Thinking About My Jeremy Paul Golf Days
Yeah, I remember when Jeremy Paul was a name you’d hear buzzing around a bit in golf. Like a lot of folks, I was always trying to get better at my own game, you know? Always looking for that one magic tip or that swing thought that would finally fix my slice or add 20 yards to my drives. So, naturally, I started paying attention to guys like him.
I’d watch some clips, read a few articles. Tried to see what he was doing, what made his swing work. I even spent a good few afternoons at the driving range, specifically trying to mimic some of the things I thought I saw. Big mistake, usually. Golf isn’t really about just copying someone else, is it? It’s a bit more personal than that. You find out pretty quick that what works for a pro doesn’t always translate to your average weekend hacker like me.
But that whole period, trying to get serious about improving my golf, it actually brings back a whole different set of memories. It was around the same time I was working at this company, “Future Systems Inc.” Sounds impressive, right? Well, it wasn’t. Not for me, anyway. I was a junior programmer there, and honestly, the place was a bit of a mess.
I remember this one project lead, a guy named Mark. Mark was all about “synergy” and “thinking outside the box,” but mostly he was about making us work late for no good reason. I’d be dreaming of hitting a perfect draw like I imagined Jeremy Paul did, but instead, I’d be stuck in the office debugging code that probably shouldn’t have been written in the first place.
There was this one time, I’d actually booked a tee time for a Saturday morning. Really looking forward to it. Thought I’d finally cracked something with my swing after watching some golf instructional video, probably featuring someone like Paul. Then, Friday evening, 5:30 PM, Mark drops a bombshell: “Team, we need all hands on deck this weekend. Critical deployment.” Critical. Right. My golf weekend vanished, just like that. I was so mad, I think I played the worst round of my life the next time I actually got out on the course.
It got to the point where trying to improve my golf felt linked to the frustration of that job. I’d hit a bad shot and instead of thinking about my technique, I’d just feel this wave of annoyance about work. It kind of soured the whole thing for me, to be honest. I even started to associate watching pro golf with that feeling of being stuck, which is a real shame.
Eventually, I left Future Systems Inc. Found a much better gig, thankfully. And you know what? My golf game actually started to improve a little bit after that, once the stress was gone. Funny how that works. I stopped trying to swing like Jeremy Paul, or anyone else for that matter. Just started trying to enjoy the game for what it was, my game, flaws and all.
So, when I think about “Jeremy Paul golf,” it’s not just about his swing or his career. It’s all tangled up with that period of my life, that crummy job, and learning that sometimes, trying too hard to be like someone else, whether it’s on the golf course or in your career, just doesn’t work. You gotta find your own way. That’s my takeaway from those days.
