Conference 7.286::golf

    Cool...
    
    > Where are you between two thoughts?
    
    Ans.: The Jaunt
    

    Why is everyone so concerned where and how far the ball goes.  In order
    to have any influence over anything you must have contact with it and
    it is obvious that we never have contact with the ball.  The only thing
    we have contact with is the club and how many of you concentrate your
    efforts on what the club is doing.  If your club is doing the right
    thing then the byproduct (the ball flight) will take care of itself.
    
    Forget about the ball! 

    
        Had to recheck the author of .0  .   I thought Mac O'Grady had
        got in and entered a note.   8^)
    
    -rick

    re: author
    
    Maybe an ad in Golf Digest....

    NIKE ad.
    
    bob
    

Aha.  You guys are sharp and read your journals!  Yes its the ad you have been
seeing (note I took no credit) and what a beauty.  Expresses the inner game
perfectly.  And I'm sure whomever wrote it, took most of it right out of
"Golf in the Kingdom" by Michale Murphy.

This topic hopes to get going some 'out of body' or 'in the zone' experiences
people have had.  As I think the only way you can get there is through the
inner game rather than the 'outer game'.

bob (who thinks Mac O. is one of golf's most intriguing personalities)

    Have you ever had a round where everything went right?  Things flowed
    along without much effort.  There have been lots of terms to describe
    what we all play the game to achieve: 'Career round', 'in the Zone',
    'in the groove', 'unconscious', et al.  Noone seems to know how it
    happens or why it disappears.  I think the reason is: its not something
    mechanical or physical that you can analyze.  Its an 'inner' state, not
    an 'outer' state.  Your swing basically doesn't change from shot to
    shot, round to round.  Its the 'swinger' that changes.  What natural
    abilities our bodies have are disrupted by a variety of mental states:
    I want, I should, I must, I can't, I will, ect.  If we could somehow
    short circuit the intellect we would find a calm and clear state of
    mind thats at the root of our nature.  Its only at that point that we
    can 'join' or 'participate' in the natural order or flow of things.

    When we learn to work with our own Inner Nature, and with the natural
    laws operating around us, we reach the level of Wu Wei - a
    characteristic of the Chinese philosophy of Taoism.  Wu Wei means
    "without doing, causing, or making" but in more practical terms means
    without meddlesome, combative, or egotistical effort.  At this level we
    work with the natural order of things and operate on the principle of
    minimal effort.  Since the natural world follows that principle,
    it does not make mistakes.  Mistakes are made, or imagined, by man;
    the creature with the overloaded brain who separates himself from the
    supporting network of natural laws by interfering and trying too hard.

    When you try too hard, it doesn't work.  Try grabbing something quickly
    and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try it again.  Try
    doing something with a tense mind.  The surest way to become tense,
    awkward, and confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard - one
    that thinks too much.  Such a mind, even if of high intelligence, is
    inefficient.  It's thinking ahead or about past experience, and fails
    to concentrate on what it's doing at the moment.

    The concept of Wu Wei can be seen in the practice of the Taoist martial
    art T'ai Chi Ch'uan, where an opponent is essentially worn out by
    sending his energy back at him or by deflecting it away.  Force is not
    opposed with force, instead it is overcome with yielding.  In the golf
    swing one must yield to the natural forces at work rather than forcing
    them to occur.

    The Swing Swami

    in Michael Bamberger's "To The Linksland," a Scottish Professional
    enjoins him to "listen to your golf swing - listen to the sound it
    makes. Reproduce the sound." Best tempo tip I've read...
    
    
    Ommmmmm....
    
    __Jack

    Any recommendations on reading that might help put my game back to an
    enjoyable level, regardless of my scoring?  I find myself finishing a
    round of golf and not feeling rewarded with the experience.  There are
    always a few good holes and shots to look back upon, by generally I am
    left feeling frustrated and unfulfilled after 18.  I'm at the point now
    where I really do not look forward to getting out on a course.
    
