One of my main intents in creating this website earlier this year was the desire to share a book that I read - Extraordinary Golf by Fred Shoemaker - that inspired my biggest breakthroughs, not by teaching me how to improve my swing, but by transforming how I think on the golf course. The day after reading the book, I broke 80. One year later, I broke par.

Not bad, but it pales in comparison to a story I just read about a practicing surgeon in Cambodia who at 47 years old returns to golf after 28 years, and after surprisingly finding his skills still mostly intact, decides to realize his neglected potential by first sharpening his competitive skills in high stakes gambling games with some generals from the Cambodian armed forces, and soon after, pursues his tour card!


Striking it Rich by Reid Sheftall, M.D.

Reid Sheftall M.D. shares his unique experiences during this improbable journey in his new book - Striking It Rich; Golf in the Kingdom With Generals, Patients and Pros - a golf story that inspires and entertains while providing real-life wisdom and invaluable insights into the game. As one of his readers shares, "You've never read a golf story quite like this one." I agree, and I finally have a second book to recommend!

I was particularly drawn to the book initially since Sheftall takes up the game at nearly the same time and age I did. I was intrigued that someone our age could make such incredible progress so quickly, especially while working as a surgeon and running a medical center in Phnom Penh. I was surprised, not only by how much this story moved and inspired me, but, like Shoemaker's book, that it contained so many insights with the potential to transform your game. The book definitely rekindled my desire to keep improving.

I was also taken by how similar our approaches were. Although he was more skilled from the start, we both determined that with our limited time to play and practice due to having jobs, we had a much better chance to improve quickly by focusing on the most important fundamental, "changing how we think on the course", instead of working on our swing technique and taking lessons. Sheftall believes "the only way to change the quality and direction of your life is to change the way you think. If you believe something, truly believe it, your mind will figure out a way to make it a reality."

Sheftall, when asked frequently how he'd compete professionally if he hardly ever practiced or played anymore, would explain, "he kept things simple and would just swing the club the way it felt most comfortable. That way he didn't have to practice anything to keep it in tune." If asked how he developed such a good short game, he'd advise, "just think of the target and swing... Don't worry about how hard to hit the ball or how far back to take your backswing. Your brain will figure it out for you... Take a relaxed yet focused look at the target and keep that target in his mind when you swing... Never do anything mechanical or measured. Let your natural athletic grace guide you. It's swallowing, not carburetor repair." Ah, music to my ears!

An aspect of the book I found very compelling is how Sheftall weaved his incredible non-golfing life experiences into his story, from counting cards at the blackjack tables of Nevada to operating on children who had suffered disfiguring scars from acid attacks. It was interesting to learn how he applied so much of what he'd learned from these experiences in improving his thinking and decision-making on the course. One thing I learned from his experiences is to never make a wager with a card-counting M.I.T. grad.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned from his book concerned expectations. The books I've read suggest we let go of expectations when we play, but Sheftall suggests this is bad advice. In fact, he thinks that "the better players are beating the rest of us, because to a large degree, they expect to." Once we've put in the work and gained the necessary experience, we should expect success. Sheftall encourages expectations. The key, he shares, "is to not get too frustrated if those expectations are not met as precisely as you envisioned them." His personal mantra, "on any given day", is all about expectancy, and reminds me of the power of Shoemaker's phrase "the art of the possible".

So, at this point you might be asking, did Sheftall "strike it rich"? Well, I'll only share that he finally discovered what was missing in his game as a youth and what he suspects is missing in the games of a great many touring pros and amatuers alike, "Hitting one shot at a time isn't the answer - enjoying each and every shot is."

In my opinion, Striking It Rich would make a great gift for the holidays! And half of the proceeds from the book are donated to Operation Kids, a fund founded by Sheftall to provide free operations on children who have suffered disfiguring scars from burns. The surgeons at the American Medical Center in Phnom Penh have agreed to waive their fees in performing reconstructive surgery on injured children of limited means. To date, they have performed 92 such operations on 86 Cambodian children.

Labels: Books, Competition, Expectations, Reid Sheftall, Striking It Rich

A golfer who found his way to my website recently directed me towards an inspiring golf story, Golf's Sacred Journey by Dr. David L. Cook, about a rancher with extraordinary insights and a struggling young golf professional. Dr. David L. Cook is an author, peak performance coach and speaker in both the sport and business arenas. Golf Digest recently named him one of the "Top 10 Mental Game Consultants" in the world of golf. The story, available as a free download, shares wisdom that can transform your game, and life.


