Christy Erb and How She Escaped from Competitive Golf with Her Head Intact

There is life after golf after all... Not only that; it appears that life is not only possible after years of competitive golf, it can even be an exciting and roundly fulfilling existence rather than just a tragic survival.... As implausible and as improbable that may sound to anyone currently afflicted by the four letter originally Scottish but now quite pandemic global disease... er... sport (Ahem!).

One doesn't have to look further than Christy Erb to prove the statement. She is an ex-LPGA Tour player who spent much of her 20 year golfing career beating the dimples out of the stubborn little white ball along with much of her junior and collegiate competitions that were unfortunate enough to find themselves playing in the same tournaments that she participated in. But as even the most repellingly attractive of couples do sometimes eventually grow apart, so it was with Christy and golf. She hung up her competitive career at the end of the 1999 tour and has since taken up writing as her main job while also teaching golf and fitness training (the lass is an AFAA certified personal trainer) on the side. She has published two books on two very different subjects and is now working on the third. Here is what she has to say from our recent conversation:

Smorg: So, you have written and self-published two books in two years. Was it easier to write 'Have Golf Swing, Will Travel' than it was your first book, A Lifetime of Contradictions?

CE: Yes, "Have Golf Swing, Will Travel" was a little easier to write since it is both my own story and my second book. I did more research for the first book, 'A Lifetime of Contradition,' - conducting multiple interviews with grandpa, sending questions to my aunt Teresa, and reading the Erb Family history book that my uncle Jim spent more than his last decade researching, and writing.

It took me 1 and 1/2 years to write "A Lifetime of Contradictions" and only 11 months to write "Have Golf Swing, Will Travel". Most of the material in the second book was from my personal experience, some was from online research and from my boxes of old archives of my competitive golf days with old cut out articles and such that I kept at home.

Smorg: Tell us what the two books are about and why you wrote them?

CE: I wrote them because I felt compelled to do it. I felt that if I wanted to go on living with a purpose and hope in my life, then I had to write them. It is the only thing that drives me and gives me something to look forward to. I didn't choose them, they chose me. My next book will be a little harder, as I it will be more outside of my personal experience.

I wrote the first one, A Lifetime of Contradictions, because I felt that there needed to be a book written about my 99 year old grandpa. The book is a thoughtful comedy about the stubborn, self-assured, and quite religious (all a recipe for some entertaining humor!) man.

The second one I wrote because I felt like I was living a lie to students and friends who didn't understand my golf situation and I was tired of them asking me to play golf with them. "Have Golf Swing, Will Travel" is about what it is like to grow up competing in golf, what it's like from the player's perspective, and what issues the players actually are dealing with that the public is unaware of.

Smorg: You had a very successful junior and collegiate career. What was so different about the professional tour compared to the formers? Why doesn't the experience from one seem to carry to the other all that well?

CE: Well, I never had a healthy mental outlook, but I got away with it at the junior level somewhat when I was dominating and winning everything. However, I started having troubles at 15 years old on the national level when I found I had more competition and wasn't winning every single time. My unhealthy, negative thinking and self-doubting started then. At 17 years old I was burnt out. I forced myself to find a renewed energy for competition in college, but became burnt out there as well for a couple years.

I wasn't equipped to deal with adversity and through my twenties I studied to have the right even keel mindset and psychological outlook so as to equip myself properly for the competitive rigors on the course. But at this point, it was a little late to adopt the needed attitude and disposition as I was only able to change some of the time.

The outlook I needed to have was one of tolerance and understanding of my human limitations. One of acceptance of whatever I happened to do on the course that day, rather than one of emotional and judgmental reaction to every single shot and hole score. Unfortunately I tied my self-esteem into my golf results, which created fear on the golf course and impeded my play.

Smorg: When a young person is embarking on a competitive career s/he tends to get a bit closed out from non-career-related issues and perspectives. You have obviously experienced that as you related in 'Have Golf Swing, Will Travel' in the episode about how you got very mad at an (unintentional, perhaps, but still) intrusive spectator during a tournament. Do you think that you would have found the competitive golfing circuits less morale-eroding/grinding had you not been so focused on your golf game? Would that have freed you to play better or would that have lessen your needed competitive edge?

CE: Yes I think the competitive circuits would have been less morale eroding and grinding if I was less focused on my golf game, and had more balance in my life. It may have lessened my competitive edge, but I think that had grown out of control and morphed into something unhealthy in itself. It had morphed into something that took over my whole life and had a negative affect on my self-belief.

My confidence and happiness in life were tied into my golf shots and scores. Golf was my life, and since your golf scores will always be unpredictable, you need to accept them and move on rather than fixating and obsessing over them. So yes, I may have been able to play better had I been less focused on my golf. I would probably still be playing today had I been less focused on it, had a more balanced life, and had had a more healthy mindset.

Smorg: Would you say that you are now living a more balanced life with a more healthy mindset? But that you just don't feel like returning to competitive golf anymore?

CE: Yes, however I'm still working on a better mindset all the time, that never stops. I still deal with some of the thinking problems that negatively affected me out there.

Smorg: You hung with the LPGA big guns for a few years. Tell us, do the players get along well? What is their biggest cause for complaints?

CE: The top ranked players were friendly to all and didn't show animosity toward the others. However I could feel an unwelcomeness from the lower ranked players when I came on as a rookie. All the players get along well enough and co-exist out there. They are competing with each other for their livelihood so it's not a love-fest.

The players were usually friends with players from their college generation of friends/players. There wasn't much mentoring of rookies unless you had a commonality bonding you like the same agent or were in the limelight already yourself - it was rare. The players are supportive of their small group of 2-6 friends, and other than that stick to themselves pretty much.

Smorg: Help the golf spectators spectate better. What did you wish for the folks showing up to watch golf tournaments to know so that they can have a great time eye-balling the pros without getting in their way of scoring a good round?

CE: Well I would hope for the spectators to realize that it is the pros livelihood out there, so to treat it with that respect. They are not out there living the high life and making big bucks and living it up. They are grinding it out and working hard to make that their living.

Don't demand too much of their time, or watch like you're at the circus wanting indulgent entertainment. Rather, be patient and unnoticed, and really watch what they are doing quietly. Take it all in and be aware of their actions, what they are figuring out there as they play. Pay attention from the sidelines, sit back and enjoy the process of their proficiency and savvy play.

Smorg: What are you doing now? Any ongoing project?

CE: A few months ago I started my third book, it is about a general sense of security in our world, and law enforcements role/lack of role in that. Security and where it is derived from, are a very elusive thing in our society these days. I delve into the different ways we search for a feeling of safety in this big world, when and how we perceive security, and if we ever really have it at all.

I've been to a lot of places all over the world, and they weren't the safest places either mind you. I was in the Philippines in 1989 when civil unrest was high and the government was on high alert, it was a bit chaotic. We had to take all our jewelry off and leave it at the hotel when we went out, there were guards with rifles at every door front, and we were stalked at one point. This experience and others like it in other countries made me think of our place in this world differently.

I'm also going to start submitting articles to smaller publications like The Reader here in San Diego. I would love to make a career shift into full time writing, to have a weekly column or to be able to write more books. I teach golf to pay my bills because it is what I am experienced and skilled in, but writing is where my passion now lies.

Christy Erb is very findable online these days. Check out her website (http://christyerb.com/Home.html), golf instruction blog (http://christyerbgolfinstruction.blogspot.com/), personal blog (http://babblingbrookofserenity.blogspot.com/), or AssociatedContent page (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/761366/christy_erb.html) for more info!