2016 is off to a flash bang start for me. I’m typing this whilst sitting on a British Airways flight to Bangkok. One of my ‘Performance’ Players (I’ll explain that categorisation in a little bit) is competing in the yearly gladiatorial battle which is also known as Asian Tour School. It’s my second time with him in Asia. The Asian Tour has quietly grown over the last ten years into a serious force, with its co sanctioned events alongside the European Tour.
So much so that it is now seen as a legitimate route onto the European Tour with an excellent developmental Tour sitting underneath where players can learn their trade whilst actually making a living or at least covering their expenses. A very rare situation indeed.
I remember making it to the final stage of Tour School over twenty years ago; naive, young and definitely wet behind my ears thinking that I had arrived before I had actually done anything at all. All youth and enthusiasm with very little experience. A Challenge Tour Card awaited and a few decent events to play in.
My first event was the Finnish Open where I made the cut, finishing in the top 35. When the cheque arrived from Virginia Water for £213 a stark reality presented itself; I either needed more money behind me or I needed to play much much better. My prize money wasn’t enough to cover my hotel bill for the week. Since you don’t recognise my name from my playing days you can probably work out that I didn’t play that much better.
I will report next week on how my ‘Performance’ Player’s chips have been stacked but in the meantime let me explain the two categories of golfers who I coach; ‘Leisure’ Players and ‘Performance’ Players.
It’s all a matter of perspective really, your perspective on what you want to happen. What do you want out of your game? Are you improving or are you just happy with what you have and have no real desire to improve, it’s more of a maintenance situation?
If you lean towards the latter, you are more than likely a ‘Leisure’ Player. Somebody who may take the odd lesson to sort a problem which has developed and needs straightening out.
If I may be clear, I have no preference between the two camps of leisure or performance. After all improvement is improvement and the smile gained from achieving something is just as powerful whether it’s breaking the course record or getting your first handicap.
If your game is a work in progress then you have a goal, a destination in mind. It might be a specific handicap gained, silverware on your mantelpiece or even a person that has to be vanquished. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, it’s the fact that you have one.
If this is ringing true you are, in my book, a ‘Performance’ Player. This leads me to the next question, “Are you using your time and resources as efficiently as possible?”
I once worked for the English Golf Union, now England Golf as a result of the merger of the National Men’s and Ladies Unions. It was during my time there that I was introduced to the Long Term Athletic Developmental Programme. The underlying premise of this programme is that you have to invest ten thousand hours in diligent, directed practice to reach the level of excellence.
It is a very well thought out process and is propped up by the old adage “It takes ten years to become an overnight success!” Now I imagine that you’re doing the mathematical calculations and thinking if you have been playing twice a week for twenty five years which equals eight hours a week times fifty two times twenty-five, and all that maths comes to ten thousand and four hundred hours. How come you’re not an expert? Well the key word in the above paragraph was ‘practice’. Playing doesn’t count.
That’s how you get where you want to be; diligent, directed practice. So there I am sat learning about this Long Term Athletic Development Business and the expert talking about how easy and important it is to shape a player’s practice regime, make the game fun whilst developing a strong foundation for the future of the game. I bought in straight away and have applied the principles ever since.
If you have read the last piece of the article and instead of your eyes glazing over a light bulb has gone on, then you are going to be a ‘Performance’ Player. Maybe it’s time to become a member of the 10,000 club, where each hour spent is banked not wasted and positive change occurs.
Hey, it’s a New Year after all. Why not wake up on January 1st 2017 with a better golf game. You know where I am, The Golf Integrated Academy at Vila Sol. Let’s get this thing started!
We hope to see you soon.