Game Plan
“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”- Yogi Berra
*****
You Need A Plan……
You need a plan…a long term plan… a strategic plan. Your game’s improving – but not as quickly as you’d like. It’s two shots forward, two shots sideways and one shot back. You’re inching your way up… or to be precise, down, the handicap list -which is a good thing. You’re not sleeping, barely eating, drinking practically no alcohol at all. You’re popping vitamins like a middle-aged, quite well-dressed, user. You get too exciting when Saturday morning comes around. You’re up at six o’clock putting for thirty minutes in the living room and if you ever had to make an eight foot putt from under the table, across the rug you’d be a banker to get down in two. However, such putts rarely come up at your course. On the drive to the club you’re rehearsing your first shot – a three-wood with slight fade to lay up with a three-quarter wedge to go?, a hard draw with a four-iron to leave a full sand-wedge? By the time you reach the club you’re practically worn out and so tense that you feel like you’re on the 13th tee at Augusta. Back in your own mind, on your first tee you reach for a driver and smash your new £12 for three Titleist Pro V1 across the river, into the trees …. and out of bounds………
You need a plan… a long term plan… a strategic plan. Your game is slowly, slowly on the decline. There’s nothing particularly bad happening. There’s nothing particularly good happening either. There’s nothing you could actually put your golf glove on, but … it’s been a while since you’ve had a decent round. You’re gradually slipping down (up) the handicap list. You’re not sleeping, barely eating, drinking practically no alcohol at all – then drinking too much. You dread when Saturday morning comes around. You’re kicking the cat for no reason, buying instruction books, DVDs and Paul McKenna tapes by the armful, popping vitamins like a middle-aged, quite well-dressed, user, self-harming and even considering taking a lesson for the club professional – It’s become that serious…..
You’ve been tinkering. You’ve been reading. You’ve been trying to watch your swing in the mirror in the bedroom. You’ve even considered going to the driving range. You’ve finally resorted to listening to your playing partners AND taking notice of what they say;
“You’re moving your head too much”
“Your arms are not straight enough.”
“Your legs are all wrong.”
“Your feet are too close to the ball…. after you’ve hit it.”
…..and so on and so on…………
….you need a plan… a long term plan… a strategic plan.
byron kalies 