Golf’s Sacred Journey Notes:
Live life based on what's truly important: people, values, relationship w/ God etc...(see Rich Nathan list)**
*Corollary:
1. important to build an organization that values/builds people, does quality work w/ integrity, benefits society, etc... So as I work at Rosetta / if I start one - don't lose this focus (ie. triple bottom line, 4 quadrants diagram etc...)
2. What are the excellent music orgs that foster this kind of people? - key universities???
managing up - convincing superiors to help you...
To all my cowboy friends in Utopia, Texas. Your pace of life
and wisdom garnered from working the land and cultivating deep
friendships give me new life each time I am with you.
Find what you do well and perfect it. And most of all, do it
with character. Only you know your character, the person you see
when you look into the mirror. Your reputation is who people
think you are.
• Play the drums
• Lead people
In life we must be willing to coach and be coached; either one alone will leave us
empty.
I didn’t realize it then, but I had traded
unconditional love from my dog to a life of conditional acceptance
based on my golf score.
Me Teaching:
His story unfolded. He was a junior sensation before junior
golf was in vogue. He dreamed of becoming a teaching pro
because of the influence of his childhood pro. Along the way he
won his share of amateur tournaments and eventually contended
in several PGA events. But his love of teaching and his desire to
spend time with his young family turned his heart homeward. He
worked as an assistant for several years, eventually developing a
following because of his innovative teaching methods.
His impact was significant and lifechanging
for many pros, but he loved teaching all levels of golfers,
especially juniors.
To him the purest form of teaching was taking a novice and building a
love for the game and an understanding of the skills required to
enjoy it, even if the student was a cowboy or rancher by day.
Playing the drums:
“Son,” he said with a certainty to his voice, “You just got
fired. You are the CEO of a potential multimillion dollar
company. If you want to be rehired by the end of this day you
better learn to answer your board of directors with a competent
and well-thought-out answer to such a strategic and crucial
question. If you want to lead a successful organization, you better
build a bullet-proof foundation for why you do what you do and
how you do it. Or you should hang it up right now.”
Your toughest foe will be the
casual comment offered up by a fellow player or teacher about
how you should be doing it. When I ask you about any part of
your game, I want a solid answer, and I want to hear conviction in
your voice. If you don’t have a solid answer, I’ll send you to the
oak to write about it. I deeply believe that in writing our thoughts
unseen wisdom rises to the occasion. I am not here to improve
your swing; my purpose is to help you find your game. That is
exactly what I intend to do.”
He handed me a new black leather-bound journal full of blank
pages. He pointed to the big oak in the cemetery about twenty
yards away. He said, “I want you to take a seat under that tree and
write about three things:
1. Why do you grip the club like you do?
2. Where do you play the ball in your stance for various
shots?
3. What is your predominant shot pattern and why?”
“Take the black book and
after every few shots write something that comes to mind with
regard to what you sensed or felt. Get rid of other people’s words
and find your own. Be creative, use word pictures, illustrations,
anything that will help to return to this place and time.”
I just needed at some point to listen to what my body felt, rather
than trying to play to another’s words.
He asked if I ever slowed down to just think. He said this was
one of the places he comes each day just to let the experience of
the day have a chance to sink in deeply. He said time to
contemplate, time to listen to the learning, is crucial in the change
process.
“Emotional balance is as important as physical balance,”
“Let me ask you the question again,” he said firmly but with a
wry smile. “What shot will you hit? Not what shot do you think
you will try. There is no room for think or try; they are deadly to
commitment.”
Bunkers are not your enemy, nor are white stakes, red stakes, or
yellow stakes. Water is not your enemy, nor is any object on the
course. Players often look upon these inanimate objects with fear
or disdain. They allow these objects to steal energy and focus.
Your painting will reveal that they are just a part of the story, part
of the perspective. Enjoy painting them. They will be guides that
lead you to your target.”
It was Hogan’s
creativity that allowed him to experiment until he understood
what others would never find.
What’s important:
We hold organizations sacred and leave it all on the
court for these meaningless entities, yet the hearts of men and
women remain imprisoned for the lack of wisdom being shared.
Where is wisdom these days? Who is teaching wisdom?
get in the boat with the Master, make Him the captain and push out into the deep waters. He will tell you where to fish. The
outcome is in His hands, not yours. The fear of failure will be
removed from your performance. Success will no longer be the
goal; significance in the process of fishing will hold all the
emotions that you have longed for, namely peace, patience, and
significance.”
