I haven’t forgotten everyone, I’ve been busy sorting loads of things out.

Golf is top of mind but bottom of list of priorities and whilst I now have a busy work schedule, I haven’t found time for much golf – just one round at the Oxfordshire and another on a par 54 course in Wales (shot a 60 mind, so happy with that).

Whilst I still have the ambition to take this journey as far as I can, it is fair to say that I’m going to re-appraise everything in the coming months and tie this into my life overall.

I suspect, I’m going to have to leave my timescales open, but nothing is set in stone and I’m enjoying the ride that life is putting me on.

Without this journey many things wouldn’t have happened and I’m delighted for all of that.

Back soon

It’s going to get philosophical!!

Too Soon To Quit!!

When you´ve given a task all the effort you can
And obstacles mount which alter your plan
Human nature advises you just to retreat
To simply give up and face your defeat
But though you despair you must never omit
A belief that it is always too soon to quit

So close you came in years gone by
To achieving success in the endeavours you tried
But the nearer you came to reaching the top
Impatience won out and you chose to stop
Had you only continued you soon would have known
The rewards of the reaping what you had sown

With age comes the wisdom and the vision to see
That you simply must truly persist to succeed
Through the faith you discover that hope is not dead
What you long for is waiting straight up ahead
And the lesson you learned was hard to admit
Forever and always it´s too soon to quit

It got me to thinking about everything I need to give me the best chance of achieving my goals and what else can I improve.

So what about equipment? Surely this is crucial and I have had many years of faithful and loving service from the equipment I carry – some would say that’s reflected in the clothes too!

Should I be updating my stuff? This is a list of everything I’m using at present, am I giving myself the best chance of reaching my goals with these?

Do I need to update some of this? One of the main things I’ve been thinking about is so-called “rescue” clubs and maybe replacing the 5 wood, 3 and 4 irons with these. Not sure?!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

CLUBS:

DRIVER: Yonex Cyberstar Nanospeed, 10.5, regular flex shaft
I get on pretty well with this; straight and long (ish)

3 AND 5 WOODS: Callaway Big Bertha Steelhead iii, regular flex shaft
I always liked Callaway Big Bertha and had the driver until I joined the rest of you with the Yonex in 2008. These are nice clubs

3 TO 9 IRONS, PW AND SAND WEDGE: Titleist  DCI’s 962 (11 years old!), Dynamic Gold Shaft
On getting these they made a big impact immediately adding 10 – 15yds onto distance with each club. Are they a bit tired now, maybe?

LOB WEDGE: Maxfli, 61 degrees, Dynamic Gold Shaft
I like this club and use it for all shots from 70yds – o! It’s my “feel” club

PUTTER: Ping Anser 2
This is over 20 years old, but such a beautifully made club that I always think mistakes are down to the “puttee” rather than the putter itself!

GRIPS: All of above standard grips and they are all in need of replacement, but what sort of grip is the best?

ACCESSORIES:

BALLS: I used to like balata balls because of the feel and “sound” they make. I now use Pro VI’s where I can as they were the first Titleist not to split!

GLOVES: don’t wear them; like to feel

SHOES: I like Dryjoys and have a snazzy pair right now, very comfortable. Need to renew the studs!

BAG: Wilson Staff standard bag with legs; maybe a bit heavy; should I investigate “light” bags? 

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UK winter 2010!

Blimey, what a winter here in the UK.

No chance of golf on cold, hard ground, which is now thawing into wet, cloying mud; and it’s still cold so I’m going to stay in the warm.

I haven’t made it to the gym for 4 weeks; mainly cos of snow but I’m also working hard on changing my career – out with the person trying to run his own business and welcome to the new me, a great number 2 or marketing guru to someone else’s business. Let me know if you want to have a chat, I’m open to any ideas which take me into the fold, but I’m best suited to a creative, ideas driven environment.

Anyhow, for this year I’m going to blog about golf and food. Sorry if you don’t want to see any more recipes but I think it’s important to have a balance of passions! So golf is very important but so is eating and the odd glass of wine is crucial to a healthy mind. This is what you’re going to get from now on and  I may have to drop in a few things about the mind, but the focus is golf and practicing.

