Professional Golf: Ferraris and Others
Every profession in the world that requires physicality, body/mind control and strength used with finesse has one or more of those individuals who are able to show up time and time again in the same general condition. There are two terms used in the opera world, for example – “briefcase interpretation,” the ability to reproduce the qualities of a performance every night with little to distinguish one from the other, and “He or she is a Ferrari type – it either works perfectly, or not at all.”
In terms of professional golf, our minds can immediately run to specific names aptly reflecting both. It doesn’t mean that a person wins every week – the game is just too good for that. But there are people who don’t seem to do the roller coast thing in terms of their personal condition. In my memory, Gary Player was such a golfer. When he wasn’t winning, he was contending, and if something was lacking on a given week, he was out on the range fixing it, not on a psychiatrist’s couch. In that sense, perhaps he might be described as a hybrid Ferrari/Dodge Ram – win maybe, win maybe not, but always somewhere up there on the leader board. I am still astonished at how few cuts he missed in that long career.
For much of Tiger Wood’s career, he was pure Ferrari, but if it was in the shop, he had a spare Lamborghini or Porsche. No lead was safe, and although he came to labor under distractions a few years later, he was trained from the beginning to be disciplined in the game.
In this age, problems lie not so far under the skin as they once did. To imagine Arnold Palmer telling the press that he just wasn’t in a good mental place is far-fetched, and for Jack Nicklaus to ascribe a poor round to a sore tooth, as Rory McIlroy did in the first round of the Honda, just doesn’t fit his nature or his era.
That being said, I would remind the reader that I am a tremendous Rory fan. He’s a major talent, and when he’s on, few can stand up to him. However, he is pure Ferrari – it either works brilliantly, or not at all. We have watched through the weeks of missed cuts, alterations in the love life and equipment sponsor changes. And then, wham – there he is, and he won’t go away. This year, he started by missing the cut at Abu Dabhi, exiting in the first round of Match Play, and this week, started the first round seven over through eight holes (welcome to my world). In short, he went from Ferrari to Yugo, from a Rolls to a ’54 Studebaker, and I know – my father owned one.
I believe that, partly as a product of his age, Rory is prone to being distracted, and has a bent for exhaustion. With the globalization of the game, a great deal more international travel is required, which is, indeed, exhausting.
Golfweek reported that he was near tears when he pulled out of the round, and some criticized his manners. I object to such a suggestion. Being young, a fierce competitor and occasionally brash is not being ill-mannered. I believe he’s a likeable guy and a good colleague. Just watch – we’ll moan and groan through a few more weeks, then something big will come along, and he’ll murder it with some ridiculously low score.
Still, speaking of people who can bring it and bring it, week after week, let’s talk about Stacy Lewis, another Gary Player type who is usually either winning or lurking nearby. In case of a mechanical difficulty, her other car’s a starship, despite medical obstacles that would have knocked most people out of the career path entirely.
It’s all part of the human drama, nothing to get excited about. Let’s be grateful to have all these diverse personalities thrown into the same pressure cooker each week – the Ferraris, Studebakers, and even the occasional mule.
G.F – I think you might be underestimating the nature of Golf and how it works.
Swings are motor routines, performed by part of the brain (when acted upon) that doesn’t need conscious awareness. Facilitated practice, which when focsed on, can work on that habit and ingrain it so when performed (again an unconscious routine), the habit works and goes effortlessly.
I think what you’ll find is the more you’re emotionally aroused, stressed, etc – the less you are able to ‘pull out that motor routine’ that corresponds to a good shot.
I hate to say this (It’s not up to me whether its true or not.. but subtle experiment will show you) golf is almost entirely mental. Not because of choice, or desire, or hope that some divine being exists inside the rational capabilities within us, ready to divine and take part in the middle of match play – but because the synchronous movements of muscle fiber coordination aren’t needed by the human.
In a word, once you practice at the green, on your own, on the driving range, and ingrain that habit.. the rest is simply “letting the music play”.
I think part of the problem with your Arnold Palmer mention is the nature of the Yibbs wasn’t understood, and how routines and habits work generally was ignored. Golf was something someone uneducated could go about – even today, you don’t need to know “what you’re really doing” when your wielding the club.
In all fairness to you and your point, the rational part of your brain is used in ‘setting up the shot’ – and also eliminating the stress during match play to some extent. (Ok this fan yelled this, or ok, the weather is getting not so good, or ok, I know I need to approach this way due to these unique conditions, but after this, the magic is, the music is played and the performer gets out of the way).
I think you’ll find that in shooting, swinging, golf, you name it.. the beauty of sport and the magic is with concentrated practice and effort, the ‘rhythm’ finds the person, and they can play and win.
Rory is a lamborghini because the emotional part of his brain is too out of sync, and interferes with a deeper area that just needs to be activated to run the ‘swing routine’ (see how he stormed off earliar.).
Think of golf like playing Beethovens 5th. The violinist does not need to get extra emotionally aroused and to ‘not be in a good mental place’ when he is 2 minutes from finishing or at the beginning. He plays, and the “the music plays through him”. If you let your golf game be the same, new and great things await.
Try it.