    Aside from a number of instructional books, I have read, "Golf in the
    Kingdom", by Michael Murphy.  An interesting tale, but one which left
    me wanting for something more substantial.
    
    I want to enjoy golf again, and I don't to finish this season left with
    a bad taste in my mouth.  Do I need golf therapy???

    Try something fresh.  leave all your woods at home.  Pick 6 clubs for a
    round of golf.  Simplify the game.  I've done it and found it to be
    very relaxing.  I pick higher numbered irons.  Never goes real far but
    man do they straighten out.  Accuracy becomes very important.
    
    Give it a try.

Re -.2

Sounds like its the inner game thats suffering.  When that turns around I'm sure
your game on the golf course will become enjoyable again.

I think its Tim Galway that wrote the book The Inner Game of Golf (the guy
who wrote same for tennis).  Its a good book with good practical advise.

Also Murphy is coming out with another book but I haven't started to look for
it.  In 'Kingdom' he talks about how golf can point out some problems that may
be going on in the rest of one's life.  Such as when he felt he couldn't ever
get lined up properly.  Turns out he needed to make some decisions in his life
that he had been avoiding.  Once they got straightened out, his golf improved.

Take yourself out for a 'self discovery' round of golf and maybe you'll find an 
answer.

Swing Swami

    Harvey Penick's "Little Red Book" is pretty low-key. Anything by
    Bernard Darwin or Herbert Warren Wind is great, Too.
    
    __Jack

    Interesting...  I know that I always have a great deal of problems on
    my mind, as we all do, and I usually look forward to getting out on the
    course and leaving them behind me.  Perhaps I'm not, and hitting bad
    golf shots just reinforces any other negative things going on.
    
    Would love to leave it all behind on the first tee, and just enjoy the
    day and the company.  When the game is going well everything is fine,
    but when you hid your third tee shot in a row in the woods, it stinks.
    
    Bob (on the couch) D.

How much do you practice?

I don't mean this as an insult or a reprimand.
Some people can 

	o relax and enjoy the day
	o look at the sky
	o breath the fresh air

when they are hitting it up their leg.  

Others cannot.  they enjoy hitting good shots.  Lots of them.
They like the feeling of getting better, of *knowing* the shape
of your shots before you hit them, of never 3-putting, etc.

If you're one of the latter group then it might be more enjoyable
to hit the range 10 times a week and the course just once.

Mike (who admits to having a lot more fun when the game is on)

    One of these notes I can reply to with first hand knowledge.
    
    STATS:
    
    Begin this season with a 15 handicap.  Within two months the handicap
    is 18 and climbing fast.   Spend $100 on lessons with the pro who can't
    find too much wrong with the mechanics or the swing.  Usually hit the
    ball fairly well while taking the lesson and practicing.  Still,
    handicap is now 19 and holding.  Start hitting the practice range
    daily. No change in handicap.
    
    THE CHANGE:
    
    July 4th, a walk-on joins the normal group.  He plays in my foursome
    and he's hitting left-handed.  Shoots a 78.  In to the clubhouse for a
    brew and we start quizzing him on his game.  Turns out he's a 6
    handicap - LEFT HANDED, and a 5 handicap - RIGHT HANDED.  Plays once a
    week deciding when he gets to the course which way he'll play that day. 
    He's a nuclear physicist by trade, builds all his own clubs in his
    spare time for enjoyment, and we discuss ball trajectory, split second
    contact from clubhead to ball and the difference 1 degree at contact
    makes 250 yards down the fairway.  This guy is unreal.
    
    THE BOTTOM LINE:
    
    So, we ask, how is it that you can play so well for once a week.
    His answer was, IT'S ALL IN THE MIND!
    
    I asked him if hea had any suggestions on my game.  He said I had a
    solid swing and could tell I was struggling with the game.  His
    suggestion was to get the book "The Inner Game of Golf" and use it.  He
    also mentioned another one called "Quantum Golf".  I read both and
    tried the techniques in the books.
    
