Maybe if you decide to take a look at the way you have been learning you might discover that this is where an adjustment can be made which in turn will help you have more fun while practicing and playing.
According to Chuck Hogan, “Education would be a complete success if it met one criterion: to make learning fun, no one would tire of learning. They would enter into learning for pure joy of fascination, exploration and discovery. Nobody would be forced to learn. Proficiency and productivity would skyrocket as a by-product of this process. The same is true for golfers. Golf should be pure joy. Learning could be limitless if golf was purely fun.”
So many golfer’s are “stuck” in the same pattern of just trying to experiment with the latest swing advice or golf gimmick and invention that they often fail to see where the problem really exists. Maybe it is all in one’s own head! If you picked up the game out of a fascination and desire to learn, somewhere along the way that passion got side tracked. No doubt golf is a challenging game requiring coordination and motor skill development, but if you are constantly battling yourself within, it makes learning almost impossible to yield favorable results!
Take an assessment of your learning. Is it intimidated by hesitation, confusion, frustration, anger or depression? The trick is to genuinely make learning fun. As O.B. Shallow reminds us; “Choose to have fun. Fun creates enjoyment. Enjoyment invites participation. Participation focuses attention. Attention expands awareness. Awareness promotes insight. Insight generates knowledge. Knowledge facilitates action and action yields results.”
“When you indulge completely in this process, there cannot be fear or anger,” says Hogan. “You can enter into every golf shot without prejudgment of the outcome before it takes place.”
Your learning system and infinite capacity to learn will be open. As long as you don’t get serious about fun you’ll keep improving. You’ll also be a uniquely disciplined golfer who doesn’t get “sucked into” the “golf is hard” beliefs.
Perhaps you have set your goals high and you are, more than ever, determined to have your best season yet. Make sure to also place at the top of your goal list to have more fun in the process!
I was privileged to have worked with Chuck Hogan back in the early 90’s while playing on both the PGA and Nike Tours.
Dave Delong, PGA Class A Professional, Boundary Oak Golf Course
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