Just a quickie

From my friend Tim Cusick

http://www.myavidgolfer.com/articles/?view=department&department_id=15&no_current=1

Very good stuff.

It's been awhile, sorry

Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm writing about golf or life or if there is any difference. I do know that as an instructor I have at least one flaw that gets in the way of my success. I assume that everyone who comes to me for a lesson not only wants to get better but is willing to pay to price necessary to achieve this goal. The truth is that I don't understand those that aren't compelled to keep pushing themselves. This is my problem not the students. It's one of the reasons I will not be as successful from a financial standpoint as I could be in my chosen endeavor.

Back in the days, some 30 plus years ago, when I was still a professional alcoholic (I now have my amateur standing back :-)) I could not understand people who could and preferred to stop drinking when they began to feel or it or worse yet would stop with just a half glass of wine. It never made any sense to me. Even now my knee jerk reaction is one of "what?". In my recovery I became a member of an organization that has had great success with those of us who had gone as far down as we chose to. One of their precepts was that "Half measures availed us nothing". In other words anything less than a 100% effort produced zero. I've found this to be true in golf, also.

Every student I've ever had has approached changes to his/her game with great expectations and great resolve but it doesn't last except in a few rare cases. Changes to an existing game or learning it for the first time is very hard. Much harder than anyone imagines at the beginning.

Let me give you two examples.

I've had a set of Dave Pelz's putter clips for 8 years. There are 3 in each set. The idea is to help you learn to hit the sweet spot with your putter every time. Each one is progressively smaller. The last one gives you a 64th of an inch on either side. I've never been able to move out of the easiest size until last week. That's 8 years of work trying to learn this.

In my full swing I tend to be well above the plane on my follow through. David Leadbetters people brought this to my attention almost 20 years ago. I've been trying to fix it since then. A big breakthrough took place within the last few days.

Excellence in any activity is a very lonely business be prepared to spend lost of lonely hours to improve your golf. I'll be joining you in spirit.

Take care.