The aim is to put into practice all the winter work as soon as it gets warm enough and I find the right club to hit the balls. I’m in two minds as whether to go back to Castle Royle (expensive) or to join Winter Hill (less expensive and very local). The facilities for practice at CR are outstanding but it is 25 mins away as opposed to 5 mins for WH, where practice area is not as good. Mind you the majority of the work will be on the short game so I could do this almost anywhere. I’ll investigate but if anyone has a suggestion then I’m willing for ideas.

On the horizon is a game at the Oxfordshire in March. I won this in a raffle at the Duke Of Edinburgh’s golf day last year and I’ll be playing with Claire and Bill, with whom I played that day. This is something to really look forward to and hopefully the clubs will have been out of the bag before then!

We can’t get out of the house because our road is frozen and treacherous.

Never mind; I’m going to have to walk down to get the turkey and do a whirlwind shop tomorrow for our dinner on Friday.

Time to light a fire and curl up with Dave Pelz’s short game bible; and maybe a mince pie!

Looking forward to it.

Here’s an interesting thing I noticed walking the dogs; in fact I’ve noticed it twice, but have only just got round to posting it!

When throwing a stick for Basil (top name, top dog!!) I thought about the puddle up ahead, thinking “what would happen if the stick went in that puddle”. Low and behold when I threw the stick guess where it went? yes, the puddle.
And here is the point. It just reinforces the notion that your consciousness does not distinguish between negative and positive, it doesn’t rationalise. In this scenario it only saw my thoughts, which was about throwing the stick in the puddle and then it worked hard to achieve that goal for which we succeeded!

So next time you walk up to the ball if you think: “don’t hit it in the bunker”; guess what you are most likely to do?
Much better, when you do have that thought, to step away and re-focus on something more positive: “I’m going to put this in the middle of the green”. You may still put it in the bunker, but you can accept that because your mind was set on putting it on the green. In fact my bet is that 9 times out of 10 you will achieve what you want, providing you have a golf swing!

It’s cold and wet here in the UK; so to all of you who still brave the weather, have a great round this weekend.

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Somebody told me when I set out on this that it would take a lot of keeping up and the inference is that I would give up pretty soon.

Well nothing is further from my mind, but I have been extremely lapse in not blogging my thoughts and actions.

So let’s start with a hello to Annie Liston, who asked why I hadn’t been blogging and flew over from Chicago to find out the reason! Happy Thanksgiving to all you cousins across the pond!

What have been up to; well reflection is probably the best way to describe not going out to play golf – oh, and the fact that it’s got cold and I’ve lost so much body weight and fat that I get a bit too chilly!
This, I realise is no excuse and so be it. I have had the intention to play but somehow it hasn’t happened and I haven’t got down to the range but there is a reason for this…

…I want most of all to practice my short game, which is difficult to do at a driving range. In fact I’m so keen to work on the short stuff that I have bought the PelzMeister’s short game bible, which is my winter reading alongside the inspirational “golf in the kingdom”; and Don Quixote, plus another business book called “Trust Agents…” So that should keep me going!!

The work I’m doing now is really about the imagination and developing a love of the game in my head, which involves a lot of visualisation (all the pro’s do it, so why not me!), plus “mirror golf”, balance techniques and exercises and of course, watching golf on TV. I’m still in the gym regularly and doing some yoga and the diet can’t really be any healthier without being called obsessive!!

So let me think about what I’ve achieved since I started 160 days ago.
The question I get asked first is “how’s the golf going?” and I answer “very good thanks” which leads to “so what’s the handicap now”
I understand this, as we are left brain trained and can only assess things on tangible results, things we can understand in simple terms. Handicaps are an easy judge of this. However for me this is a problem!
I don’t want to think about the handicap; I want to concentrate on the lovely swing, the great short game, the invincible putting and the unquestionable attitude on the course. To me this is far more important than the number I’m “tagged” with; If I get the first bits right, the tag will be easy.
But I understand the desire to judge and to think – “oh, nothing’s happened in all this time!” because my tag is still the same. So that gives off a negative vibe, where in truth there are many positives that far outweigh the handicap.
Here are the ones I can think of right now, and if you think they’re self-indulgent, you’re right, but it is important to be honest with yourself when appraising everything in your life as golf is about the whole, not just a club and a ball:

• Appraised my life and set out to improve as much as I could 
• To find out who I am and who I can be
• Set myself a task and vision - have a belief
• Broke a 30 year “drinking habit” and culture
• Control and management of body and spirit
• To live in the present and remove doubt
• More grounded and aware than ever have been
• Fitter than since I was 17 years old
• Know, and like, myself
• Cut out trans fats, additives and processed food as much as I can and eat very well
• Be happy!

