Michael was very excited when his girlfriend gave him a new set of golf clubs. The next day he went to the golf course to play with his new clubs.
When he arrived at the course he saw an old man who was about to start playing. The old man and Michael then decided to play together. Michael thought that he could play better than the old man because of his new clubs.
At first Michael did very well. Every time he hit the ball, it landed very close to the hole. The old man played very well, too, and after six holes the score was even.
But on his next shot, Michael hit the ball behind a large tree.
“Oh, no,” he thought. “How shall I get the ball out from there?”
“What do you think I should do?” he asked the old man. “I could hit it that way around the tree, but then I would lose a shot. Or I could try to hit it over the tree, but it’s a very tall tree and the ball might get stuck or bounce back.”
The old man said, “I’m an old man now, but when I was your age, I used to hit it over the tree from here.”
Michael took out one of his new clubs and tried to hit the ball over the tree. It hit the tree and bounced back. He was disappointed.
“Of course,” the old man said, “the tree was a lot shorter when I was young age.”