Golfing and Thinking Go Together Like Fish and Whipped Cream
December 12, 2007
When does playing golf seem easy? When every shot just erupts off your club head and it flows - everything feels perfect. Every so often it happens, even for just a couple of holes. And when it’s over you, you catch yourself wondering “How can I capture this feeling and bottle it for the next time?” This is the only thought you’ve had - you’re an unthinking golfing beast!
Single Minded Focus
The question is…when was the last time it happened to you? If you’re like most people, when you play alone, there’s no one to talk to, no one to critique or offer advice and no one to wait for. The game is clean and simple. It’s just you and that damn white ball. And since there is no one watching, you just might let your competitive juices subside a little. “No one is watching so who cares what I score.”
When you’re alone, you’re playing in kind of a zone. Call it golf meditation if you will. One shot puts you in rhythm for the next shot. Don’t you think that the whole experience is the complete opposite of playing in front of friends and family? I do. When you’re alone it’s your time and you can do what you want. The whole dynamic changes - the rhythm feels totally different.
So…here’s the question, what is holding you back? Is it the voices of your friends and family that redirect you and keep you from playing your best? Or is it something inside you that you need to learn to better control? Ain’t this fun?
We all feel that we can do better. Deep inside all golfers there’s this belief that we should have hit the last drive a bit further, been more accurate with the approach shot or hit the putt a little more centered. There is no one else to blame.
But does everybody feel that way? To a degree, the answer is yes. Look at the PGA tour for example. Under pressure, everyone except the mighty Tiger wilts once in while – Greg Norman being at the top of the list. So what we do to fix what isn’t right? We get professional help from a golf pro or maybe we just read a golf book in hopes of finding the answer. We work on our game.
“Think Positive Thoughts”
What I look at with cynicism is the advice I hear and read. Many times, it’s flatly assumptive and frankly naive. It’s like asking my five year, who’s just learning to read, to concentrate harder on the letters when he can’t spell a word. He can’t spell because he doesn’t know how to do it. He can’t just change his swing. He doesn’t know how to keep his head down and most importantly, he doesn’t know how to -“Think positive thoughts.”
I hear and read that bit of advice over and over again, as if we’re supposed to be some perky smiling guy or gal from the fifties (like the Dick Van Dyke show, but alas, my age is showing). After you’ve shanked a 5 iron 30 yards off the fair way, it’s pretty tough to just forget…its almost frick’in impossible to move on!
We think and we analyze and we break it down. That’s what logical people do, right? Well not really. The experts who study this stuff tell us to “Play with feel.” I like that. “Don’t think about the ball - feel the ball.” Evoking a line from Star Wars - “Feel the force Luke.”
In all seriousness, how do you find that unthinking - feeling place? Stay tuned for a future post on how to uncork it whenever you need it?
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