In honor of the US Open this week, I’m sharing a life observation I came to when observing golfers.
A couple summers ago I went on vacation with my family. The home we stayed in overlooked a golf course. Sitting out on the screen porch I could watch all the golfers as they attempted to play the difficult hole the home looked out on. Most of the golfers were what the golf community commonly refers to as “hacks.” “Hacks,” of which I am now one, are the golfers who only play 4 to 5 rounds a year and rarely practice outside of those rounds. Despite a severe lack of preparation and practice time “hack” golfers somehow convince themselves they can go out and play the really difficult courses. I call this kind of thinking “positive delusions.”
They come out dressed to the nines in the latest golf styles, and usually have top-of-the-line golf clubs as well. Inevitably they will approach the ball and take 2-3 terrible practice swings before hitting it. Predictably their real swing is rarely any better than their practice swings and usually gives a poor result. Their reaction is equally consistent – slamming the club into the turf, accompanied by some colorful language directed at the club. It never ceases to amaze me how often, despite all the shortcomings I’ve mentioned, the poor shot ends up being the club’s fault.
I mentioned this phenomenon to a friend of mine who sells golf clubs professionally. I expected him to laugh or even to get mad at the poor treatment of really nice golf clubs. But his response was, “Are you kidding me, Ro? That’s why I make money. That same guy you watched slamming his club into the ground will be in my store next week looking for new clubs to replace the old ones that ‘played so bad.’” My friend added that he listens to them, nods and smiles and agrees that new clubs are exactly what they need to improve their game.
I find that this golf paradox accurately reflects our society in many ways. For an example, look at our trillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry. We’re constantly looking for that magic drug that will make everything right. My daughter told me about an article she read outlining research on a pill that would give your body all the benefits of exercise – without you having to do anything more than pop the pill and down a sip of water. A drug like this could provide great medical benefits to a lot of people – but most of us could get those same benefits through working a little harder. Yet we don’t want to. It seems like we all want the quick solution that requires no effort and has no consequences, which is generally as much of a pipe dream as that guy in my friend’s store thinking there is a set of golf clubs out there that will magically make him a great golfer even if he never practices.
I think we need to start looking at things “sonomama” – a Japanese term that means, roughly, seeing something “as it truly is.” This can be accomplished by a good long look in the mirror and some honest conversation with ourselves. I think most of us would be surprised to learn by being honest with ourselves that we’re actually pretty good the way we are.
Have a great weekend,
Ro