    The bootm line is that I had the best rest of the season ever.  The
    handicap is down to 13 and I had my best game ever, a 78.  Whenever I
    start to have the urge to 'try a little harder', get down on myself, or
    just generally don't like the way the game is going, I just pull out
    the books and read a little.
    
    Regards,
    
    Tom
    

    Thanks for the advice on the books, I'll check them out.
    
    I took 5 private lessons this year and I typically practice 1-2 times a
    week.  This year I played 1-3 times a week.
    

RE: .15

What a great story!  A perfect example of what this topic is all about.

Are you sure that wasn't Mac O'Grady you played with?

Bob

    Sounds like the brother of Shivas Irons...

Finished a book not long ago entitled "Golf: The Mind Game" by Mackenzie and
Denlinger.  Offers some pretty good 'real' exercises to tap your inner
resources.  Some of whats covered:

- Alot on going 'inside' and retrieving past experiences (especially GOOD ones).

- A strategy for representing sensory cues: sights, sounds, and 
  feelings (kinesthetic).

- Works on the three underlying states of mind that are essential to playing
  well consistently: concentration, confidence, and a sense of mind-body
  unity. This inner sense of unity has elements of resonance, harmony, 
  rhythmic energy, and grooved coordinated movement that feels effortless.
  The 'Zone'.

- Frequently, its your emotional state that stops you from playing good golf.

- A central technique called Anchoring - something to keep you focused on the
  here and now and in the proper frame of mind between shots.  Its a formalized
  process of tapping past experiences and making them automatically available.
  Its a stimulus that triggers the sensory details associated with past
  experience.  (e.g. Arnie hitching up his pants prior to a shot).

The biggest thing I took away was the importance of VISUALIZATION.  Seeing a
shot in your minds eye before executing it.  Its how you speak the language
of your unconscious - the only part of you that perform what you have to do
in the 2 to 3 seconds it takes to hit a golf ball.

Bob

On a slightly different tack, I'd like to offer a story my 5 yr. old daughter
likes to read.   The story is Oriental in origin I believe.  What it has to do
with golf is left as an exercise for the reader!.




                          Seven Blind Mice


	 One day seven blind mice were surprised to find a strange
	 Something by their pond.  "What is it?" they cried, and they
	 all ran home.

	 On Monday, Red Mouse went first to find out.  "It's a
	 pillar," he said.  No one believed him.

	 On Tuesday, Green Mouse set out.  He was the second to go.
	 It's a snake," he said.

	 "No," said Yellow Mouse on Wednesday.  It's a spear."  He was
	 the third in turn.

	 The fourth was Purple Mouse.  He went on Thursday.  "It's a
	 great cliff," he said.

	 Orange Mouse went on Friday, the fifth to go.  "It's a fan!"
	 he cried.  "I felt it move."

	 The sixth to go was Blue Mouse.  He went on Saturday and
	 said, "It's nothing but a rope."  But the others didn't
	 agree.  They began to argue.  "A snake!" "A rope!" "A fan!"
	 "A cliff!"

	 Until on Sunday, White Mouse, the seventh mouse, went to the
	 pond.  When she came upon the Something, she ran up one
	 side, and she ran down the other.  She ran across the top and
	 from end to end.

	 "Ah," said White Mouse.  "Now, I see.  The Something is
		as sturdy as a piller,
		supple as a snake,
		wide as a cliff,
		sharp as a spear,
		breezy as a fan,
		stringy as a rope,
	 but altogether the Something is...

	 an elephant!"

	 And when the other mice ran up one side and down the other
	 across the Something from end to end, they agreed.  Now they
	 saw, too.

	 The Mouse Moral:
	 Knowing in part may make a fine tale,
	 But wisdom comes from seeing the whole.

	 

    re: -1
    
    ahhhh, Grasshopper, your wisdom is only exceeded by your mouse
    tail.....
    
    8*)