"Ball-bound", or On Target?
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March 31, 2010 9:00 PM
Owen McClain, PGA Teaching Professional
Moses Lake Golf Club; Colockum Ridge Golf Course
People enjoy stories with spiritual implications. Back in high school, Richard Bach’s “Jonathon Livingston Seagull” was an inspirational best seller. More recently, LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series has been enormously popular. Golf literature is no different, with Murphy’s “Golf in the Kingdom” a perpetual favorite. “The Legend of Bagger Vance” touches on the afterlife. Countless books reflect on the game’s parallels to life and faith, some having been authored or co-authored by Nicklaus, Player, Lehman, and Wally Armstrong.
The manner in which I teach the golf swing has a connection to spiritual truth. In life you’ve got to have a clear understanding of who you are, a correct handle on who God is, and a correct vision of where you’re going. Whatever your belief, if you have a wrong concept of who you are, who God is, and where you are going, you’re lost. There is no “multiple choice” in these, you have to be correct! In golf, you have to be in the right position to begin with, have a correct grip on the club, and a clear idea of where your swing is going to finish. In both life and golf, all the details in between don’t really matter if those three elements are messed up; if the three are correct, most of the rest takes care of itself.
When a student or teacher becomes preoccupied with the golf ball—impact, distance, or direction—they compromise long term success in building a golf game by seeking instant gratification. I like to refer to this loss of long term outlook as becoming “ball bound” and nothing will decrease the effectiveness of your practice time as quickly as becoming ball bound. It’s easy to let the trivia of today cloud our long term focus in life, as well.
A good drill that allows you to take your focus away from the ball is to hit shots with your eyes closed. Simply set up over the ball, then before taking the club back, close your eyes. In order to make good contact, you must have trust as you do three things:
- Start from a correct position
- Remain in balance
- Focus on a good finish
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that a good finish is merely the result of doing things well before. It is also a causative factor, bringing everything preceding it into harmonious agreement, creating a simplicity and efficiency of movement.
In golf, in life, in faith.
OPM