John Lucas

I cringe every time I hear a professional instructor comment that the student is a “klutz” or unmotivated. The fact is that you are motivated. The fact also is that your brain  is simply lacking appropriate stored references for it to direct precise motor skills.

 

There is an irony to be learned from the professional golfers who define the standards of play. They didn’t adapt the common practice of investing their time in the “tip of the day,” or at least they resigned their memberships in that club. The touring professionals learned through experience in exactly the same way that the athletically undernourished did. The only difference was in the meaning of the experience.

 

Just watch good players play this game: top amateurs at your club or better yet the pros. The only golf videos you need are movies of good players playing. If you watched Tom Brady throwing a forward pass, you wouldn’t take a football afterward and pitch it underhand, would you?

Make a contract with yourself.

 

I, ____________________, promise to:
1. Have fun.
2. Be nice to myself.
3. Learn one piece at a time.
4. Claim and congratulate myself after each grasp of each skill.
5. Remain focused, undeterred by others.
6. Be my own judge.
7. Be patient.
8. Play golf separate from learning fundamentals.
9. Honor the wonderful learner that I am.
10. Have fun ( just checking.)

Rules teaser:

A player marks his ball on the putting green and the wind blows his ball while the marker is still on the green. Ruling?

 

Answer to last teaser:
A player when entering a bunker accidentally kicks a stone into the bunker. He removes the stone while not affecting the lie of his ball. Ruling? 2 stroke penalty.

John Lucas is the golf professional at Sky Ridge Golf Course and can be reached at john98382@olypen.com.