Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I've played the game for 50 years and I still haven't the slightest idea of how to play.
You can't change what you refuse to confront.
There's a real correlation between a society that tells people that they can do anything, and the existence of low self-esteem. So that's another way in which something quite positive can have a nasty kickback. There is another reason why we might be feeling more anxious --about our careers, about our status in the world today, than ever before. And it's, again, linked to something nice. And that nice thing is called meritocracy.
The first sentence of the novel is the most important, but the last sentence is the one that stays with you.