Overthinking golf - paralysis by analysis
For better of for worse, I am an expert in the art of overthinking golf. I spent many years honing this skill in my youth and early professional career as an orchestral bass trombonist. I was fortunate to have had many rewarding experiences in music (playing with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Lorin Maazel and Frankie Valli to name a few), but if I had an achilles heel it was that I overthought was I was doing. I was reminded of how this can manifest itself on the PGA tour today as I watched Vijay Singh lose his lead at Pebble Beach. There are analytic players on the tour like Vijay and at the opposite end of the spectrum are players like John Daly that just let it rip.Those who play with me on the links exercise great patience as they wait for me to hit the golf ball. It appears that I am quite the zen-meister. I suppose that others wouldn’t give me as much of a hard time if I was a scratch golfer, but that isn’t the case. So, what’s the solution? In short, it’s play like John Daly - grip it and rip it. I have my greatest successs when I have one swing thought - just hit it.Of course, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to play a round of golf with Rory Sabbatini anytime soon…
February 14th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Ah, Mr. Zen Meister, I think that I have played with one who meets or excels your contempletive habit. I’ve played with a very dear friend who takes close to three or four minutes to drive from a tee. He seems to have a routine that includes a couple of looks from behind the ball toward the fairway (once is not a bad idea), then he aligns his club with the ball several times. Each time he stops for a few motionless seconds and does his alignment again. Then he works on his stance, then his grip, does a few practice swings–all of these “routines” each with a few seconds of Zen. And on and on.
His handicap is in the high teens, and if he were able to produce good, consistent drives, then, maybe I could accept his Zen. It’s the same on all his shots. The only time I don’t mind it is when the course is not crowded, but when people a waiting, hmmm!
I and a couple of his friends have tried to gently ask him to move his game. Usually of no avail. I’m afraid that the course ranger is eventually going to ban us from the course.
Do you have any suggestions as how one might be able to get him to speed up his game so that the day on the golf course is enjoyable to all? I don’t want to lose him as a friend, but….. Has anyone commented on your playing speed? How did you react?
As in all sports, rhythm is important.