The 1964 novel by Ken Kesey that later became an American drama film directed by Paul Newman, stars as today's missive title. Dear to my heart as a native Oregonian; give it a read and/or a look sometime soon, you might find the sheer resilience of the characters inspirational.



Now awaiting the customary CS tie-ins, ideas & insight (drivel?) on how the read and accompanying flick can help you to better performance upon the links, and daily sidewalks? 

The wait in this instance shall continue and your expectations may lead yet again to disappointment and frustration (why we choose beliefs, goals and intentions in CSlandia, instead). 

However, I shall lean on some wisdom from a handful of heroes further south on your screen for guidance in your on-course endeavors.

But first, let us acknowledge, accept and embrace curveballs (nothing endures like change) - like the one messieurs Willett & Homa tossed our way a Sunday or two ago (fasten seatbelt and click below).  Talk about the chaos theory...




Sometimes A Great Act

A human who solves problems with creativity, kudos, Yvon.  You, when faced with challenges on the links? Oh, you're waiting for someone else (your non-empowering coach, perhaps?) to show you the way? Problem-solving is an essential skill boys & girls - on and off the golf course. 

Are you discovering, learning & practicing creative, efficient and effective ways of getting your golf ball from Point A, to Point B, in a plethora of peculiar positions?  Or, rather, spending your precious life minutes dialing in (what the Doppler radar is showing you - other than weather patterns..) shot after shot, off of a perfect lie with the same club and no consequence?   

If so (the latter way), is it helping? If not, you too are in need of a large portion (and notion) of Train2Trust.  Science + experienced-based specifics a clicky-click away (below):

Resiliency... yes please - the #1 quality/trait I'd request in anyone playing the game of golf.  For example: how do you respond to adversity during a round (oh, you thought it was going to be easy?).  Cry and complain about conditions and bad breaks - or acknowledge & accept the circumstances - then adjust & adapt?  You choose.

And those 'limits,' we all have them.  Know yours, and navigate the golf park accordingly.  Aim at the middle of all fairways & greens, play the shot shape you are most comfortable with, then learn to better manage your speed/distance with the flatstick.  Period. Boring, you proclaim? Indeed - yet a great notion for writing smaller numbers on that scorecard...

"Commit to it;" Chouinard's words for our pale blue dot - and mine if you are serious about improving your golf (as opposed to dipping, dabbling & doddering like most..).


Sometimes a great idea



Maria Popova: heroine.

Her recent words say it all, below (and the entire post by clicking just above):

"We are living through a pandemic of selfing — rampant self-celebration that mistakes applause for connection, likes for love. Social media companies are capitalizing on our native need for affirmation, exploiting our compromised immunity to manipulation at every turn: algorithms prioritizing selfies over sunflowers, algorithms amplifying the word I, algorithms doping us on the dopamine of being noticed, seducing us into forgetting the art and joy of noticing — that crowning glory of consciousness. And somewhere, in the quiet core of our being, this frantic hunt for likes is making us like ourselves less.

There must be another way — a way to unself just enough to remember each other, to grow a little more awake to this world that shimmers with wonder, of which any one self is only a fleck.

Whatever that way is, it is not some new technology. Maybe it is a new ethic. Maybe it is the oldest ethic.

Here is what I propose:

As an experiment, for one continuous month, make the focus of one in every three things you share on social media — wherever you normally share, however regularly or irregularly you do, however many people you reach — something other than yourself or your own work: a friend’s art project, a stranger’s poem, a record by a musician you love, the tree shimmering with majesty and mystery in the low morning light, someone in your community you admire, a bygone pioneer of something you value, a book that spun you on your axis, the lost cat sign crayoned by a neighbor’s child, the new community garden a few blocks over, news of the dazzling galaxy discovered by the dazzling new space telescope a few million light years over.

Try it for a month — try it on like a shirt, see how it feels. And if you don’t feel that warm glow of generosity, that good glad feeling of making another’s day, or simply the relief of a small sabbatical from the tedium of the self, then you can always go back to the old way.

Wherever you land, it will not have been a wasted month."

Your golf homework for 1 month: after each and every swing and shot, find three good/pleasant/positive things about the experience (yeah I know, after those truly rotten results, it can be tough..). 

It might be in your pre-shot preparation and planning (did you clearly 'put out there' what you wanted?). It might be in your in-swing focus (let that attention be external - use your senses in lieu of thoughts).  I might be in the golf ball's final resting place (largely beyond your control). 

Then - and only then - go to what was less-than-perfect (you are a mortal after all, not a deity..) in what just transpired.

Try that on for a month fellow wanderers of the links (it shan't be easy, I'm warning you..); those affected neural pathways shall shift for the better. 

Sometimes a great work



You: hero or heroine.

Dharma, peeps.  In the Zen approach: working in accord with your nature, doing what you were born to do, embracing your calling in life.

What in the name of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters does this notion have to do with your golf, you query?

Everything, actually... 'tis why you keep making quadruple bogeys (literally and figuratively) with your swing and game by following the methods, techniques and paths of others - most of whom have never spent live time with you upon the links. 

You are a wondrous case study of one, so why not treat yourself as such? 

Like with the atrocious manipulating SM outfits and algorithms aforementioned, have you too chosen to 'turn off' your instinct, gut, and intuition when it comes to how best you move, and play? Joining the rat race where even if you do win, you are still a rat..??

How about putting aside concepts of what you should do, as well as limiting beliefs about what you could do, and re-igniting your inborn skills, talents and gifts?  Then, find a guide/guru who recognizes those pieces, and nurtures them accordingly, with care. 


Sometimes a great gesture 



Heroes: Jacklin and Nicklaus.

How easy it is to forget, what with the brutal division in professional golf today..

So, let us not forget (click above for the reminder). Specifically, the spirit of this game we play - even at the highest levels.



And, let us not forget that improving your golf does, alas, take a commitment (another great notion, at that). 

You ready?  

  

“The self, the place where we live, is a place of illusion. Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself… to pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world as it really is.”

     -- Iris Murdoch