I took the piece of paper and the pencil and begin to search
my heart for the buried lies. I found several:
1.*My golf scores are a reflection of my self-worth.
2. *Failure in golf is failure in life.
3. *Success in golf will bring the fulfillment that I long for.
4. *My calling in life is to play golf.
5. The opinions of others are paramount in the choices I
make.
6. God is a crutch for the weak.
7. Tradition is sacred and never to be challenged
I opened the box and placed the buried lies inside. I replaced
the lid and carried the box toward the open grave.
Golf Tips:
I think it was the weakening of his left
hand that transformed his career. I decided to try it out for myself.
I was about 20 at the time. I knew if I wanted to compete at the
highest levels I would have to overcome my fear of the hook
getting away from me. Exaggerating Hogan’s concept a little, I
weakened my left hand until I could only see one knuckle. I also
moved my left thumb from three o’clock on the top right of the
shaft, to just past center on the top right of the shaft. This allowed
me to pronate, or rotate the face open, on the way back for the
first time in my life and protected me from over-releasing with
the left hand at impact. The results were immediate and lasting.
For the first time in my life I hit a high soft fade, a shot that was
previously missing from my game. The hook vanished forever.
placement of the club in the left hand. He taught to
hold the club in the fingers of your left hand with the club
perpendicular to your fingers (lined up with the crease marks
made by the underside of the knuckles). I had spent all of my
golfing life with the club angling across my palm, matching my
lifeline crease, not my knuckle crease. When I made this change,
it was easy for me to hinge the club at the top. I had never been
able to hinge the club before.
We started at the range with the nine basic shots in golf: low
hook, normal hook, high hook, low straight, normal straight, high
straight, low slice, normal slice, high slice. Johnny lined up nine
balls then called the shot.
swing. Instead he advocated adjusting ball position, stance,
and opening or closing the club face as the most efficient and
effective ways to success. He taught me that manipulating the ball
with these pre-swing adjustments was much easier than
attempting a different swing for each of the nine shots.
*Face-on Putting: The Future of Putting article
The greats:
Those are the two common denominators: perennial
success and conviction.”
*Corollary:
1. important to build an organization that values/builds people, does quality work w/ integrity, benefits society, etc... So as I work at Rosetta / if I start one - don't lose this focus (ie. triple bottom line, 4 quadrants diagram etc...)
2. What are the excellent music orgs that foster this kind of people? - key universities???
managing up - convincing superiors to help you...
To all my cowboy friends in Utopia, Texas. Your pace of life
and wisdom garnered from working the land and cultivating deep
friendships give me new life each time I am with you.
Find what you do well and perfect it. And most of all, do it
with character. Only you know your character, the person you see
when you look into the mirror. Your reputation is who people
think you are.
• Play the drums
• Lead people
In life we must be willing to coach and be coached; either one alone will leave us
empty.
I didn’t realize it then, but I had traded
unconditional love from my dog to a life of conditional acceptance
based on my golf score.
Me Teaching:
His story unfolded. He was a junior sensation before junior
golf was in vogue. He dreamed of becoming a teaching pro
because of the influence of his childhood pro. Along the way he
won his share of amateur tournaments and eventually contended
in several PGA events. But his love of teaching and his desire to
spend time with his young family turned his heart homeward. He
worked as an assistant for several years, eventually developing a
following because of his innovative teaching methods.
His impact was significant and lifechanging
for many pros, but he loved teaching all levels of golfers,
especially juniors.
To him the purest form of teaching was taking a novice and building a
love for the game and an understanding of the skills required to
enjoy it, even if the student was a cowboy or rancher by day.
Playing the drums:
“Son,” he said with a certainty to his voice, “You just got
fired. You are the CEO of a potential multimillion dollar
company. If you want to be rehired by the end of this day you
better learn to answer your board of directors with a competent
and well-thought-out answer to such a strategic and crucial
question. If you want to lead a successful organization, you better
build a bullet-proof foundation for why you do what you do and
how you do it. Or you should hang it up right now.”
Your toughest foe will be the
casual comment offered up by a fellow player or teacher about
how you should be doing it. When I ask you about any part of
your game, I want a solid answer, and I want to hear conviction in
your voice. If you don’t have a solid answer, I’ll send you to the
oak to write about it. I deeply believe that in writing our thoughts
unseen wisdom rises to the occasion. I am not here to improve
your swing; my purpose is to help you find your game. That is
exactly what I intend to do.”
