A "rub of the green", in golf terms, occurs when a ball in motion is accidently deflected or stopped by an outside agency. There is no penalty for this action, and the ball may be played where it lies, or the ball may be replaced and the stroke replayed, depending on the situation. This happened to me a couple of months ago, as I was on the 6th green at my home course, made my putt, and a dog came up from behind me and swiped my ball as it was on the way to the hole. At the time, I didn't know the rule, so I placed the ball where I thought it would have ended up, and finished the hole. Obviously, that was the wrong thing to do, but who cares? I was just playing a practice round by myself, or at least that's what I thought until my four-legged friend joined the group.
Anyway, a "rub of the green" in terms of everyday life could be considered to be the Zen-like act of dealing with situations, good or bad, as they come your way and not considering that you have been penalized in any way... that's just the way it goes sometimes. Life is just that... life. Not good. Not bad. Deal with it and move on to the next stage (or the next hole in golf). As a golfer, I don't have a good grasp of this concept. I tend to get upset with my game more often than I should, whether a dog picks up a pretty decent putt on the way to the hole, or whether I simply make a bad shot with no excuse but my own ineptitude. And, as golf is a metaphor for life, I probably don't have a good grasp of it in my everyday life either. As I throw down some words in this blog to help me figure it all out, golf and life, I welcome anyone's comments, good or bad. Maybe we can all figure this thing out together.
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