Experience Indispensable
In May 2021 a golfer named Phil Mickelson won one of golf’s four “major championships.” For those four days, he was the best golfer in the world. That alone would be remarkable, but it was even more notable because he did it at the age of fifty, the oldest man ever to win a major tournament.
The course was very difficult, with only a few players shooting under par—out of the 156 players who entered, all of whom qualified to enter over hundreds of other golfers. Heat had dried out the grass, and gusting winds created more problems.
But while other players were baffled by the conditions, Mickelson used a lifetime of experience with difficult circumstances to his advantage. He knew when and how to change clubs and swings to suit the conditions, and in the end, he stood at the clubhouse holding a huge trophy above his head.
Sports betters set his odds of winning at about 280-to-1, but, in the words of one sports writer, “the player who could tame the combination of whipping winds, sand, and long rough on this South Carolina island was the one who has decades of experience solving those types of problems.” Experienced ruled.
Experience Come Through Persistence
As parents we often want a simpler solution to difficult problems. Who wouldn’t? But some wisdom comes only at a great price: persisting and learning through a great many difficulties and failures. There is no easy way to gain experience.
Over the years, Mickelson failed in many situations and lost many tournaments, but he didn’t quit, and his experience accumulated—just as it will for us as parents if we persist.