He handed me a new black leather-bound journal full of blank
pages. He pointed to the big oak in the cemetery about twenty
yards away. He said, “I want you to take a seat under that tree and
write about three things:
1. Why do you grip the club like you do?
2. Where do you play the ball in your stance for various
shots?
3. What is your predominant shot pattern and why?”
“Take the black book and
after every few shots write something that comes to mind with
regard to what you sensed or felt. Get rid of other people’s words
and find your own. Be creative, use word pictures, illustrations,
anything that will help to return to this place and time.”
I just needed at some point to listen to what my body felt, rather
than trying to play to another’s words.
He asked if I ever slowed down to just think. He said this was
one of the places he comes each day just to let the experience of
the day have a chance to sink in deeply. He said time to
contemplate, time to listen to the learning, is crucial in the change
process.
“Emotional balance is as important as physical balance,”
“Let me ask you the question again,” he said firmly but with a
wry smile. “What shot will you hit? Not what shot do you think
you will try. There is no room for think or try; they are deadly to
commitment.”
Bunkers are not your enemy, nor are white stakes, red stakes, or
yellow stakes. Water is not your enemy, nor is any object on the
course. Players often look upon these inanimate objects with fear
or disdain. They allow these objects to steal energy and focus.
Your painting will reveal that they are just a part of the story, part
of the perspective. Enjoy painting them. They will be guides that
lead you to your target.”
It was Hogan’s
creativity that allowed him to experiment until he understood
what others would never find.
What’s important:
We hold organizations sacred and leave it all on the
court for these meaningless entities, yet the hearts of men and
women remain imprisoned for the lack of wisdom being shared.
Where is wisdom these days? Who is teaching wisdom?
get in the boat with the Master, make Him the captain and push out into the deep waters. He will tell you where to fish. The
outcome is in His hands, not yours. The fear of failure will be
removed from your performance. Success will no longer be the
goal; significance in the process of fishing will hold all the
emotions that you have longed for, namely peace, patience, and
significance.”
I took the piece of paper and the pencil and begin to search
my heart for the buried lies. I found several:
1.*My golf scores are a reflection of my self-worth.
2. *Failure in golf is failure in life.
3. *Success in golf will bring the fulfillment that I long for.
4. *My calling in life is to play golf.
5. The opinions of others are paramount in the choices I
make.
6. God is a crutch for the weak.
7. Tradition is sacred and never to be challenged
I opened the box and placed the buried lies inside. I replaced
the lid and carried the box toward the open grave.
Golf Tips:
I think it was the weakening of his left
hand that transformed his career. I decided to try it out for myself.
I was about 20 at the time. I knew if I wanted to compete at the
highest levels I would have to overcome my fear of the hook
getting away from me. Exaggerating Hogan’s concept a little, I
weakened my left hand until I could only see one knuckle. I also
moved my left thumb from three o’clock on the top right of the
shaft, to just past center on the top right of the shaft. This allowed
me to pronate, or rotate the face open, on the way back for the
first time in my life and protected me from over-releasing with
the left hand at impact. The results were immediate and lasting.
For the first time in my life I hit a high soft fade, a shot that was
previously missing from my game. The hook vanished forever.
placement of the club in the left hand. He taught to
hold the club in the fingers of your left hand with the club
perpendicular to your fingers (lined up with the crease marks
made by the underside of the knuckles). I had spent all of my
golfing life with the club angling across my palm, matching my
lifeline crease, not my knuckle crease. When I made this change,
it was easy for me to hinge the club at the top. I had never been
able to hinge the club before.
We started at the range with the nine basic shots in golf: low
hook, normal hook, high hook, low straight, normal straight, high
straight, low slice, normal slice, high slice. Johnny lined up nine
balls then called the shot.
swing. Instead he advocated adjusting ball position, stance,
and opening or closing the club face as the most efficient and
effective ways to success. He taught me that manipulating the ball
with these pre-swing adjustments was much easier than
attempting a different swing for each of the nine shots.
*Face-on Putting: The Future of Putting article
The greats:
Those are the two common denominators: perennial
success and conviction.”
posted by Steve Neola at 3:27 PM
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