Put it in a bubble and wave bye bye

[tweetmeme source=”ChazGunningham” only_single=false]You may already know, dear reader, that I have been smitten by the bug that is golf, yet my golf has never been all that great. I still spend most Sunday afternoons traversing the opposite fairway roughs of ‘Royal Wembley’ golf course as I zigzag my way twixt tee to green.

They say that golf is played in the mind, well in my experience it is mostly played in bushland. You play a stationary ball, there is no opposition player trying to tackle you or knock your head off, so why is it so %#@^ hard? The line between playing a good shot or shanking it sideways seems to be measured in microns. I can play gorgeous straight drive after gorgeous straight drive on the driving range, booming it 200 metres or so. Five minutes later at the first tee and the everything is slicing into the trees, n’er to be seen again.

It’s OK, please don’t try to give me advice, I have to work this out on my own. I have had lessons, new clubs, various hybrids, gloves, balls, practice regimens, as much advice as my brain can handle and beyond, read all the books, magazines, blog posts, watched the videos and bought the T-shirt.

Probably the best thing I’ve picked up along the way is to put all your frustration “into a bubble and wave it bye bye“. For age has taught me that you can get as frustrated as you like, but it will do no good. You need to concentrate on that next shot, but calmly, to hit that sweet spot. You know, the shot that disappears in a straight line with no noise, and no effort. You’ve hit it perfectly. Middled it. Never a better feeling.

So, after 30 years of swinging a golf club, usually not as elegantly as I’d like, my advice is, when you get frustrated (in anything), … put it in a bubble, and wave it good bye. And move on. Next shot. Next email. Next client. Next staff member. Next product. Next idea.

Believe me, it works. Because without it, all that happens is you get your blood pressure up and five minutes later you are still where you are… but a whole lot grumpier.