Most people who succeed in their various professions each describes being fully immersed in the moment during performance, with little or no thought of technique or results of their efforts. They lose themselves in their own creative process.

In my experience, no other discipline in golf has proved more important than being creatively immersed or centered in the present moment.

Artful golf appears when the mind is centered. When you find your inner center, creativity shows up. Your mind becomes free from the anxiety and interference introduced by judgment of a shot just taken in the past and fear or hope of executing a shot in the near future.

Fred Shoemaker shares in Extraordinary Golf, "when you disappear - the thoughts, worries, and judgments you have about yourself - Golf as Art shows up… Golf as Art recognizes the enormity of the potential of the moment. This can also be called creativity. It is the realization that what could exist greatly exceeds what does exist, and it keeps each moment vibrant, alive, and full of possibility. When a person plays golf in this way - fully absorbed, full committed, merging with the game - it is a marvelous thing. It is extraordinary golf."

Many of us experience this immersion in the moment when we start playing golf, while our expectations are realistic and golf is still a game to us. However, for various reasons, we eventually begin putting pressure on ourselves to perform.

We begin to expect results and we get consumed by outcome. The joy of the game gives way to frustration as we obsess over making perfect shots, winning holes, and shooting lower scores.

I'm personally making progress staying centered during shots, and even at letting go of judgment and reaction immediately following a shot. However, I still struggle to stay in the present towards the end of good rounds. I begin thinking about results and trying to achieve an outcome.

My biggest lesson, among many, came last month when I was playing a round with a friend that promised to be my best ever.

I shot a personal best 2-under on the front nine with 3 birdies and a bogie. On the back, I managed to shoot more pars than bogies by the time I walked up to the par 5 17th tee. I was only 1-over for the round. My best round at this course up until then had been a 4-over 75. Even with a bogie on 17 and 18, I'd beat that score!

On 17, I drove the ball into a lake on the right, which I had succeeded in carrying in all my dozens of rounds prior. I followed that with a couple more poor shots and a 3-putt for a triple bogie. I then drove the ball into a grove of trees on the par 4 18th, and 3-putted again for a double bogie.

The golfer I was playing with was also shooting his personal best round. Entering 17, he was 4-over, only 3 shots behind me. Unlike me, he shot pars on both 17 and 18, succeeding to shoot his best-ever round, not to mention beating me by 2 strokes!

His ability to stay centered through the end of the round made a huge impression on me.

Find your inner center, swing freely, and trust that the outcome will take care of itself. Great shots always follow and Artful Golf shows up.

Labels: Books, Centeredness, Disciplines, Extraordinary Golf, Fred Shoemaker, Rounds