Remember when Tiger won the ’08 U.S. Open on a broken leg. Or when Lindsey Vonn won a skiing championship after a serious fall. Well, I recently returned to golf after a cancer treatment that knocked me for a loop. Mind over matter. Overcoming fear. This blog tells the story of my successful experience.
Tiger Woods
The Marvelous Mr. Mickelson
Phil Mickelson is truly a wonder, a phenomenon, a likable bloke who, at 48, plays a kind of all-out golf, like a youngster might. Phil takes chances, something we amateurs can relate to. We also take chances because a lot of the time chance, or risk/reward as we call it, is part of the equation […]
Chipping: My Take
You can save many strokes with good chipping. It makes up for less than adequate approach shots, and just about every recreational golfer I’ve come across knows about them. But I’ve rarely come across a consistently good chipper. And the ones I have met are legitimate single handicappers. So what does it take to chip […]
The Masters: Day 2
Pr0fessional golf is essentially a game of minimizing misses. That’s how Nicklaus won all those majors: played approaches to the middle of greens and let the competition implode. Golf is also a game of uncertainties, like wind, for example, particularly swirling wind, lodged up in tall trees where you can’t really calculate what’s going on. […]
The Masters: Day 1
Good stuff, eh? It’s why this major is the best. Jordan’s in the lead, sure. Kind of expected–at least my brother got it right. But Haotong Li is in 4th. Remember, the Chinese Communist Party banned golf a couple years ago as a bourgeois activity. He taught himself English off his smart phone. And this […]
The Masters: Back to Tradition
Unlike most spectator sporting events, golf is known more for its polite applause than end zone antics. Even at the height of Arnie’s Army or Tiger’s legions, fans would quiet down when a shot was about to be executed. And I’ve been watching early episodes of Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf in the 50s and […]
The Return of Tiger
Yes, amazingly, he is back. Months ago, I had recommended he retire and go out in relative style. But the guy obviously has little or no quit in him, especially after this fusion surgery has him feeling, and playing, quite well, thank you very much. In fact, he’s been in contention–top tens–in his last several tournaments. […]
Pain
All sentient beings, possessing a body, eventually come face to face with pain. In the course of a lifetime, there’s no getting around it. We are in a certain relationship with the experience of pain, and that relationship is often an adversarial one. Pain is something to avoid or get out of, and whole industries […]
Mindful Golf at the Battle at Birkdale
Jordan Spieth was three shots clear of Matt Kuchar going into the final round of the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale. In the first four holes of that round, Spieth, unbelievably, scored three bogeys, erasing that lead, giving Kuch and the field new life. Most golfers, pro and amateur, would have collapsed further from […]