The golf gods have been particularly generous with me lately. Not only have I had the good fortune to play two more rounds at Edgewood-Tahoe (now one of my favorite courses) as part of a media trip with golf’s leading podcaster, Fred Greene, which followed some great rounds two weeks earlier at Genoa Lakes with the “king and queen” of Lake Tahoe real estate, Don & Theresa Souers, but… drum roll please…

Today, I won my first individual stroke play tournament. It was, in fact, called the Players Club Individual Stroke Play tournament at Stonetree. I shot an 88, net 69, to get into a three-hole playoff for the win. I managed to chip in for birdie on the second of the three playoff holes (par 3, #8), and now I can say that I’m “1 and 0 in playoffs.”

But, more importantly, the real difference is that I’ve been following my own advise in learning to “win with ease.” I am learning to swing more freely and “just hit the ball” with more regularity. I’m having more fun, thinking much less about the score. Letting go is really what it’s all about.

And, this win is particularly sweet because as someone who is planning to create all kinds of new media around my experiences of “Winning with Ease,” it sure is nice to actually win. As some of you know, I’ve won a couple of “team” events with my partner, Charles Williams, but this is my first individual stroke play win. Real progress. Just breaking 90 at Stonetree is a pretty major accomplishment for me. As you can tell from the net score, 88 is three below my “personal par.” So, I guess I’ll be making more progress with my handicap too. But that’s not the important part. The important part is that I’m learning to play better golf, having more fun and swinging more freely. Really. That’s the biggest win. Yay!