PACE-OF-PLAY
Posted on January 26, 2020
Slow play is a challenge and an opportunity in golf. A slow player can ruin the day for players behind him-her; and in the interest of other golfers, players need to make a commitment to play at a reasonable pace. As an added variable in the pace-of-play equation, the number one revenue producer on golf courses is greens fees. Course management has an obligation to their respective boards or management teams to fill as many tee times with foursomes as are available. From this perspective, pace-of-play becomes a total team effort between golfers and course management. Some pace-of-play concepts to learn and practice are as follows:
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ETIQUETTE
Posted on January 18, 2020
Reflecting on etiquette reminds of the green on hole number one at Orchard Hills Country Club, Bryan, Ohio. As an eight-year-old, it was the beginning of a great day playing golf with Dad. Dad was putting for a birdie and the author was behind the hole astride Dad’s putting line. Dad bellowed, “G#* John, get out of my putting line!” Yes, Dad was a stickler about course etiquette; and his passion for courtesy on the course is alive in the author today.
Practicing course etiquette respects the legendary core values and guiding principles of the game. Nothing is more frustrating than playing with a golfer who has not taken the time and opportunity to become familiar with course etiquette, the spirit of the game, safety, putting green courtesies and mindful control of disturbance and distraction. Golf coaches, including my dad, always counseled as follows: Read More
RITUAL
Posted on January 12, 2020
For every shot the golfer needs to evolve a Ritual for creating a personal teepee where the mind becomes clear and quiet [Shoemaker, F. (1996). Extraordinary Golf. NY, NY: Pedigree] and the programmed subconscious is given absolute trust to deliver a shot. In 1929 legendary Bobby Jones remarked, Read More
TRAINING SUBCONSCIOUS
Posted on January 5, 2020
As a student of golf, trusting the subconscious mind to swing the golf club has evolved a growing passion to be more positive, to learn and to improve because the game is the “funest” and “bestest” ever. Placing swing thoughts on a bus to Tucson, giving clear “desired results” to the subconscious and passionately connecting the conscious mind with the subconscious mind is a completely new, exciting experience.
An innate desire to have the complicated golf swing “perfect” and growing awareness of the powers of the subconscious has energized interest in learning more about how the subconscious mind can be programmed—mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually—to facilitate improved performance. Christian D. Larson offers, Read More
BODY, BALL, CLUB and TARGET
Posted on December 29, 2019
In a 2016 email Marshall Gavre, coach and associate of Fred Shoemaker’s Extraordinary Golf school, comments,
As Fred (Shoemaker) notes in his book (Extraordinary Golf), the four real things at play in golf are the body, ball, club and environment (including target). We have found over the years that as a golfer becomes more aware of, or present to any of those four realities, learning seems to take place easily. The other focus that gets most golfers attention is thoughts in the mind…Thoughts typically either keep us in the past or project us into the future, neither of which are present right here right now.
How does one not swim in swing thoughts and focus on body, club, ball and target? During discussion of Ritual, Golf as Guru (www.johnedwindevore.com) notes, “For every shot, the golfer needs to evolve a ritual for creating a personal teepee where mind becomes clear and quiet and the physically, emotionally and mentally programmed subconscious is given absolute trust to deliver the ball to the intended target.”
Creating the personal teepee is individually unique; and experience offers that mindfulness and awareness meditation can nurture monkey mind quietness and enable body, club, ball and target awareness. For this golfer, when ready to pull the trigger, relaxed focus offers a golf ball dimple as a single point of concentration coupled with awareness of a relaxed body, a club and a golf ball resting at the intended target. A brief story…
In 2001, sparked by a stagnant bowling average, a trek to learn to meditate was launched at Naropa University. As relevant literature had revealed, a desired result was to begin to experience the connection between the body and the mind through the breath. By early 2004, the bowling passion had expired and as a three-year, trained, novice meditation practitioner, a treasure hunt evolved to discover a connection between meditation and golf. In 2017 experience evolved gold; and although the journey to understand and experience the meditation-golf link continues to blossom, the connection is simple. Meditation can support 1) quieting the mind, at will; 2) expanding awareness; 3) visualizing and creating multi-dimensional images; 4) increasing the likelihood for in-the-zone experiences; 5) heightening of relaxed focus; 6) deepening of feeling, passion and intent to put a ball at a target; 7) facilitating harmony with surroundings; and 8) growing insight about the game. If you are up for learning to meditate, recommend that a first step be to find a meditation coach who understands your individual uniqueness and goal and with whom you have good chemistry. P.S. Enjoy Golf as Guru, silent self-alone and becoming one with the body, club, ball and target.
