An end, a beginning.

I'm ending this blog here. Its naturally evolved into a new one: Carefree Golf. Take a look after you've had a look around this one.

You're not that bad - or good

Once you make the decision to give up being dismayed by your bad scores you start to realize that you have to also give up being impressed by your good ones. Neither are really caused by "you". "You" simply can't control a golf ball to that extent. Learn to just observe your scores as an interested onlooker. Don't personalize them. A good score is no more an indication that you are clever than a poor one an indication that you are a fool. They both just "are". Your job is simply to play. The score you end up with at the end of the day - despite what you might like to think - is not really something you control.

Reality bites

I've become convinced that one of the main causes of frustration for the average golfer is his failure to appreciate what I heard a golf commentator once say (I think it was Peter Thomson):

"There is the game the professionals play and there is the game everyone else plays. They are two entirely different things. They don't bear any resemblance to each other at all"

The sooner the average Joe realizes this and stops striving after wind the happier he will be.

Carefree Golf

I think its time to start an alternative movement: Carefree Golf - golf with no concern about score.

The traditional, score-focused approach to golf has failed to achieve anything worthwhile for the average player.

Consider this:

a) Most high handicap golfers experience constant frustration and anxiety on the golf course and walk off feeling worse than when they started

b) They believe their frustration and anxiety would disappear if they shot lower scores

c) Most low handicap golfers experience constant frustration and anxiety on the golf course and walk off feeling worse than when they started

Clearly, golf isn't working. Its certainly not the relaxing pastime for most people that it should be. And based on the above it never will be! Its time to take another look at the whole thing. Its time to learn to play completely free of anxiety. Its time for Carefree Golf.

Carefree Golfers won't care about score at all. And they won't just use "I don't care about score" as some sort of mental device, secretly hoping that they WILL get lower scores. No. They ACTUALLY WON'T care about score. That will become apparent when they shoot low scores - even personal bests. They STILL won't care about score. You see, for the CG, the enjoyment will be in the PLAYING not the scoring. Even if pencils, scorecards and the ability to add up didn't exist, the CG would STILL ENJOY GOLF. See? Nothing to do with numbers. For them golf will be a meditation, an escape. For them golf will be art. Unlike their traditional counterparts, CG's will walk off the course refreshed, relaxed and unloaded. They will walk off feeling BETTER than when they started.

Impossible? I don't think so. I think we just struggle to imagine it because the traditional score-based approach to golf is so ingrained. I for one am going to give CG a serious go. Watch this space.

Freedom

Golf is performance art and there's no right and wrong in art. You're free to play however you want. Listen to everyone else by all means but then DO IT YOUR WAY. You're free. Those who go against their instincts and play ''the right way" have given up their freedom and enslaved themselves to others.

You can't "practice golf" so don't try

You can't "practice golf" any more than an actor can "practice first night". He can practice lines, facial expressions and movements but he can't practice first night. First night is first night. Its a unique event in space and time and then its gone. Its like an Andy Goldsworthy ice sculpture. Once its gone its gone forever. He can make another one - even a similar one - but he can't make THAT one again. "Hitting balls" can be "practiced" but "golf" can only be "played". You can't rehearse it.

Humility

18 months ago I wrote the first post on this blog. It included this:

Some people tell me they “just enjoy the walk” or “just play for the social contact” or “don’t really care about the score”.  I  don't buy it. I used to say that too. I've decided that these are just the timid squeaks of the fearful. Golf is an addictive endeavour which never lets you go. You can either rise to its challenges and overcome your fears or you can say “I don’t really care about the score”

Three days ago I wrote "Peace in our time" which included this:

I've made a decision. I'm going to LITERALLY not care what happens any more........if I walk off with 100 thats fine....

Two lessons here:

1. Humility. You can't overpower golf. You have to respect it and submit to it. Do that and it might just smile upon you.

2. As Cameron Strachan (www.cameronstrachan.com) says: "You need to care without caring, try without trying"

18 months ago that first post concluded with this:

There’s no question about it, golf has made me a better person.  I guess thats ultimately why I play it - to learn about myself.

I'm still doing that.