A Golf Paradox
Do you want to be a more consistent golfer? Do you want to get better so that you can finally beat your friends butts? This is really simple to achieve. All you have to do is quit your job, practice and play about 6 hours per day, hire a coach, get fit for all your clubs, workout 3X per week, and eat a plant based diet! Who wants to sign up?
Golf is hard! The challenge is part of the reason we get addicted. A good shot here and there keeps us hooked. It also doesn't hurt having good people to play with.
The paradox of getting better at golf includes the assumption that we need to hit all 14 of our clubs well, never lose the feeling of a good swing, play well regardless of the weather, get out of every bunker on the first try, carry every pond, birdie every Par 5, drive the ball 250 yards and straight every time, never top or duff any shot, never hit a golf ball out of bounds, miss every tree, avoid any unlucky bounces, and especially never lose a golf ball you know is in play!
There are countless situations that attribute to inconsistent play.
Have you ever seen the movie Tin Cup?
This scene has Kevin Costner in his RV wearing a bunch of contraptions to fix his swing flaws. The scene captures every golfers willingness to do whatever it takes to fix their swing.
There's another scene where he gets so frustrated that he snaps all of his clubs in half over his knee, except the trusty 7 Iron. The one club that never lets him down. Do you have a club like that in your bag? He percedes to outplay his competition with one club. He also gets the better of another group playing with only garden tools. It's a similar idea to ping-pong players training with wooden spoons. The unbelievable ability to adapt and perform with Mind over Matter Vs purely material limitations.
There are many reasons Tin Cup is one of my favorite golf movies. The movie gets better the more you start to understand some of the subtle messages. The famous "12" on the last hole of the US Open becomes more memorable because Kevin Kostners Character hits multiple balls short of the green into the water, which costs him a chance to win the US Open. He ends of making a 12 by holing out from 250 yards away, over the water, instead of the prudent play of laying up. His stubbornness in knowing he can make it over the water leads to his female counterpart reassuring him that even know he lost the US Open, "Everyone will remember the 12, but only few will remember who won the tournament." For me, this proves again that we don't really know what we want in life we it comes to the future, until we have the experience. Sometimes the unexpected result is exactly what was needed. I've listed some tips that can help move players into the spiritual realm of golf, instead of being stuck in the material where it's all about projecting future results. Godly results come from within.
Tip #1: Only play with clubs you can hit well. For most players that should mean you show up with no more than 6 clubs. I would be comfortable playing against a bogey golfer with just my 7 Iron. I would feel even better if they have their clubs. I could definitely break 80 with 5 clubs. That's not to brag, but because I know I'm allowed to hit my 5 best clubs, I'll be fine. This allows you to practice your creative side, make adjustments, adapt, and realize there aren't enough clubs that we could possible carry around with us to be prepared for every situation. Just like in life, we cannot prepare for every potential outcome.
Tip #2: After you've shown up with your 6 clubs, throw your scorecard in the trash. Well Zach, how do I know I'm getting better if I don't keep score? If you're playing golf 25 times or less per year, you don't need a scorecard. Just go have fun. Outside of that, keeping track of scoring either creates a projection of what your score could or should be, or a demoralizing realization that the round is doomed after a couple double bogeys. Score is a result of execution in the moment. Focus on execution and concentration, over results. No reason to train yourself to overthink whatever mistake you just made or what career round you're about to have.
Tip #3: Of the 37,000 variable situations you'll run into on the golf course, you can't be fully prepared for all of them, and the good news is that you don't need to be. You take your medicine, and use the club to hit the shot you know you can.
Tip #4: Well what if I do play 100-200 times per year and practice a lot? For the avid golfer, you are allowed to focus on 3 clubs in your bag, per year, to feel deadly with. That means when you go to practice, you're allowed to only work on those 3 things. Let everything else go. The simple fact is, trying to perfect all the clubs in your bag is a waste of energy, unrealistic, and creates a perpetual cycle of never being good enough. Golf is a game of misses and being able to adapt. Think about how many situations in a day that really need to be handled so that it's a good or decent day. I imagine that trying to be prepared for 37,000 potential outcomes isn't too productive. Sometimes simply learning and absorbing new information is all we can handle.
Tip #5: Walk instead of ride. There are so many benefits to walking while you play. Most importantly, walking keeps you connected to the ground. You're not racing around looking for golf balls, driving too fast over bumps, or screeching tires. Pull carts have cup holders too!
Use these tips the next time you play and see how you feel afterwards. If you feel worse, I'll be happy to tell you to do it again 🙂
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