And do you know, I feel better and fitter and healthier than ever and am convinced I’m happier and more positive than ever.

I’ve set up new business ventures and am engaging with people in a much more positive way. GO ME!!

So that’s why I answer “great” when people ask how the golf is going. I recommend you all try it. 

Last week I watched a BBC programme in the UK called Horizon and this week it was about a scientist going in search of consciousness. This isn’t particularly alarming or that interesting and the science was OK and the conclusion was irritating as he only looked in the brain. It wasn’t the conclusion however that was the most interesting aspect that came out of the show. It turns out that we decide what we are going to do a whole 6 seconds before we actually do it – yes, six seconds!

The test was quite simple. Our scientist was placed in a scanner which detected the brain’s energy movements and he was also given a switch in either hand and was instructed to decide whether to press the left or right in whatever order he chose. The results measured when the decision was made to press which button (don’t ask me the details as I haven’t read up on them yet!) and it turns out that the choice was made by the sub-conscious 6 seconds before the subject pressed the button; ie 6 seconds before he was conscious of pressing the button he had already made the decision. This is incredible and so relevant to golf!

6 seconds is a heck of a long time; if you don’t believe me count 6 seconds out now; you can do an awful lot in 6 seconds! How long does a golf swing take? and this is my point…

…it is actually true based on the evidence of brain scientists that we have already swung the golf club before we take our shot! Think about it.

What sports psychologists and pioneering quantum science is telling us is that visualisation and thoughts are a major percentage of all sports, and some say it is 100% of the golf game. Well this science proves this to be true.

6 seconds!

This is the time taken to walk to the front of the tee, put in the peg, rest ball on peg, go through routine and hit the ball. All of this time is irrelevant to the shot because you have already made your swing 6 seconds earlier! Fantastic.

What this is tells us is that we should walk on to the tee prepared for a brilliant swing, being focused and in our mind swinging free and easy; your best swing! Positivity here is key to the shot your conscience won’t play for another 6 seconds.  When you stand over the ball it’s too late, your swing choice has already been made; amazing!

Now you can change this by taking at least 6 seconds to stand over the ball, but make sure the thoughts you have as you address the ball are the best they can be (again any sports psycho will tell you this) and then just wait for 6 seconds – that’s a heck of a wait, don’t get negative, hold that thought. Much better to get ready before you tee it up.

6 seconds, now that’s the way to play golf!

There’s a book in there somewhere; must call Bob Rotella!

Not much to report except that the weather is getting colder and that the nights are drawing in especially as the clocks have gone back.

I’m planning to play some golf this winter which is unusual for me, but if I can get hold of some good winter clobber then I will certainly play a few rounds. Practice has been pretty non-existent so need to get to the range. I’m not worried, great things come to those that wait!!

Everything else is going well and the mind stuff and yoga is still enjoyable.
Been eating spectacularly well and weight is stabilising at 168 pounds – 76 kilos – and I feel great.

Been busy with work and building new web site for the book and selling other resources. Can’t wait to launch that.

That’s it for now. See you soon; I’ve got a great story to post but just want to check out some background facts; will get that on site soon!

Cheers

Finished this book on Tuesday and it was a good read; I preferred it to “The Golfers Mind” by the same author.

Bob has had a great time here recounting his work with Padraig Harrington and giving us instruction on how we can work with the mind to play better golf.
Whilst Bob’s explanations of the workings of the sub conscious are intuitive I suggest those who are truly interested in this should look up “The Field” or “The Biology Of Belief“.
Bob is not wanting to give us a science lesson and he does well to keep this on the simple everyman level and teach us how to eradicate the negative mind that causes 100% of bad golf!

The gist of the book though is fascinating and I’ve adopted the “focus” approach in one round so far and it did rid me of my swing thoughts which have plagued me in recent months. As you will see from the blog entry for yesterday, I was swinging more freely and hitting the ball much better. So I have to say the techniques work…
…but for me Bob was re-enforcing what I have already learned about the power of the mind.
For those who think it’s mumbo jumbo (Hi Peter!) they should read this book from the golfers point of view in which its written and enjoy what he says. I’m sure it will help everyone.

For me, I intend to use it as reference and a reminder as I progress through my journey and for that reason alone this is a book well worth reading.

I recommend!

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