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SELF-RESTRAINT
Posted on December 22, 2019
Self-restraint is a learned skill that can evolve to be a second bag of clubs on the course. Rachel Hollis offers, “We are not in control of what life throws our way; however, we are in control of the fight!” Fred Shoemaker, Extraordinary Golf and Extraordinary Putting, offers that a golfer with interference is not the same golfer who shows up over a golf ball without interference. At will, a golfer needs capacity to go to silent self alone on every shot. Read More
WELLNESS SPECTRUM
Posted on December 16, 2019
In January 1973 the career path arrived at Coors Container Company, Golden, Colorado. This was the beginning of a 21-year journey that unfolded unlimited opportunities, challenges, travels, events, relationships, thrilling family transitions and the beginning of a 40 plus year self-awareness trek. One of the highlights that was introduced then, and is alive in the author today, was the genius of Bill Coors to be experienced in the Coors Wellness Process. Adolph Coors Company, “Our Values,” states, “These values can only be fulfilled by quality people dedicated to quality relationships within our company. We foster personal and professional growth and development…and encourage wellness in body, mind and spirit for all employees.” Read More
TRUSTING THE SUBCONSCIOUS
Posted on December 8, 2019
Ever since teeing up that first golf ball with Mom and Dad at the age of seven, golf has been a patient life coach; and as the years have sped by, the sport continues to coach and counsel. Recent experiences have offered that if open and psychologically ready for the infinite messages, “simple” in golf and life can be discovered beyond sport and life’s complexities.
As humans, Christian Larson’s (The Great Within) message is clear: we are reflections—thinking, personality and character—of the language we live-in. As Abel Leighton Allen contends, “Our todays are the result of our past thinking, our tomorrows the result of our present thinking. We have been our mental parents, and we shall be our own mental children.” How would Woody and Birdy Ball, Golf as Guru, use this taste of philosophy on every shot or putting stroke on the golf course? “Too complicated for us: Just learn to program and trust the subconscious to hit the #$@% golf ball to an intended target.” Read More
WHY GOLF as GURU?
Posted on December 1, 2019
Why write Golf as Guru: Mindfullness, Awareness and Self-Restraint? WOW! What a learning journey golf has opened for a student of the game and sport of golf, all the way from growing up in Northwestern Ohio playing golf with Mom and Dad, circling the globe and arriving here in Arizona continuing to play golf, year-round with my wonderful wife of almost 50 years. As the title and subtitle offer, the sport of golf has been a great coach and teacher; has evolved a concept of mind”full”ness; has breathed a peek at how awareness really differentiates professional golfers from average golfers; and has been a mighty fine instructor when it comes to the learned skill of self-restraint. It really is fantastic to remain sane after two shots in the lake to the right of the fairway! Everything is OK the way it is! Read More
MASTER of MIND"FULL"NESS
Posted on November 24, 2019
The mind is a remarkable gift; however, a single, errant golf ball in the pond on the right of the fairway can rapidly orchestrate a disruptive, conscious mind ramble of swing thoughts. As Voltaire reminds, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Perhaps trusting the subconscious mind can enable us to avoid two errant shots from insanity. Let’s peek at a recent journey into the subconscious mind and the opening of a new area for awareness: the part of our mind where 90% of life’s experiences reside. Read More