Six Golden Rules Of Golf For Everybody

The endless pursuit of the golfing experience has probably caused more anguish and joy than any other sport in which we participate. Some golfers seek outer guidance for their experience and others blame forces outside of themselves.To those who consider golf as a spiritual journey, we offer up these six commandments as a guide along your personal golfing path.

1. Golf teaches success and failure-neither last very long.

Very likely golf is an insight in to the human condition. It is the ultimate test of our confidence and composure -often at the same time. How did that tree get where I hit the ball is a common complaint! At its highest professional level the success margin is the size of an insect. Consider Phil Mickelson's experience with that butterfly, and its monetary cost. (Failure) Indeed success may consist of the ability to be courageous five minutes longer, or one golf swing less, than your competitor.

2. You learn golf all the time, but you don't learn it all at once.

Of all athletic sports, golf seems to provoke the most radical performance changes. The variables of weather, terrain and human limitations tax the player and demand a high flexibility in physical and mental preparation. To the casual player, the gaps in performance are mind boggling. Even the world's best professionals have performance swings which seem incredible at times. The search for the perfect, or even consistent golf swing, is a lifetime quest. Few indeed have ever dared to say, I know all I need to know about this game.

3. There is no kind of miracle that can't happen on a golf course at least once.

Part of the charm of golf is the "miracle" aspects (luck). The oldest person with a hole in one, which occurs once in approximately 12,000 rounds of golf, was 100 years old. The youngest 4 years of age. Golfers have played shots off trees, houses, flagsticks, other golfers. Every golfer seems to have his miracle and they know it is a blessing of chance. Is there possibly a Golf God who looks over our efforts?

4. The harder I practice the luckier I get.

This is the prime golf mantra, and as it applies to the sport nothing is more ingrained in the golfer's psyche than practice. Now understand few practice seriously enough to prove the adage, but those who partake of the ball striking mania find that items #1, 2 and 3 come into play and make it a unique experience.

5. The average golfer would rather score 100 than face what he thinks is the drudgery of practice.

The average golfer needs to read item #4

6.. The hardest distance to control in golf is the 6" between the ears.

Is this the same as # 1? The game is a test of human fraility and character. You can easily cheat when you play golf, but there is something about conscience, which is of course mental, which will disengage the transgressor. Those who doubt this just look around and see how quickly character, perseverance and respect are recognized in your golf fraternity. The existence of visualization in golf is likely the best example of "mind over matter" which at its highest levels can result in "willing" the golf shot along a very specific narrow trajectory in the air. Ben Hogan practiced hitting a driver over 250 yards and landing on a 3 foot towel as a normal target. Surely his experiences were not a simple technical action.

There is much more to us than surgeons can remove, and golf can be the vehicle for our personal success.