I've been struggling a bit with my drives since I got back from vacation, so at Dan's recommendation, I took a lesson yesterday from a nice young man named Alex.  Alex is one of two pros at our club and he has a casual approach to teaching that really works for me.  It relaxes me and lets me think about what he's saying.

He had me hit about five drives and then gave me the pointer that's been bouncing around in my mind ever since.  Focus on the target, not on the ball.

He said I have a lovely backswing but when it comes to my forward swing, things get very mechanical, very tight, very focused on the ball.  We worked for about 40 minutes on getting the feel of "throwing the club toward the target."  After the lesson, Dan and I played a few holes at the club and darned if I didn't hit the longest drive I've hit in quite some time--177 yards.

I even tattooed a fairway wood about 30 yards farther than I normally hit that club.  Clearly, there will be some golfing adjustments that need to be made once this lesson "sticks."

It occurs to me that there is something in this lesson for our lives, too.  How often do we get focused on the mechanics of our day?  What time to get up, how often to work out, what to eat or not, whom we owe a call (or twitter or text message to), the myriad little tasks that demand to be done now.

There's nothing wrong with planning.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with to-do lists and accomplishments of tasks.  But the question crosses over from golf into life.  What is your target?

Once you know that, life becomes much easier when you're focusing your momentum "out there," on the target.  The extraneous, the things that trips us up, the mechanics of life give way to pursuit of the goal.

So, tee it up folks.  And swing toward your target.

Leave a Reply