Our artful self is always present, waiting on the sideline for its chance to play. All we have to do to invite it's artistry into our game is surrender our ego. Creativity only appears after we let go of the ego and it's urge to impress, control, manipulate, and cling.


Solitude by hb19 at flickr.com

Deepak Chopra discusses surrender when putting in Golf for Enlightenment when he states that, "Only when you give up and surrender to the putt does it start pouring into the hole as if drawn by a magnet or a string. Under those magical conditions, even distance doesn't seem to matter. A 30-footer will go in as surely as a 2-footer. If I couldn't control the magic, I could give in to it. So now, after taking my stance and gripping the putter the way I was taught, I take one look at the cup and inside myself I say to the hole, 'I'm giving my ball to you.' Only then do I hit it and just let go. I trust that there is always a string tied between the ball and the cup. The string isn't a mystery, it is a form of exact coordination that can be organized only by a higher intelligence. Putting is one of those deep riddles best solved by knowing you can't solve it. When you truly know that, the door of simplicity opens. You perform the necessary setup without worry, repetition, and fuss."

I've only had one experience where I completely surrendered my ego to the higher intelligence of my artful self.

I had just hit a great drive and lay-up on a long par 5, but left myself with a downhill lie in front of a large bunker protecting a raised green. The pin was tucked in front with very little green between the pin and bunker.

I decided to play it safe and just get the ball on the green, although I'd be faced with a slippery downhill putt back to the front of the green. I got tense and hit my wedge a little too strong and ended up on the back fringe, 70 feet above the hole.

I stood over the putt, confident that I had no chance of 2-putting from here. Any putt made to the hole would run down off the green's false front and back into the fairway next to the bunker. If the putt was short, I'd face the same dilemma on the next putt.

With a feeling of complete helplessness, I just closed my eyes and said to myself, "okay Artful Self, let's see what you can do". I surrendered completely. I opened my eyes and looked at the ball without looking up at the hole, took the putter back, and stroked the ball. I then looked up and watched as the ball rolled down the middle of the green, then broke left towards the hole, and finally slowed down - and dropped!

I've never made a putt anything like it since. It was quite a memorable birdie for everyone in the foursome.

As Fred Shoemaker shares in Extraordinary Golf, "When you disappear, Golf as Art shows up."

Labels: Books, Deepak Chopra, Disciplines, Ego, Golf for Enlightenment, Surrender