By: Shane Matzen, Graves Golf Single Plane Coach / Membership Liason
I think about golf and Single Plane a lot. I guess you could say in a much more general sense that I THINK A LOT. That could be construed to be a good thing but for those of you who operate in the same “always-on” universe that I do, I think you understand where this gets us into trouble on the golf course!
It’s been a very enjoyable experience following along with our new Fast Forward Winter Training program that we’ve rolled out the past few months. The training and insight provided by Todd (Full Swing), Tim (Short Game), Chris Henning (Fitness), Paul Monahan (Mental Game) and Oli Stanway (host of the proceedings) have really been outstanding, and I’ve learned a lot. I hope many of you who have been involved with it feel the same way.
A recent Mental Game portion of the course got me thinking (there I go again!) though about our attitude towards the present and the “WIN” concept (“What’s Important Now”) that Paul and Oli rolled out during the past couple of Mental Game lessons. The obvious part of their teachings and discussions leads us to understand and work towards an attitude of not worrying about what’s happened or could happen but living in the present.
As I delved into the bottomless pit of my mind with this concept, it occurred to me that there are really 18 (or 9 if you only book half a round) times on a course that we, for the most part, accept what’s in front of us and almost always have a great and positive attitude towards our next shot: In the tee box. When we walk up to put a tee in the ground, we know that we’re in a place that’s been designated by folks who have made decisions that are out of our control (the course superintendent and his staff) and that we have a clear and definite opportunity in front of us. Now, what helps with this is that SOMEONE ELSE made the decision for us to be in this location, but I’d challenge you to think about how inconsequential it is that this other person or persons designated where we should take our next shot from.
The bottom line, no matter, if someone laid out some unique-to-the-course blocks on either side of our shot or we are on the side of a mound to the right of the fairway getting ready to take our second shot or preparing to take our our wedge to hit out of the bunker to try and get up and down…….THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY IN FRONT OF US.
“The present”, “the next shot”, what’s important now”, etc, etc, etc, all apply no matter the situation. I would challenge you to take that same mindset you have when you step up to the tee whereby you accept the opportunity to do the same for EVERY SHOT. The workings of how you came to that next shot really don’t matter when you think about it. The next shot is the next shot is the next shot no matter where it is. Take it for the test and opportunity it is, learn from it and go meet the next scenario.
I’ll end with this…..I played in an alumni golf tournament a couple of years ago back in my hometown. Once the round was over, I sat with a gentleman who was my dad’s age who I knew well but hadn’t seen in a while. He was one of the best players to ever play my hometown course having won more club championships than I could count but he was a very “stay close to home” guy. I asked him why he didn’t play more courses and why he would choose to come out to the same course day after day, year after year. His answer was great. He said, “Shane, every time I come out here, no matter how many times I play this course, it’s a new game.”
Think about that for a minute. No matter where we hit from during a round or the situation that got us to that moment, there’s a reason why we play this game. I think he summed it up perfectly.