Bandon Dunes by hole-in-one at flickr.com

In addition to insights about the importance of rhythm, balance, and patience, I was particularly drawn to a chapter describing golf as art, an approach to the game I try to realize. Below, I've included some of my favorite excerpts from the story about golf as art.

"Golf is to art like dance is to music. Dance is a physical expression of the music; a golf shot is a physical expression of art."

"To be a great player, you must be a great shot-maker. To be a great shot-maker, you must become an artist."

"All shots start with a blank canvas. We must paint the shot with our eyes first, before our body can produce it accurately. In essence, the quality of our shot mimics the quality of our painting."

"Your muscles work off of images sent from the eyes. Your muscles will hit the shot, but like a pilot in the fog, they can only respond to the information you send to them. The most powerful information is an image, a picture. A good picture produces feel and feel produces trust."

"First, you must see; second, you feel; third, you trust. Trust is the epitome of golf. It is the freedom to swing and let go. Great athletes compete best when they are free. Trust, you see, is earned. It is earned by feel, and feel is earned by seeing. Therefore, art is the catalyst to a great shot."

"Every time you hit a shot, you are signing a painting. When we fail to engage art, we sign our name to a stick figure outcome. When you engage art, you sign your name to a masterpiece."

At one point during the story, the rancher tells the struggling pro to "be expectant". Although this advice was easy to miss in the story, it really struck me since I've focused so much on not having expectations. But then I realized that "being expectant" isn't about expectations about the outcome, it's about what Fred Shoemaker describes as being open to the art of the possible, being open to and even expectant of extraordinary golf.

Play golf with artful expectancy!

Last week, I had the opportunity to play a competitive round with this newfound attitude of artful expectancy. Our Men's Club Match Play tournament just began and my first match was against a very competitve golfer that I had to give 9 strokes to. Thanks to those strokes, I was quickly behind by 2 holes after 3. Although my opponent's handicap was quite a bit higher than mine, he was striking the ball and putting like a single handicapper. It was looking like I'd have to birdie every hole to stay even.

I decided to be expectant, yet patient. By the end of the front 9, I was up 3! Although I bogied the 1st hole, I shot 6 pars and 2 birdies to finish the front 1-under. My opponent kept it closer on the back, but I closed him out on 15 (4&3). With net pars on the last 3 holes, I recorded my best-ever competitive round with a 1-over 73 (71.2/129).

Labels: Art, Books, David Cook, Expectations, Golf's Sacred Journey, Rounds

A lesson golf continues to teach me is to let go of expectations. I struggle with this more often than I like to admit. It seems each time I shoot a good round, I expect to follow it up with another good one. If I hit a par 5 in 2 one day, I expect to do it again every time afterwards. The list goes on. As anyone who plays golf knows, it doesn't work that way.

Bob Rotella shares in his book, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, that "the first thing to do is to throw away your expectations as soon as you step onto the golf course, and just play."

Rotella goes on to say that, "expectations are great if you confine them to long-range considerations. It's fine, for example to expect that if you work at your game intelligently for an extended period of time, you will improve. But expectations can hurt you if they are narrowly focused on the results of a particular stroke, hole, or round."

This doesn't mean you can't believe you'll play well or hole a putt, just that you can't expect it. You need to replace expectation on desired results with goals of having fun and staying focused on every shot. Then the desired results just happen.

A round that stands out for me in bringing this lesson home occurred very recently. The prior day, I had played the first 6 holes with a young scratch golfer who works at the course. Amazingly, I found myself keeping right up with him, parring each hole. When we reached the 7th tee, we saw that the course was very backed up ahead of us with foursomes and that we were in for a long round as a twosome. Since he plays for free, he decided to quit. I decided to join him.

I came back out the next day, expecting to follow up where I left off - hitting fairways and greens, making 2 putts for pars. Instead, over the same 6 holes I parred the day before, I scored a quadruple bogie, triple bogie, double bogie and bogie. I was 10-over after 6 holes!

Fortunately, I realized what I had done - starting the round off expecting good results. On the 7th tee, I decided right then and there to let go of those expectations and just play. I played the final 12 holes 2-over!

Labels: Bob Rotella, Books, Disciplines, Expectations, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, Rounds