With no narcissism on my part, I want to start mentioning that I write this post while I am currently a L90 Legend with a 64 handicap, barely some small earnings and very low profile show-off-able accomplishments.
But I didn't sign up into WGT being a L90 Legend on June 22nd 2011. We all know how our naive egos operate when we start something new : We all want to look good, to make a good impression, and to be able to demonstrate our best angle on the pictures. Those high expectations end up being our fuel for future frustrations on our "growing path", since this game starts as a taught experience when one is a Hack, but it just gets tougher as one advances in rank, not without mentioning that our initial expectations become more ambitious and even obsessive at times.
All that one wants is to win, to defeat others, specially if one gets the chance to surpass a higher ranked player and one feels that can touch heaven out of such accomplishment, while our tiny Mr. ego inflates into his ignorant bubble in the attempt to make us feel assured of our talent.
Somewhere around PRO or TOUR PRO we are GOD ... and then ... BOOM ! a very strange creature appears for the first time in the lobby of our blitz or stroke game ... a Legend player ! We think : "pf ... I can beat this guy ... I'll show him one or two things". Suddenly that player breaks the chat with a very polite and warm salutation saying : "Greetings my friends ... I hope we all have a great run and time ... Thank you for accepting me into your game". We think : "Yeah ... whatever" ... but we answer back on the chat in the attempt to show our cool : "gla".
We do our best to impress this guy who simply meets all the greens in every shot, some closer to the flag, and some just on; great consistency and charm always present. Then we notice his gear and we tend to think ... "oh, I got it ... when I get some good sticks like those I'll be even better than him" ... (nothing could possibly be farther from truth).
Suddenly, this Legendish guy makes a rather poor shot, still on the green but about 35ft away from the flag, and one thinks : "This is when I'm gonna teach him how it's done" ... pressure builds up on our eyes and finger ... the meter moves slower than ever, we click and ... and ... and ... all the glory is gone, we clicked too early and our ball ended in the bunker right next to the green ... Here is when most of us simply quitted our games, with anger, frustration and swearing that we will never play this @%#& game again. Thank God we will some other time later, to learn little by little and with patience that all that consistency shown by that Legend guy comes from lots of practice, learning how to read and respond to all the different facts and details of this wonderful game (distance, lie, elevation, club selection, spinning, type of stroke, wind, green speed, etc ...)
Still, it will take some extra time (months if not about a year to some) until we understand that playing good golf (WGT virtual golf I mean) has nothing to do with feeding our tiny egos. This game is more about enjoying the time of practice, staying and finishing ALL the games despite scores, wins or losses, having a good time on the field, meeting new players, sharing good humor and fellowship, celebrating other players' good shots and victories ... and yes ! ... it sure feels good when one makes a great shot to read on the chat "vns Quijotazo".
May all find the best way to enjoy your games. Thank you for reading.