A mother said to her son, "You can't push that table, it's as big as you are."
The young boy replied: "But mother, I can push the table because I am as big as it is."
Quite an awareness that hopefully will not be taught right out of him. Belief in yourself starts at a young age and can be pushed deep down to a place that is tough to get to. But it's still there -- it's very similar to one of those dimmer lights. The power of the electricity is always there, but we may not recognize it if the switch has been turned way down. The fact remains that the power is there to tap into. It is similar to that with your golf game too.
How is it that some of us go out and play six or seven holes in 1- or 2-under-par and the other holes are as if your dark side has showed up? How quick are you to focus on the darkness that shows up instead of the power of your belief?
Take a simple example of how nature works. A watermelon seed, for example, just imagine how small and insignificant it is until you give it what it needs to grow. The watermelon seed turns into something 200,000 times its own weight. It doesn't turn into a pumpkin or a cantaloupe. All that wonderful stuff comes from dirt. It simply is what it is, just like you and I.
I don't mean to say that anyone could be the greatest golfer in the world or for that matter another Beethoven. A swan can't become a duck. Perhaps you have your gift and I have mine. I do think we can all experience higher levels of anything we choose to do better and much of the progress lies in our ability to believe. The power of that light switch I described is at your freedom of choice. You can turn it up or turn it down.
One of the first things I let my students know is to stay clear of defining yourself. Definitions will always limit you. The awareness should be more directed to seeing the world around us as being inside of us as well. That may sound a bit transcendental, yet it has most likely happened to you before in some situation. It is best described as a feeling of when you were absolutely sure something was about to happen. It is as if you create it as you go. This is total belief, yet not getting in your own way.
For me it just happened to be with golf. I recall a golf tournament I played in as a kid with my dad. He was a fine player, State Amateur Champion, and I felt like a mouse most of the time when I was growing up, until he put belief in me. This only had to happen once and I will never forget it. I remember the tournament that we played in as partners. It was just so much fun. I never felt any pressure at all. It actually helped that we were the underdogs without any expectations. No definition on who we were. My dad just kept telling me how good I was and I kept believing in the words he spoke.
We ended up on top, beating State Amateur Champions past and present from all over the New England area. I can honestly say it didn't matter when it was happening if we won or lost because I felt so a part of something I just loved doing. This was no Tour event, perhaps a cut above the member invitational. The point is it felt like it came out of me and I have never stopped searching for that feeling in everything I do.
If you would like to read more go to 7mythsofgolf.com.
