The Struggle
This is an age-old struggle. In particular, this is an age-old struggle for me.
And I don’t know if I have a great answer for it.
I just recently went on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach. About 40 of us go this time every year.
And almost always my game is rusty and I’m in the middle of working on something in my swing. Which of course means I’m going to hit plenty of bad shots. (I hit plenty of bad shots when I’m not rusty and feel great about my swing too, but I digress.)
But this brings in the struggle. Do I take these three rounds of golf as a good opportunity to work on my swing? Knowing that I won’t get that much time otherwise?
Or do I just play with what I have, even though what I have is producing lots of klankers?
Golf is a long game of improvement, but with that reality you could make a case for both sides:
- Since golf is all about the journey and not the scores, then working on your swing while you play is fine because it’s more about long-term improvement than what you shoot today. Work on it while you play!
- Since golf is a long-game, you don’t have to perfect your swing right now. You can be patient and realize that your game might not be there yet, and that’s okay. I’m going to work on my swing in practice, then play what I got!
I can see both being totally fine mentalities.
So whether one is right and the other is wrong, or even if they’re both right, I always end up doing the same thing.
I work on my swing the whole time.
And guess what. It has never once helped. I never get better after working on my swing while I plat. I never play better the next day because I ground out my swing during the round the day before. I never end up hitting it better on the back 9 because I was obsessed with making good swings on the front 9.
So I’m led to believe that’s not a great solution, at least for me.
The Solution
Because of this, I believe I’ve landed at my answer. And this resolution is one that I’ve come to many times before, and seem to forget every single year.
Work hard when you can, with the resources you have, and play with what you got.
If that means never getting to practice and only getting to play, then even more so you should play with what you got, because you’re probably not going to get anything else if you’re not practicing.
And if you are practicing a lot, then you have a great reason to let go of what you’re working on and just send it. Because you know you’re just going to get right back to work on it.
So you combine the two concepts to come to a logical conclusion:
- Working on your swing while you play doesn’t make things better, and it often makes things worse
- Playing with what you got shows a self-trust and a freedom from perfection that allows for acceptance, and ultimately freedom.
One thing for you to work on this week:
If you’re getting to play, try letting go of what you’re swing might look like. Let go of the fact that it feels funky. Let yourself hit some bad ones, and let the possibility that it was because of your lousy technique just roll down the river.
And if you’re only getting to practice, hit some shots without any thought of technique. Maybe just a swing thought/feel, and just let it rip. See what that feels like so you’re ready to do it when you get to play.
To-do: Let go of technique. If you’re practicing, then some. If you’re playing, then fully