Wired For Winning - The 5 E's – Part 1
http://www.publinksgolfer.net/articles/752/1/Wired-For-Winning---The-5-Es-–-Part-1/Page1.html
Rich Molden
By Rich Molden
Published on 04/30/2010
Wired for Winning - The 5 E’s – Part 1
As a new season dawns, many golfers will dust off the sticks and emerge with great hopes that this will be the year! This will be the season of their life, the one when they finally break 100 or 90 or 80 or even 70! Thus reinforcing the old adage “one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.” For those of you reading this that are starting this new season with a goal, I applaud you. Having a distinct goal is the first step toward accomplishing it. The problem lies in the fact that many people are bound and shackled by past failures and as soon as they encounter any resistance or a set back they withdraw or rationalize. “I really don’t have the time to practice as much as I need to so I guess I’ll just accept the fact that I stink!”
The purpose of this piece is to help you simplify the process of improvement by understanding that each shot is affected by the “5 Es.”
Equipment
Execution
Environment
Emotions
Expectations
I’ll go into a little more detail on the first three and expound on the last two in future pieces this year. By understanding and accepting the fact that these five factors impact each and every shot we hit, allows us to better compartmentalize our plan for improvement. The good news is that of the five, we have full control over four of them. Only one is in “the hands of the gods!”
Honing his execution as well as his equipment, Vijay Singh can be found in the practice area for hours on end.
By accepting the fact that you and only you have control of four of these factors can be very liberating and indeed a major step toward improving and accomplishing your goals. You are indeed the captain of your own ship! As I have reiterated in each of the Wired for Winning installments, “Performance equals potential minus interference.” If you struggle to grasp the concept that you are in control, you are doomed to a victim’s mentality. And that is a major cause of interference when you’re striving toward any goal.
Enough theoretical, let’s get practical.
1. Equipment – Are you playing with shafts that are too stiff? