Golf is a sport that has roots in the short and long game. Short term successes are fun and exciting, but often fleeting. Long term successes take more effort and sometimes do not produce any tangible results for quite a bit of time. It is during the dry spells of positive feedback that many golfers often wonder if all their efforts are worth the pain. I am here to tell you that it is and do not give up hope; your efforts will pay off!

Over the many years of trying to improve my golf game, I have found that no amount of effort is ever wasted. I my not rocket to the front of the success line, but sometimes my effort pays off in different ways. I bet that I have found 1000 different ways not to hit a golf ball. 🙂

So you see, practicing allows us to open our minds to the positive aspects of success and to close the door on less productive paths. Recently, well early in the 2020 season, I was trying to extend my yardage with my driver by adjusting my hand position. I had read that by adopting a slightly stronger grip that this would produce a few extra yards. All this change accomplished was to teach me how to hit a hook! Yup, not only not increase my distance off the tee, but I was less accurate as well. So, I backed up to my departure point and dropped my grip change. Hence, I found that just changing my grip does not work for my game.

Fortunately, my above example was only a short exercise in futility. But, I have had longer ones in the past and thank goodness I was able to come out of the other end with some lessons learned. It is all part of the improvement process and should not be considered a waste of time.

Success rarely happens over night, but I do know that:

Rarely can golfers improve completely alone. Finding the right teacher or coach (depending on what you need) is a search that never ends. This is a lesson I have learned and continue to pursue each year. This path would be place in the long term success column and will likely never be fully accomplished.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!