A golf lesson I didn’t expect to learn.
A few weeks ago, I played in a U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier. I didn’t punch my ticket into the championship, but I walked away with something even greater—a deeper understanding of myself.
I was reminded how easily I am swayed out of my process. I’m so quick to try something different in order to fix my game. A few bad holes and I quickly go into search mode.
I even said this to my playing partner. How I try to “find the secret” that will unlock my game so I don’t have to practice as much. I don’t have the time I used to have so if I can just find that one feel I’ll finally be able to have a reliable, low maintenance golf game without all the effort.
This faulty mentality leads to me changing my strategy mid-round, switching from using the line on the ball to not using the line, trying to hit the shot I’m supposed to be able to hit, thinking about swing technique the whole round. A bunch of irrational ideas that happen so quickly under tournament pressure.
This of course is ultimately a fruitless search. By trying to find a shortcut, I only end up lost and having to find my way back to the original path. Which is time spent on heading the wrong direction.
So what did my playing partner have to say? He said some extremely wise, grounding (and I’ll admit, obvious) words:
“The secret is in the dirt.”
He’s exactly right. I’ve never once found “the secret”. There is no secret. There’s no “swing like this and you’ll be a great golfer and lower your handicap and always contend in every event you play, and it’ll happen quickly.”
That’s just not how it works.
The answer is actually incredibly obvious and boring: Working hard on the right things for a long time.
That’s the way to improve.
By diligently sticking to the long, slow path, you actually save time in the long run. As Raymond Prior has said on The Mental Golf Show:
“Patience is a long road. But it’s still the shortest road.”
I’ve been playing competitive golf for 22 years. And somehow this had never truly dawned on me in this way. Despite having gotten to a relatively high level through working really hard on the right things for a long time, I still don’t actually believe it. Or I don’t want to believe it.
But it’s true. My experience, your experience, everyone’s experience bears it out.
But I guess that goes to show you that no matter how long you’ve been playing golf there’s more to learn. About the game and yourself.
Hopefully you can learn this sort of lesson too. That great golf isn’t a secret to uncover. It’s a process to unfold. Embracing that journey is what’s most important.