open champions have been photographed in their green blazers. It, too, is small – but perspective is everything. Sure, St. Andrews is relatively diminutive when compared to what you see on TV, but imagine what’s it like for the players during a tournament…walking down the fairway, seeing the 18th green, and contemplating how this final putt will change their life (for better or for worse).
I guess it’s a pretty big place after all, depending on your perspective.
(One of my favorite training exercises is to ask people to look up and imagine there is a clock face on the ceiling. I then direct them to point upward and trace the clock in a clockwise manner. Finally, as they continue tracing their clocks, I ask them to lower their finger until it’s about stomach level. As they look down at their finger, they see it’s now moving, remarkably, in a counter-clockwise direction! What happened? It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? Travel changes our perspective of the world. Imagining ourselves in someone else’s shoes changes our perspective. So does hanging out with small children. As an experiment, where can you go today and who can you spend time with to change your perspective and see the world in a fresh, new way?)