Graeme McLeish

What It Takes To Be Good

You here it all the time, “he is naturally talented” or “he is gifted”, but what does it truly take to get good? Is it some kind of gene, or is it a matter of the conditioning and the environment that they are in. How about the choices they make, or as simple as the thoughts that they decide to think or the beliefs that they hold?

 I started thinking about this after reading an article on a blog page (Creating Passionate Users) written by Kathy Sierra. It is full of great articles.

The article talks about the characteristics of the person that attains a high level of proficiency in a given field. It is likely that the superior performer has a gift for concentration, dedication and a stron desire to keep on improving. Does this sound like a recipe for success to you? 

There have been great golfers of different physical ability. Some have been tall and some short, but they all have the above ingredients.

In theory, anyone that is willing to do what is required to keep getting better WILL get better. That includes doing the things that we do not enjoy doing. Therefore you stay average or intermediate forever.

Do you think that Sam Snead was right when he made this statement?

"I know it's a lot more fun to stand on the practice tee and rip your driver than it is to chip and pitch, or practice sand shots with sand flying back in your face, but it all comes back to the question of how much you're willing to pay for success." Sam Snead.

Personally, I love working on my short game. It gives me the opportunity to be really creative and see what shots I can create while helping to refine my touch. As a junior at my home course (Wishaw Golf Club in Scotland), I would be out until it was dark just chipping balls around the green. It would usually be the 7^th, as it was an easy point to walk in from, but the green lent itself well to a variety of chips depending on where the flag was.

Have a think about the following quote. Do you think that this is you?

"For the superior performer the goal isn't just repeating the same thing again and again but achieving higher levels of control over every aspect of their performance. That's why they don't find practice boring. Each practice session they are working on doing something better than they did the last time." Dr Anders Ericsson, professor of psychology at Florida State University

So, would this be a case of quality or quantity when practicing?

During my younger days, I would stand on the practice area all day, literally until my hands would bleed.  Now, being a little older and wiser I focus on quality, making sure that I am 100% focused on what I am working on.

Being focused is also a prerequisite for getting better. If you can focus your attention like a laser, then you will improve quickly and with a lot less effort than you would if you were working on several areas at once. After all, a light is nothing but if diffused laser. Keep your focus sharp!

What does it take to continue on the path to being great rather than slipping onto the average amateur track?

Are there things that you can do to keep on improving? Of course there are. You just need to know where to look and how to go about it.

Can I help make it easier for you to continue on the path to becoming expert? Yes, I sure can. Can you make it easier for yourself? Of course you can.

Remember, being better is better. Whatever you're better at becomes more fun, more satisfying, a richer experience, and it leads to more flow.

Let’s explore the above ingredients of concentration, dedication and a strong desire to keep on improving in a bit more detail.

Concentration – it is the ability to focus intensely on what you are doing. How can you apply this to your golf game? Well, when you start working on something you stick with it until you have got it mastered. You are so focused that nothing else crosses your mind except what you are working on.

Dedication – it is the commitment to yourself to allow yourself to become as good as you can be. It is saying to yourself that you will achieve the goal that you set for yourself. There are three stages. First of all, you need to set your goal. Second, you need to get started on the path to achieving your goal, and thirdly, you need to see it through. This takes guts, there is no doubt about it. You will have to get outside your comfort zone. This is the bit that I love. It is travelling to the unknown and seeing how far you can push yourself, where you can get to and how good you can get. Awaken the curiosity within you. Stop settling for the level you are at just now, and let’s see how good you can be.

Strong desire to keep on improving – If you do not have a strong desire to keep on improving, then you will stop learning and fail to grow both as a golfer and as a person. Have that curiosity about you that says “Let’s see how good I can get”. What have you got to lose? Absolutely nothing! Even in the unlikely event that you do not improve, you will still have learned a lot about yourself as a person and a golfer and you will have proved a way that does not help you get better. It is easy when you are not seeing the results to give up and say that you will never be good, but what you are essentially doing is digging up the seeds before it has had a chance to grow. Keep at it and always look to get better. If you strive to keep on improving then you will learn a lot along the way and you will get better.

The diagram below is taken from the blog article on the Creating Passionate Users article that I mentioned at the start. Just have a think about the way that you approach subjects. You can see that if you keep on improving, rather than settling for what you have you will reap great rewards. This can be applied to anything that you do in life.

 
When I ask you to dedicate yourself, I am not saying to give up your day job and commit to playing golf every hour of every day. It can be as simple as spending 10 minutes every day improving your putting or working on your set up, even doing a little exercise – some strength and flexibility training. Remember, we are looking for quality rather than quantity. Some of my best practice sessions have only been 20 minutes long, but I have achieved what I set out to do, this is where the concentration comes in.

All of this can be made easier when you do things with “Passion”. I will talk about how passion influences everything that you do in a future article.

For now, I want you to sit back and think about what it would be like to play golf or do anything to the level that you desire. Take a few minutes every day to do this. You are now well on your way to improving.

Have fun on the Golf Course!

    
Graeme

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