The Things I’ve Learned– Ed Brown
Ever since I was very young, I was never as good as my big brother Ed. He got better grades in school, was more studied and could always win an argument, usually beat me in nerf basketball and just about always beat me on the golf course. I had quite a temper and could be heard by the masses, via a primal scream after yipping a 2 footer, but Ed was different than me and most everyone else I know with his temperament on the golf course. After making a bogey mid-round, he would always smile and lament “Well, I’ve just got to go 3 under the last 8 holes to break 80,” and he would sincerely mean it, and often times manage to actually do it.
So I sat down with Ed recently for lunch at The Retreat in Liverpool and was hoping he would share some of his life and golf lessons that all of our readers can learn from…well here goes:
What are some of your earliest memories and when did you know that you were pretty good?
My earliest memories of playing this game were out at Pope’s Grove with dad (Don Brown Sr.), you, Kevin (brother) and Mary Therese (our sister). My dad loved the game and was sharing it with us. Also when I was 7 years old, being out in the front yard, swinging the club with my cousins and my dad commenting on how nice I was swinging it…that gave me a lot of confidence and joy that I was maybe going to be good at it. After that it was always a game that I so enjoyed playing with dad, family, my cousins, and friends of the family. And then in high school I became great friends with Ted Kelly…we had such a great time playing the game and developed a great friendship that has now lasted over 40 years.
I felt I had a knack for playing the game pretty well, though I was never a great player. But I enjoyed competing and trying to continue to improve. In high school my game was very inconsistent. After my senior year I remember playing a lot of golf at Camillus Country Club. My game at that point matured where I was hitting the ball fairly long and was in command of most aspects of my game, to the extent of consistently breaking 80, and even occasionally threatening to shoot par, which was quite a thrill. That persisted throughout college and to a lesser extent, afterward…so then I could have fun with it, enjoy the challenge of the game even though at times it can be frustratingly difficult.
Why do you love the game?
It engages your whole person in order to play it well. Physically, you have to be able to swing the club, and use your talent in terms of balance and hand-eye coordination to effectively hit the shots you want. You have to think your way around the golf course, think about what you want to do with each shot, how you want to swing the club and imagine the shot playing out. So there’s a synergy between body and mind that’s required but also it engages your spirit. If you’re not in a good place in terms of your heart, your spirit, your temperament, then it doesn’t work well. I have to be at peace, confident and engaged in what I’m doing, that’s why it’s so engrossing. It takes your whole person, your whole attention, and capacity in the moment to play it well. It also helps you let go of what’s going on outside of that game, being very absorbed and engrossed in trying to play the game well and enjoy it. The game of golf is very difficult, there’s so many aspects to it, it’s so challenging in so many ways. That’s part of the allure of the game, but it’s also why it can be maddeningly difficult and frustrating.
Talk about integrity.
We grew up with there not being any question that you would play the game fairly, play the ball where it lies and add up your score correctly. The wonderful aspect of the game of golf is that it demands integrity of the individual playing it. The way the game is structured, you are often on your own in terms of playing by the rules and adding up your score. Whether you’re out playing a casual round where you want to shoot a good round or whether you’re in a match or competition, you always have a strong desire for a good outcome and you want to shoot the best score you can. And because of that there’s always moments where you can easily be tempted to violate the rules, to cheat, to move your ball in the rough, to kick your ball away from a tree, to not count the fact that you missed a short putt, whatever the case may be, there’s all sorts of temptations to not be fully honest with yourself or playing partners, if you approach the game where the outcome is more important than how you get there, more important than the integrity of playing by the rules. I’ve encountered it over the years where players, are overcome with the desired outcome and they’re willing to sacrifice their principles.
Do you remember the greatest round you’ve ever played?
I have a pretty clear recollection of my best round. It was at Camillus Country Club back in 2001. It was a Friday afternoon, I was playing with dad and Ted Kelly and it was a beautiful late summer’s day. It was a typical round until I got to the 8th hole and then got on a roll, and birdied 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, five in a row. I had never done that before. On the 13th hole I had a chip from the front of the green that would have gone in had I pulled the pin, but it hit the pin squarely on, popped it out and hung on the lip. I finished up the round one under to shoot a five under par round of 68…so many good memories of playing at Camillus over the years and I’ll always remember that.
Talk about the great game of golf.
That’s just it, it is a great game and games are important. We all work hard in life, we all have challenges that we confront, the stresses that we deal with. There’s the grind of the day to day, the monotony of certain aspects of the work we have to do. Games are a chance to experience the joy of being alive, to be able to do something physically and with your mind. Golf is just an engrossing game that’s a lot of fun and it’s also special in that you get it share it with friends and family, and appreciate the allure of the game.
Any last words of wisdom?
The game is difficult, but trust that you have the capacity to play it well. You can hit shots that are effective and learn to control your golf ball enough to hit it towards your target and enjoy the beauty of the game and also play well enough to enjoy what you’ve accomplished at the end of the round. I would encourage everyone to give the game a chance. I’ve been playing it my whole life and I hope to continue to be able to play it as long as I’m walking this earth.
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