Dreaming of The Green Jacket

I remember how it felt to be in the Butler Cabin. I remember the feeling of having the Green Jacket being put on me by the previous winner. I remember sinking the final putt to make it happen. I remember the sound of the patrons. I remember the stiff competition that Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Lee Trevino gave me. I remember being all alone. I remember being by a lake that was no where near Augusta Georgia. I remember being a few months away from my 12th birthday.

It was a dream. It was not a dream during sleep but rather a dream that I was willing to think about, feel, and act out.

Like most people on the planet, I will not have the experience of winning “The Masters” in this life but I do have the experience of dreaming it.

As children, we do it quite naturally. It is fun. It is a joy. It is magical. You can really go anywhere and do anything in your dreams. Some people learn to get their heads out of the clouds and come back down to earth. Although I have had many messages in my adult life to persuade me to stop dreaming, I continue to dream.

In 2006, Shelley MacDougall and I started dreaming about creating a program that would inspire and support people to become Extraordinary Leaders and to live Extraordinary Lives. The dreaming part was easy and exciting. The work it took to put it together and bring it to life took over a year. We launched the program in May of 2007. We are about to complete our 15th year of the Extraordinary Leader Program. In many ways, unlike my childhood dream, the reality of what has happened since May of 2007 is way beyond some of our dreams. Before we launched the program, we saw James Taylor at the Wilshire Theater in L.A. To celebrate this anniversary, we are seeing James Taylor and Jackson Browne in Vancouver.

Unlike my “Masters” dream, this was an example of dreaming with someone else. In both cases the process of the dreaming was wonderful.

As I write this, Rose and I have been married 14,565 days. Another way to express this would be to say that in June we will be celebrating 40 years of marriage. We met in 1980 and married in 1982. There were many dreams. I can say that although I dreamt of meeting a girl to spend my life with, the one that walked into my life was beyond my dreams. Our three children were beyond our dreams. Although our dream of having grandchildren looked for a while like it might not happen, we are now blessed to have two.

To mark this special occasion, we are going on a trip. We are going to a place that Rose has always dreamed of going to. We have accommodations booked. The dates are set, and we are dreaming. We are dreaming about the details. We are dreaming about getting there. We are dreaming about the experiences we will have. We are dreaming about the gifts we will give. We are dreaming about the conversations we will have. We are dreaming about being away from normal duties and concerns. We are dreaming! We have been watching videos about our destination. We will do it for real in June and although it might be different from our dreams, we will enjoy both.

Over the years I have spent coaching, many people have come to visit me and spent some time dreaming. I take them to beautiful dreaming places. I have taken them to dream by a waterfall, by the beach, on the water, on mountain tops, by glacier-fed rivers and in elegant buildings surrounded by people who have made dreams come true.

I just love to take people to environments where they dream differently. The past two years the opportunities to take people dreaming diminished due to a worldwide pandemic.

One day last year, early in the morning, I looked at my schedule and saw that I didn’t have any coaching sessions all morning. This was a rare occurrence. I decided to create a virtual dreaming environment. At 8:30 am I sent a message to about 25 people who I saw as dreamers. I told them that since I was not able to take people dreaming in person that I would like to do it virtually. I did something ridiculous in an age when everyone is so busy. I said that I would be in a zoom room from 9:00 a.m. to noon, invited them to come if they would like to, and sent them all the link.

As soon as I sent it, I realized that there was a real possibility that I would be alone in a zoom room for three hours. I didn’t know what to expect but even if nobody showed up, I would be with the same person who dreamt about winning the Masters.

Fourteen people showed up to dream.

Do you have time to dream? Do you need permission to dream? Do you need some practice dreaming?

The critics of dreaming might focus on someone who only dreams and doesn’t do anything to make the dreams come true. They might show evidence of how a particular dream did not come true.

The young version of me dreamed of winning The Masters.

Full disclosure in case you didn’t know, I have never won the Masters.

But that dream was a seed that inspired a life where golf was my passion, my career, a classroom for my children, a place to develop so many friendships and opportunities to meet Extraordinary People and visit many of the best golf courses in the world.

What will you dream?