Tip for trying times

With credit to one of my favourite comic strips, "Real Life Adventures":

Father and son are finishing their round of golf and the young son asks, "So Dad, what did we learn today?"

His reply, "When things are going badly, stop keeping score."

That may be sound advice for your business or your investment portfolio these days. You already know the results are bad and looking at them again and again will not make them better. Check them once.

Then get on with what you have to do for better results.

Apologies

Apologies to all my regular readers, if I have any. (Are you out there?)

I've neglected this Blog and my golf for several weeks. Too many distractions, plus a holiday break and a bad cold have knocked me off my routine. (If you know me, I've never been good at routines.)

But now I'm back and will try to dedicate regular time to my Blogs. Stay tuned.

Success is a great motivator

My Dad used to say, "Nothing succeeds like success". I'm sure you've heard the expression also. My interpretation is that the more you succeed the more you, and others, expect to see you succeed.

It is true in business and golf. A couple of examples.

Out for another round with my 7-year old grandson and this time he did much better. A strong, smooth swing was connecting more frequently and sending the ball long and straight (for a 7-year old). Every golfer's favourite swing result. On top of that he rammed a couple of 4 to 5-foot putts straight into the cup to the surprise of all of us watching and to his delight. He was so encouraged with his game that he insisted on going immediately to the driving range and practice green after our nine hole round. He was motivated.

I had a similar experience earlier this week in a rare round with my son-in-law. He is a very competitive former fullback with a vicious swing and a huge slice that he manages to keep in the fairway. We were both ready to impress each other. I got the better start.

Off the first tee, a short dogleg left downhill to a small well-bunkered green, I hit a perfect (for me) 5-iron that drew around the corner and ran down about 225 yards. Hit a full sandwedge about 100 yards and landed right side of the pin, then sank a curling 18-foot putt for birdie. I'm loving this course! (Son-in-law lost his drive in the trees and went downhill, literally, from there.)

The rest of my round was the usual roller coaster from par to triple bogey but I was not bothered after the great starting hole and the expectation by me and my playing partners that I was going to hit it well. That first hole just kept me confident and relaxed for the day and happy to come back soon.

The lesson learned was one often stated by the pros, "Keep visualizing your successes, not your failures, and that is what you are more likely to repeat."

Many ways to get there

An interesting round this week with my friend Giles. We are about the same calibre and often are close in score but this week was unusual.

We started well. He takes his usual abbreviated back swing and hits a drive down the middle. I take my usual full swing and hit a five iron past him and still on the fairway. I chunk the next shot and we both bogey. We then both make the next hole, par 3, and carry on from there. He works his way around with another par 3, a few bogeys and doubles. I also make the other par 3 and play better except for a blow-up 9. Surprisingly, we finish the front nine together at 49. (Not great golf, but we're 20+ handicappers and the course has punishing rough. No margin for error; if you're into the hay it's a lost ball.)

We chat to the cute and charming young lady serving hot dogs during our break then start badly on the back nine. (We agreed she was to blame.) I stumble to a 7 on the first par 3 and manage another ugly 9 on a par 4. Saved by my putting, I sink a couple of 10 and 12-footers and everything within 4-feet for two more pars, a 3 and a 5. Giles doesn't get any putts to fall in but keeps it close with bogeys.

Over the 19th hole beers, we add it all up. And discover we both had 49 again on the back nine!

If you've watched the pros, you'll see the same phenomenon. As in business, there are many ways to get there - power, finesse, and luck may all apply in varying degrees at different times. The bottom line is still all that matters. This is not figure skating - there are no points for style.

More fun with young golfers

I had already learned from my seven year-old grandson that hitting balls at the driving range was not much fun. So yesterday we tried his suggestion of hitting balls on the soccer field. We made a game of hitting them from one end down through the goal posts at the other end.

His swing technique is getting better and he hit a couple of good 7-irons at least 50 yards. Scared me once as he sent a long one towards the parking lot and all those windshields sitting there. That and taking out a few of his little brother's teeth on the backswing were the biggest risks. The little brother, age four, also did quite well with his hockey slap shot technique from his hours of road hockey.

All in all we had fun and made progress. That's as good as it gets in golf (and business).

Getting rusty

As Tiger comes back from his surgery and the recovery related delay to play the US Open this week there is much talk of whether he's rusty or not. Strange term to use after he has presumably had the "rust" removed from the hinge that is his left knee.

Not many are convinced that it will provide any competitive advantage to the others in the tournament. Tiger has played sick, tired, distracted and injured before and still won. Maybe harder for him and closer for the others, but he's still able to pull it out through sheer strength of will. His mental toughness is formidable under pressure.

That's probably the golf and business lesson for all of us. After any setback or prolonged absence it is important to re-focus and concentrate on the fundamentals to achieve our goals. Keep it simple, ignore the obstacles, and go for it.

Coaching a young golfer

I started a new golf challenge on the weekend - introducing the game to my seven year-old grandson.

We soon agreed that hitting balls at the driving range is not much fun.

First lesson for me: Like coaching young entrepreneurs, there is no point in doing this if it's not going to be fun because there is certainly no guarantee that you'll ever make money at it.

So let's find out how to make this fun. I'm looking for ideas and his suggestion of practicing on the soccer field sounds a little risky. Meanwhile I'm looking for whiffle balls before somebody gets hurt.

Another early challenge is which way to swing, left or right. Like many young Canadians he naturally picked up the club to smack it like a slap shot with his hockey stick - left handed. Oops, the clubs were right-handed. After debating with his father, who plays left but is right handed, we decided to keep the right handed clubs and let him start that way. He seemed to get the idea fairly quickly, including an interlocking grip, so we'll keep working at it.

I hope that first decision doesn't keep him from going pro.