Kent Osborne

golf. personal growth. well-being.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

A Golfer’s Desiderata

Go gracefully amongst the birdies, pars, bogeys, doubles, triples, and quads; for being on a golf course is a blessing. Ground your game in gratitude.

Be mindful that you’re not a pro, and you’re not getting paid for results. Whether your handicap is 22 or plus 2, you’re paying for recreation. Relax. Smile often. Breath deeply. Notice nature. Enjoy how it feels to swing a golf club.

Avoid suffering by grasping this fact — you’re in a relationship with the world’s hardest game.

Relish your best swings and your best putts.

Be a great playing partner — whether you’re playing great or playing poorly.

And in your desire to get better, understand what you truly seek is a deeper connection with a feeling — the joy at the heart of play. Like Woods and Sorenstam and all the greats, you’re in love with that feeling because you’re born to be a golfer. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt your potential is unfolding as it should.

Above all, be at peace with your game, no matter your handicap. For despite it’s countless slices and shanks, a pure strike is nourishment for your soul.

(Inspired by Max Ehrmann’s 1927 poem)

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

FYI 👇

[Tripp Isenhour @TrippIsenhourGC]

Why do so many golfers play great in practice…

But struggle when the tournament starts?

Because under pressure, most players stop trusting what they’ve trained.

They get tighter.
They start guiding the golf ball.
They start trying not to mess up.

That’s not a swing problem.

That’s a competitive identity problem.

The best players in the world don’t rise to the occasion under pressure…

They fall back on what they’ve trained themselves to believe, trust, and expect.

That’s what the Invisible Club is all about.

Training the part of your game nobody sees…

But the part that controls everything when it matters most.

Comment QUIZ if you want to find your competitive identity.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

I can’t comment on greatness, because compared to the pros, my game barely makes the definition of goodness.
But i can say, without hesitation, that attempting to adhere to basically this list (with a couple of modifications) helped me get to scratch and win a club championship after beginning golf at 50.

[Tripp Isenhour @TrippIsenhourGC]

Most golfers think greatness comes from talent.

The best players in the world know better.

Rory immediately understood the profiles because elite players learn something over time:

Pure talent alone doesn’t hold up under pressure.

What separates great players long term is:
• wedge play
• short game
• putting
• emotional control
• consistency
• mental resilience

The crazy part?

Those are all trainable skills.

Everybody wants to BE Player A…

But the champions build the Player B skills.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Love this!

[PGA of America @PGA]

At 100 years old, WWII veteran Bernie Smoot still drives his convertible Ford Mustang to play golf five days a week, shoots in the low 80s and shares wisdom from 74 years in the game: “You live to play golf. But to reach my age, you play golf to live.”

To celebrate Bernie — who landed at Omaha Beach just months after graduating high school — his PGA Coach and friend Jeff Maynor organized a tournament in his honor at the University of Maryland Golf Course, where Bernie plays five days a week.

Maynor, the course’s PGA Director of Golf, has run a @PGAHOPE program there for Veterans since 2019, which Bernie loves to support. The tournament for Bernie was a chance for those Veterans to thank him and celebrate his love for the game.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

i love scrambles
and today
i get to play in one
#gratitude

[Jamie Kennedy @jamierkennedy]

"Why do people play golf?"

Sean Connery sums up golf in one perfect, 90-second answer...

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

👇

[Humblehoward @HumHow]

Humble and Fred Shoemaker! and @timoconnorcoach

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Not golf … but love the idea.
#gratitude

[Sportsnet @Sportsnet]

Kazuma Okamoto has started the trend of hosting a gratitude circle in the dugout before every game 🙏

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

👍

[Chris McKee @mrmckee]

Nelly Korda says she is trying to enjoy golf more this year after a down year in 2025, "I just wanted to have a mindset change of you know if I get into trouble I'll figure out......not look at something and say I'm fucked."

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Found this on the weekly newsletter sent out by @LouStagner
we’re in love with a very hard game!

•Scratch players average 4.45 on the hardest par 4 and 4.12 on the easiest.
•20-index players average 5.66 on the hardest and 5.15 on the easiest.
•Scratch players average OVER PAR on every par 4, even the “easy” par 4s.
•20-index players average OVER 5.15 on EVERY par 4 on the course - even the easiest par 4.

