Odd Experiment

An experiment that I started to conduct on myself recently was hitting balls and playing with different swings and different grips. This may sound a bit odd, however I found it helpful to understand the students that come to me for help. So as I set out on my quest to feel the common golfer's frustrations, I would like to share with you what I found.

As I banged balls one afternoon at the back of our practice facility at Catta Verdera C.C. I realized that I had the luxury of hiding. While hitting balls with a strange grip and a different swing shape than the one I am accustom to using, I felt like I was a small child aimlessly banging away at keys on a piano.

I thought sooner or later I was bound to discover something that I could use. I did not want to abandon this right off the bat, surely there is something here that I don't have to get rid of. Like banging on the piano keys although this does not give us music, stopping the banging doesn't exactly further the creativity process of making music. The principals of learning golf and living aren't all that different. My first lesson learned: use what you've got.

As I furthered the search without trying to perfect this motion into something that I already knew would work, I came to a realization that I could never see before: it's tough to let go. Call it human nature, but we all have to some degree a need to be correct. Once I was able to let go of that I had a better flow going. Hitting balls was the exercise for me to let go of myself and just be. It was kind of like if you don't look and just go, you end up where you're going. That was a good lesson.

The last thing I found out was that there is no such thing as an ability that is useless. It only depends on what you do with it. Good can be good and bad can be good. So the easiest way to get rid of bad is by changing it into something good.

I have small children and while telling them the story of the ugly duckling, I asked my son when did the ugly duckling realize that he wasn't an ugly duckling anymore? He replied, when he saw that he was a swan. My last lesson learned was simply that: golf swings can work all kinds of ways when we see them as working. So, whatever works for you, go find it and turn it into a swan. My next experiment will be playing 18 holes left handed. I will share my score with you if I ever finish.

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