A game of misses

Ben Hogan popularly stated that “Golf is a game of misses,” and his words could not be truer.

Last week, we witnessed Rory make history after nearly squandering what everyone thought was a good lead after the 12th hole of Augusta National.

Rory made quite several misses all week. It all started on the first day, on the 15th. After a pretty solid round, Rory just gave his third shot a little too much juice. Double bogey.

After many misses, he stayed patient and never let frustration take over — and in the end, his lifelong dream came true. It’s a game of misses, and the sooner you pick yourself up, the sooner you can go back to winning.

RBC at Harbortown

This week, we are back to regular programming and enjoyed another playoff — this time between Justin Thomas and Andrew Novak at the RBC Heritage. Andrew Novak had a makeable putt to win the tournament outright in regulation but he missed.

Too much speed and too much borrowing. Eventually, Justin Thomas won it in the first playoff hole after draining a 20-footer for birdie after Novak couldn’t convert his try from further away.

It is Justin Thomas’ first win in three years. For a player of his caliber and influence, three years of not winning anything is a long time. It’s a shame it had to come at the expense of Andrew Novak, who could’ve had a life-changing first win on the PGA Tour. He had just 8 feet to win it but missed.

Corales Puntacana

It was a heartbreaking missed opportunity for PGA Tour’s Mr. Funny Guy, veteran Joel Dahmen at the Corales Puntacana in the Dominican Republic.

After leading for 54 holes — highlighted by a scorching opening-round 62 — Joel Dahmen stumbled down the stretch with three straight bogeys, ultimately handing the trophy to South Africa’s Garrick Higgo.

The most bizarre of Dahmen’s misses was at the 17th green, with a par putt from just a foot, maybe two feet away.

In his post-round interview, a visibly stunned Dahmen admitted, ‘I didn’t deserve to win.’ It was a brutally honest admission — but maybe exactly what he needed to move on from what could’ve been his second PGA Tour win.

The final day at Puntacana was difficult and windy, and all the players struggled to come in.

In the end, whoever handled the misses best, won. Dahmen’s frustrations got the better of him. His misses for par from the 16th onwards got into his head. Even if other players were making bogeys too, Dahmen handled the closing holes a with little less patience and it cost him.

In a game where millimeters matter, we all inevitably make more misses than targets hit. It’s how those misses are handled — especially what comes next — that separates the good from the bad, and the great from the merely good.

So for us weekend warriors, let’s not sweat the wayward drives, chunked approaches, skulled chips, and missed tap-ins. We don’t play this game for a living, and even those who do make many mistakes, even stupid ones. That’s just how the game was built — a game of misses.