A Lesson from the Ryder Cup: Feel Your Future

In yet another triumph by the European Ryder Cup team, Justin Rose shone as a truly bright star.  There was a stretch on Friday and Saturday where it seemed like every putt Justin attempted, no matter how far he was from the hole, slammed into the back of the cup without a doubt.

After the Saturday morning round, where Rose and Henrik Stenson teamed up to make 10 birdies in a row, Justin was interviewed about his performance.  Paraphrasing, Rose said, "The pressure of the Ryder Cup creates a razor's edge.  You can focus in on the feeling of making the putt or you can let your attention drift to failure"

I think that the key word that Justin used was "feeling".  Rose wasn't talking so much about a purely mental process of visualization of success, he was talking about a focus on an emotional result.  He was centering in on the feeling of joy and excitement, of the pump of the fist and the roar of the crowd that would come from a made putt.

The supercomputer of the human mind is a powerful thing indeed.  Thoughts that are connected to powerful human emotions take on another level of what can best be called magic, being in the zone, "feeling it".

Tiger Woods, at the height of his dominance, was a master of this kind of focus.  The focus was completely on drawing the roar of the crowd.  He fed off of it and his focus became truly razor sharp.  There were times when you would watch Tiger prepare to hit a shot and just by the look in his eyes and his body language you would become convinced that he was about to make that shot, as unlikely as that result might be.

I see this happening for the European Ryder Cup team.  You just have this feeling that they already see themselves celebrating as a team on the 18th green.  They are popping the champagne bottles in their minds on Friday morning and, of course, it happens in reality on Sunday afternoon.

Next time you go out to practice, see if you can focus in on the feeling you want to have after a shot.  Feel what it would be like to hit a perfect shot, before you hit the shot.

Also, next time you have one of those "knife through butter" swings or a putt rolls perfectly end-over-end, going in without a doubt, let that feeling sink in.  Hold onto those moments and take note of that emotional quality of them.  That is the feeling that creates the wonder and magic about the game of golf and is the reason we play this crazy game.

So a slight change to what Chevy Chase's character, Ty Webb said to Danny Noonan in "Caddyshack" would be, "See your future Danny, feel, feel, FEEL your future."

This is also applicable to life beyond the golf course.  Successful people who are living their dreams and making magic happen in their careers and home life often talk about creating a vision, but also focusing in on what it would feel like to achieve this vision.  They spend time every day feeling it like it has already happened.

The power of this approach is that in your internal world, you have already achieved this success because you already feel the result.  The supercomputer of the mind, and some believe, a mysterious force in the universe (which goes by many names) begins working to support this inner vision and feeling.

Even if you don't believe in a magical aspect to the universe, feeling what it would be like to achieve your highest vision of your life is healthy and good, not just for yourself, but for all the people around you.  You will be happier, lighter and move in the world with more quiet confidence, because you already feel what it is your after...and that is truly the key.  It is not the outer reality that dictates the inner feeling, but the inner feeling that shapes the outer reality.

Don't believe me?  Try it in the laboratory of your own experience and see.  

Golf as a Mirror

Golf, a game that offers such a razor's edge difference between failure and success, is such a great mirror for ourselves. 

It is a game that requires a contradictory version of what our conscious mind conceives of as being necessary for this success.  The conscious mind (ego) believes that tension and "controlling" the outcome will allow us to navigate this treacherous landscape.  However, sadly and often times with great frustration, we find that this strategy fails us completely.

It is only with relaxation (letting go of consciously controlling the result), rotation (letting go of our conscious mind's desire to go in a straight line) and rhythm (letting the natural pendulum create the force instead of with brute or less than brute strength) that we achieve the much sought after feeling of effortless power that goes toward the target.

Because of the tremendous difficulty of the game, we are constantly offered a mirror to what is going on for us internally as we play the game of golf.

When I arrived here in Manzanita, Oregon for a few weeks vacation and location scouting for a writing project for next summer, I went and played a round of golf at the local 9 hole course in town, Manzanita Golf Course.  I thought I was fairly relaxed and centered when I started the round.  However, the first few shots told me otherwise.  Pull hook off the 1st tee.  Block off the next.  Poor contact and a lot of effort was going into my golf swing and it felt all wrong.


When I made it to the fifth hole, a short par four with an elevated tee, I paused to take in the beauty of my surroundings.  A fog was rolling in off the ocean and the cool breeze felt like such a welcome contrast to the previous year I had spent in the desert.  I felt myself settle in and get grounded.  It took a while to feel myself center and ground more fully in the present moment.  I walked, I breathed and I began to feel more relaxed.

By the time I reached the seventh tee box, I felt a surge of confidence and trust.  I swung and struck that 4 iron squarely on the face.  The ball sailed through the moist heavy air, landed on the front of the green, rolled straight at the pin, nearly went in and settled in a few feet from the hole.  The next hole was the same as my approach shot to the par 4 finished a few feet from the hole again.  It felt easy and fun and effortless.  A complete contrast to the start of the round.

I love the game of golf because it offers the opportunity for truth.  If you think you are relaxed and trusting in your subconscious mind (Big Self)/the universe/God/your higher power, go play golf and find out.  It will surely offer unbiased feedback on how that process is going for you.