A little A of F 13 . . .

So, I came across a book that has helped me more with my golf game than anything I've studied in 3 years of trying to be a better golfer. Steve Williams, caddie to Tiger Woods, recommends that in order to execute a perfect golf swing you have to not make any value judgements on the situation you've gotten yourself into on the course, but clear your mind of conscious thought to allow your subconscious to take all variables into consideration and create the ideal swing for what's at hand. He indicates that any specific idea of the individual that creates conscious thoughts or pressure to perform are the reason why more people aren't great golfers. The ability is there already for those who have a basic understanding of the golf swing, but the desire to execute great swings are hampered by an inability of adults to give up thoughts like "what will my friends think if I screw up", or "this is a crappy place for my ball to be". Adult golfers are so affected by what people are going to think that it stymies ability. This is why kids are unhampered by failure - they don't put value judgements on them - they allow their entire brain to receive the data and execute better next time. If this wasn't the case, my baby Will would sit down a cry when he fell down the first time and never learn to walk. As it happens, he cries if he's scared or hurt, but doesn't worry what we thought of him falling on his butt. To this point, that's why adults say you can't learn once you get to a certain age. Really we all have the ability to continue learning how to be great, but decide we care more about what people think than learning something new.

The reason I'm sharing this on the blog is not just because I'm excited about learning how to be a better golfer, but because his book is the best "how to" idea on how to become more like a child than anything I've ever come accross reading church books. That doctrine is smattered throughout the Book of Mormon and Bible and I've heard a bunch of people from the pulpit say become more like a child, and I've felt the Spirit tell me what they were saying was true, but I've never had any great ideas on how I might do this. This book is full of great ideas on how to do it! Nothing has ever resonated quite like the advice Stevie gives for golf. The thing is there are wide applications of this true principal outside of the game. I already thought of a bunch, including some that will make me a better husband, dad, and provider.

Anyway, if you don't catch the spirit of my post, hopefully you had a good laugh over it. That would have made it worth it. No matter how you take it though, the book is $14 at Hastings and I recommend it to you all.