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When I was a kid my father used to take me to the golf course so I could walk along the ditch as he played.  I got 25¢ for every golf ball I found. 50¢ if it was a keeper. I remember thinking that it looked like a fun game to play, but also wondered why so many golfers would want to hit their balls into the ditch so much.  It seemed like you had much better odds if you hit the fairway, but what did I know.  I was just a kid.

Now that I’m 43, I have taken up golf as a habit, and a pretty consistent habit at that.  For the past two years, I have gone to the golf course and worked on my game. I read golf magazines, watch the Golf Channel religiously, joined a league, and even listen to audio golf books. I have downloaded a golf app to keep track of my scores, the number of fairways I hit, the numbers of green I hit in regulation, and the number of putts I make.

I have knocked off 11 strokes from my score. Before you get too excited, you must realize that my score was pretty high to begin with, so that’s not as much of an accomplishment as you might think. It has, however, caused me to love (and hate) the game more than ever, and each day I want to get just a little better.  The recent obsession with golf has caused me to realize how much it reminds me of teaching.

There are days when I just hate being on the course because I am hitting the ball so horribly. For whatever reason, I just can’t get my game together, and it’s a miserable feeling.  Balls are shanking off my club, I’m slicing into the trees, missing every green, and leaving putts short.  But then, out of nowhere, I hit a 5-wood off the fairway and it soars beautifully into the air.  It generates a natural fade, lands three feet short of the green, rolling up within a few feet of the hole. A smile curves up on my lips, and I love the game again. That one shot is enough to keep me going for the rest of the round, and wanting more the next day.

Its just the same with teaching.  You can be having a horrible day. The morning calendar routine wasn’t clicking, the chemistry experiment bombed (maybe literally), the kids aren’t engaged in the chapter book. But then, during math, while teaching a difficult concept, one student raises her hand and yells, “I got it!†She’s almost dancing in her seat with excitement, and a smile curls up on your lips.  You love teaching again, and you can’t wait for the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that.

So how many good shots does it take to keep you in the classroom?  All you need is one.

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