Review of the Movie The Legend of Bagger Vance

The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), the way I see it, is more of a spiritual movie than a golf movie. It follows the story of a golfer called Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) who lost his perfect swing after battling in the World War One. Rannulph needs to pick up his skills as soon as he can, as he has agreed (for the sake of his old lover) to play in a golf tournament with other two top-notch golfers. He struggled in bringing back his skills, but help came, from a wise and mysterious caddy called Bagger Vance (Will Smith). It is what this wise caddy says about the philosophy of playing golf and, metaphorically, living a life that makes this movie spiritual to me.

Golf is a game unique in that your only opponent is yourself. You are not playing against anybody; you are playing you. As many spiritual teachers and practitioners put it, it's a game of life. In Bagger Vance's words: "It's a game that can't be won, only played.""It's your game, the one that only you was meant to play." Our life is indeed a unique one that's meant to be lived only by a unique person.

The philosophy of playing golf to the highest level is to forget oneself. "There is only one shot that's in perfect harmony with the field. One shot that's his authentic shot." So a golfer is to try to search for this authentic, perfect shot, and the best golfer searches the hardest, right? In fact, quite the opposite: "There's a perfect shot out there trying to find each and every one of us. All we got to do is get ourselves out of its way. Let it choose us." You must be kidding, right?

In fact, this is exactly the same as what Zen philosophy teaches a martial artist. The highest level of achievement in martial arts is to learn all skills and then forget them all. This sounds crazy, but the purpose is to not let the self interfere with the flow of the move. Be in every present moment and the best move will manifest itself -- always a perfect one.

The reason we can not do this is because our mind is always distracting us from the moment. It is always making noises. So good martial artists meditate, because meditation quiets the mind and connects us to the life force of the universe. We already have that ability; it's innate. We keep searching externally for everything, throughout the life, only to find out in the end that what values the most is within us.

The caddy knows that. He teaches his golfer how to find the best shot. "Just you, that ball, that flag, and all that you are -- seek it with your hands. Don't think about it. Feel it." Feel it; don't think about it. This poise and wisdom can put you one-up on the previous you (not your competitors as you are playing you, remember). Just like in practicing meditation, you keep excelling yourself in doing a longer and longer session.

Surpassing others is easy; surpassing oneself is tough. When Tiger Woods started to learn golf as a little boy (or toddler), his father taught him already, "Your only enemy in the game of golf is you." No wonder he is so good; he must know very well all the philosophical aspects of golf, just like the caddy in this movie.