HL: Instead of trying to bottle what works, learn to build on progress
Of the absurd number of swing videos on my phone, I have one that I return to more than I should. It’s from a fall round a few years back when, for some mystical reason, I drove the ball better than ever.
That a friend captured one of those swings on video would seem to be my good fortune.
I wonder if I’m better off erasing it altogether.
For golfers like me, the typical challenge is from golf swings I wish I didn’t make. But every once in a while, it comes from the opposite direction: a great swing, an encouraging feel, the unfamiliar sense I “found something” and I now want to bottle forever.
Why is this a problem? It doesn’t always have to be. We all seek breakthroughs, and when they happen, we’d be foolish to let them go. To go with my phone’s countless swing videos, I also use my Notes app to itemize whatever seems to be working. This, too, would be fine, provided I accept where there are limits.
“Most golfers are tinkerers. They're always searching for something, and they're searching for something to plant their flag in the ground that's comfort-seeking,” said Dr. Stephen Ginsberg, a sports psychologist who works with elite amateur and professional golfers. “And so they say, ‘If I ...