LEARN FROM THE GREATS


“One reason golf is such an exasperating game is that a thing we learned is so easily forgotten, and we find ourselves struggling year after year with faults we had discovered and corrected time and again.” -- 1930 Grand Slam Winner Bobby Jones

I am not afraid of learning.  I have an open mind.  I have over 100 golf instruction books.  I know Dave Pelz’s two bibles – Short Game and Putting – better than King James’ Bible.  After virtually every round, I go to the works of Hogan, Nicklaus, Rotella, Snead, Watson, Harmon, Leadbetter, Armour, etc. in search of an answer to yet another problem.  

I am desperately looking for the consistency that I used to have -- the satisfaction of regularly hitting my drive at least 220 yards, chipping up to gimme range or dropping an 8-foot putt.  I keep looking for answers from “insiders.”  Surely Jack should be able to help me find an extra 10 yards off the tee.  Sam knows all about rhythm.  Butch has written extensively on the importance of completing the turn.  And Rotella has convinced me that golf is not a game of perfect.

Is it possible that my mind is overloaded with golf talk, golf thoughts, golf tips, golf clichés and golf drills?  Maybe it is time to look for help from a few “outsiders.”  Yes, I think it is time to look for answers -- or THE ANSWER -- from great thinkers instead of great golfers.

It is worth a try. I have nothing to lose – except another $10 Nassau when playing 2-2-2.  It is time to crawl out of the pit of golf minutiae and embrace knowledge and wisdom from “outside” sources.

 

  • “I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.” – Buddha (Born in the 6th century B.C.)
  • “We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” -- Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) 
  • “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” – 1st Century BC philosopher Publilius Syrus
  • “Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” – American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 to 1882)
  • “I dwell in possibility.” – Poet Emily Dickinson (1830 to 1886)
  • "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869 to 1948), leader of the Indian independence movement
  • “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” -- Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 to 1965)
  • “Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” -- Aldous Huxley (1894 to 1963), author of Brave New World 
  • “Without discipline, there is no life at all.” – Katherine Hepburn (1907 to 2003), winner of four Best Actress Academy Awards
  • “Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.” – American actor, singer, comedian Danny Kaye (1913 – 1987) 

 

Play Away!

Allan (Current handicap 10, which is too low and the result of a few lucky rounds.)


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