Let that sink in.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

@TourSwingsTommy 74 and 86 (the day after, on the same course)

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

I read it on a flight from Vancouver to Toronto. Very well written … couldn’t put it down. IMO would make a great movie.

[Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) @LouStagner]

I have a very special (non-golf) announcement.

My daughter, who is in 10th grade, wrote a novel called “Trapped”.

She is a voracious reader and always wanted to write her own novel. So, she did.

It was published a couple months ago.

She started "Trapped" in 8th grade and finished it in 9th grade, writing for hours at a time. She'd go on walks with my wife and me to brainstorm out loud about plot and characters and then head straight back to her laptop.

The dedication was something else. It came out a couple months ago, and if you'd click the Amazon link in the post below to check it out, I'd really appreciate it.

Not your type of book? Maybe you know a young adult reader who'd love it!

Signed,
Very Proud Dad

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Masking it now will taste so sweet.
#quest

[Drake Smith @drakesmith__]

I wanted to play on the PGA Tour.

Not as a dream.
As a plan.

I turned professional.
Started having some success.
Could feel it building.

And then I quit.

Injury was part of it.

But if I am honest
the bigger part was impatience.

I wasn't making it as fast as I wanted to.

So I left.

Before it showed up.

I have spent a long time sitting with that decision.
Not with regret exactly.
More like understanding.

Because that same pattern
showed up everywhere after golf.

In business.
In relationships.
In every hard thing I have ever started.

Get close.
Feel the resistance.
Leave before the breakthrough.

The injury gave me a reason.
The impatience was the real story.

I am aiming to play in Senior Tour events now.

In my mid 40's
Stronger than I was when I quit.
More patient than I have ever been.

I don't know if I will make it.

But I know I am not leaving before it shows up this time.

The dream didn't die.

I just made it wait.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

@Sir_NickFaldo countless hours of enjoyment
new friends
a path for learning and growth as a person

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

For someone with that much success, that much fame, and that much money to be as grounded in family and reality as he appears to be … imo that might be the most impressive thing about him.

[Marty Smith @MartySmithESPN]

There are six career Grand Slam winners. There are four repeat Masters winners. Only Jack, Tiger and Rory are on both lists.
I wondered, then, how Rory McIlroy views his place in history.
Great perspective.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

@LouStagner Yes

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Egg Salad hat … an iconic Masters moment

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Well said

[Jason Sobel @JasonSobelGolf]

I’ve covered the Masters since 2005. What makes it so special? Well, plenty. But here’s the best explanation I can come up with: It’s the only place you’ll ever go where everyone is exactly where they want to be. DisneyWorld? No way. Family wedding? Doubtful. But Augusta National during Masters week? You won’t find a single person who’d rather be somewhere else. Add in the device-free environment and it makes for such a unique dynamic that you literally won’t find elsewhere. Everyone is just happy to be where their feet are.

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Enjoyed watching this. 👇

[Marty Smith @MartySmithESPN]

#SCFeatured: Rory’s Roots.

“I've always been a dreamer, big, big dreams, big ideas. I've never lost that. I've never let the world take that from me. I think the world can turn you into a pretty cynical person, if you let it.” — Rory McIlroy

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

FYI 👇

[John Morton, PGA @JohnMorton215]

In HEAVEN with what The Masters has done with their YouTube account…

Every final round TV broadcast going back to like 1970 is on there.

Currently watching the full broadcast of the final round of the 2005 Masters. 🤩

#TheMasters
#AugustaNational

[Kent Osborne @scratchattitude]

Speaking as a dad … that’s humility in practice by her father

[Cameron Jourdan @Cam_Jourdan]

Maria Jose Marin had an incredible answer when asked by @BrentleyGC about the relationship with her dad.

"He's always been my role model. He's been by my side since I started playing golf. He was the one that taught me the love for this game.

"He decided this year that he can't be on the bag. He had the experience with me last year. He said, you need someone that knows. I love you with all my heart, but you need someone that knows how to handle a tournament of this level. I think it was one of the most beautiful decisions that he could have ever made because he was totally selfless. He was like, I know that you need someone else, but I'm going to be there supporting you."