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"So I've got that going for me, which is nice..."
One of Carl Spackler's infamous lines from Caddyshack. Click below for a fantastic, never-gets-old, ever-so-meaningful refresher of the scene..
Bill Murray, caddies - even a fisherman's swing - are all alive and well this week on one of golf's mecca's, the Monterrey Peninsula. Frankly, all you really need to know, learn and experience to better play the games of golf, and life, are right above you in the clip - and below you in some Sunday CS offerings...
YOU'VE got that going for you, which is nice
So many things going your way, boys & girls, perhaps you're a little off kilter. Playing the victim, on the links and daily sidewalks? Not Ho-Sung Choi, he who wields the "fisherman's swing:"
- “It is my first time here in the United States, so I can't even put into words how incredibly happy and grateful I am to have this opportunity here,” he said through an interpreter.
CS: You? "Happy and grateful for the opportunity" when you put the peg in the ground each and every time? Or full of complaints about the conditions, your playing partners, or something else you have zero control over?
- Some guys would cut off their right arm to have a chance to play golf professionally. Choi cut off his right thumb. As he tells the story, he went to school to specialize in a job in the fishing industry. When he was 23, he accidentally amputated a portion of his right thumb with a chain saw. Though the tip was reattached, Choi’s right thumb is shorter than his left.
But from that mishap started his long road to an unlikely golf career. About two years after the accident, in 1995, he got a part-time job at a golf course. He said his responsibilities included “anything from from cleaning locker rooms to stocking vending machines, to taking the coins out of the vending machines. On hot summer days I would be the one responsible for putting the cold ice towels inside the locker, inside the ice boxes for the players.”
CS: And you're peeved 'cause you can't get the AM tee time you want. Or 'cause your lower back is stiff from sitting on your arse most of the day. Or flummoxed 'cause Mother Nature froze the greens, delaying your tee time, and, well - you're busy! Maybe you need a cold towel for your forehead, and a bag of acceptance chips from the vending machine.
- “I personally love my swing,” Choi commented. “I didn't start golf until I was in my late 20s, so technically I didn't take any lessons growing up. But regarding flexibility or anything like that, I might not have as much compared to the other tour players, but I do what I can with what I have."
CS: Wow. Simply wow. If I had a magic wand (maybe I do - and you as well...), I'd tap on the shoulder of each and every student and bestow them these gifts. Loving their swing, regardless of esthetics. Doing what they can with what they have.
- “I know sometimes after I've hit the ball I sometimes will the ball to go in the hole and in my mind I feel like that helps the ball go in the hole, so I'm going to keep doing that this week,” Choi explained. “And I feel like in my mind the way I move my body, sometimes it feels like I have remote control that wills the ball to go in the hole, so I'm going to keep doing that, because I feel like it helps.”
CS: Woo, woo, and more woo, you say. Where's the science? The hard data? The research on such a phenomena? Really...??? Willing the ball into the hole? Using the mind, energy, and even body language to influence the outcome? Damn - wonder if someone's been slipping some psychedelic microdoses into Choi's Kimchi...
Or not. Click on our Baryshnikovesque putter above for an historical example of precisely what he describes ("Expect anything different?"). Where, BTW, is your intention, your focus, and your will when you are preparing to hit a shot? Hiding? Total vagueness? On all the places you don't want your ball to end up?
Master Spackler
You absorb some of Carl's wisdom with pitchfork in hand? Allow me to elaborate...
 - "Big hitter, the Lama - long."
CS: You? Big hitter - or dinking it out there shorter and shorter - your poor golf ball not flying much further than the petals on one of the flowers Carl is whacking away at, above? I understand. What to do?
- Consider a proper fitting. The stick in your hand may not be optimized for you to be a big hitter, like the Lama. So make sure you've got a tool that fits you and the version of your current, early 2019, swing - not something that worked for you in the last millenia.
- Swing faster. Please. Especially your arms (and if you need to grip it a little firmer do so! You have my permission).
- Improve your strength and mobility. Carl is dragging hoses around, molding plastic explosive animal figurines, and generally, quite active in his daily duties. You? Sitting, sitting and more sitting? Sitting is the new smoking, people, so get off you fanny and move, it what the human body is designed to do.
- "He hauls off and whacks one - into a 10,000 foot crevasse right at the base of this glacier."
CS: You know - g l a c i e r. Remember those? They are rapidly disintegrating, disappearing - like simple yet substantial ideas, concepts and notions to better swing a golf club, derived from the latest and greatest tech, data and findings. You think information is paramount to enhanced performance? Think again... And think again if you believe the rapid dissipation of these massive globs 'o ice - particularly Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier - is irrelevant to the well-being of the big rock we live on. A-dio-s, coastal cities around the world...
Click below to better inform yourself on the status of "The Blue Planet" (upon which all of our greenish links, and we, dwell).
- Carl: "So we finish 18, and he's gonna stiff me! Hey, Lama, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know."
The Lama: "Oh, uh - there won't be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."
CS: You, and your deathbed? No morbidity intended here - but yours may not be too far off... Whatcha doing with the days you've got left? For your golf game, and as a denizen of the planet? Is your life 'all about the money?' Are you scurrying through your existence in a complete state of unconsciousness - a veritable trance of patterns, habits and behaviors that are mostly dysfunctional? And next to that deathbed, who's hanging out? The one or two 'friends' you've leveraged - or the multitude of individuals you've helped, encouraged or inspired in your days?
Ooh. Ahh. Too deep (like the aforementioned crevasse) to explore? Perhaps it's time you explore the "7 Strange Questions" author, thinker and life enthusiast Mark Manson offers up in his piece, below:
Coaching & Guidance
 
I've got 1, not so strange question for you: what are you doing right now to better your golf game, and the overall experience you are having? Are you improving? Bravo! Keep doing what you are doing. Or are you searching, seeking, or stagnating?
I can help - 'cause you've got a lot going for you - and I can help you find your talent, your way. Without sticking a pitchfork to your throat, or insisting on some asinine method.
At Eugene Country Club, or in a golf park near you.
Christopher@ChristopherSmithGolf.com
CSmith@EugeneCountryClub.com
Expecting a profound quote from the Dalai Lama himself, here? The flowing robes, the grace, bald - something striking?
Goonga la goonga [sic].
Like on the golf course, expectations normally lead to disappointment, dissatisfaction and frustration (try beliefs and goals, instead).
Lo siento, amigos. In its place, a dash of wisdom from yet another fisherman...
"An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
Best,
~ CS ~
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