After shooting one of my worst rounds of golf in 6 months yesterday, and realizing that I've taken too much time from work this week to play golf, I think I need to step back and get some perspective. It's bad enough that my score has suffered recently from trying too hard to improve. I certainly don't want golf to start interfering with other parts of my life, like work.


Photo by Deano8 at flickr.com

Jim Waldron, a nationally acclaimed golf teaching professional and mental game coach at Balance Point Golf Schools, believes that perspective is one of seven core traits comprised by golfers who learn the fastest, practice the most effectively, and achieve the most dramatic performance breakthroughs on the golf course.

Waldron shares that, "perspective means understanding that life itself - especially golf! - is always in a constant state of flux. There is nothing to hold onto that will truly last. Accepting this allows the golfer to see that golf is truly "just a game" and that there are many more important things in one's life than the current state of your golf game. Perspective allows you to see the larger view and apportion your time and energy to golf in a balanced blending with the other parts of your life."

Not only does proper perspective help to keep your life in balance, but in golf, perspective leads the way to detachment about the outcome of a shot, and that detachment removes all doubt and fear from your mind, enabling a tension-free swing and solid contact. Learning proper perspective may be the most important discipline in golf because doubt and fear only exist when the golfer cares too much about the outcome.

It is our ego that is attached to and overly concerned about the outcome. The ego's attachment to the shot interferes with the natural communication between brain and body in a futile attempt to prevent failure or achieve success. Both intentions affect your balance, coordination and mechanics, resulting in poor impact.

Great golf shots result from a detached state of mind allowing us to clearly focus on the target. So the freedom and fearlessness required for playing artful golf are rooted in detachment that comes from proper perspective, gained only by rising above the ego.

Labels: Balance Point, Detachment, Disciplines, Jim Waldron, Perspective