Golf is a game where guts and blind devotion will always net you absolutely nothing but an ulcer.
~Tommy Bolt, winner of 15 PGA titles~
Author and martial arts expert George Leonard went looking for what separates good from great -- long before other writers with now-familiar titles. In Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment, Leonard discovers four kinds of people while using golfers frequently as examples. As you read about each, see if familiar names and faces come to mind.
The DABBLER, while a friend to those who sell golf equipment as the silver bullet, is one of the chief enemies of Mastery. The Dabbler eagerly pursues an activity, but after reaching the first plateau, gives up. Entirely. He or she buys clubs, plays for a few weeks, discovers that golf is a challenge, and moves on to a new hobby > They never commit.
The OBSESSIVE also displays great initial passion for his or her pursuit, but a passion that is extremely goal oriented. This is the golfer who not only wants to learn something new every time a club is picked up. He wants to master it in a few moments. Once they hit a plateau which can't be instantly vanquished, they give up in frustration and disappointment > They can’t overcome.
The last of three low-success mindsets is perhaps the most genial—the HACKER. A golfer in this category is satisfied with his or her mediocrity, content to pick up a skill or two but wing the rest. In essence, the person is very comfortable on the plateau, leaving them little room for growth or excellence > They won’t pursue.
The alternative to these approaches is those who take the path of MASTERY — “the mysterious process during which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice.” They see playing plateaus as expected opportunities for building excellence. For them, the plateau is no longer a stumbling block but a valuable leg of the journey. Putting practice, then, is not preventing you from playing the real sport. Instead, it is part of golf Mastery in which to take pleasure.
As George Leonard writes, “To love the plateau is to . . . enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment, then serenely to accept the new plateau that waits just beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.”
2009 is another chance to choose. DABBLER. OBSESSIVE. HACKER. MASTER-IN-PROCESS?
~Sources include Wikipedia and The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners
