Being Myself On and Off the Golf Course: Embracing Authenticity Through Presence Golf

Learning to Stop Shape-Shifting

For most of my life, I believed I had to shape-shift my authentic Self to feel like I belonged. As an empath, my reflex was always to make everyone else comfortable—smooth the edges, fill the silence, keep the energy light.

On the golf course, that meant small talk, polite nods, and pretending that constant engagement wasn’t draining me.

Through Presence Golf—through breath, awareness, and inner stillness—I’m learning something profoundly liberating:

I get to be myself out here. Quiet. Focused. Present. And that is enough.

There Is No One Way to Be on the Course

We are each created differently.Some men thrive on conversation. Lee Trevino chatted his way through majors, lighting up fairways with humor and connection.Tiger Woods walked in silence—introverted, laser-focused, fully grounded in his own inner world.

Both men played from authenticity. Both honored who they truly were.

As Deepak Chopra writes:“You give to the world your greatest gift when you’re being yourself.”

A Round with Two Extroverts

Last week I played with two very extroverted guys. They talked between every shot—favorite restaurants, old rounds, stories from all over.

I listened, smiled, contributed when it felt natural…Then I stepped aside. Returned to my breath. Felt the wind on my skin and the fairway beneath my feet, allowing the silence to hold me.

I wasn’t rude. I wasn’t distant. I was simply being myself.

And guess what? We actually had a meaningful connection and even made plans to play again. They got to be themselves. I got to be myself. No forcing. No pretending. No apologizing.

Introversion Is Not a Flaw

There was a time when I thought something was wrong with me for not loving small talk. I spent decades bending, adapting, and performing—especially in pharmaceutical sales, where conversation was currency.

But deep down, what I’ve always craved is soul-level connection…or simply the peace of nature.

Reading Quiet by Susan Cain years ago was a turning point. It helped me see:

I’m not broken. I’m just an introvert. More inwardly focused than outwardly oriented. More energized by Presence than chatter. More filled by silence than stimulus.

Giving Yourself Permission to Be You

You get to do you. I get to do me. And that is the sacred ground of authenticity.

So let me ask you, where are you sacrificing your Self just to fit in? Where are you abandoning your truth to be liked, accepted, or belong?

I told myself for years that I didn’t belong. But I’m rewriting that story now.

I belong everywhere I bring my authentic Self. And so do you.

That is freedom. That is Presence. That is power.

Are you ready to live from your authentic Self—on and off the course?

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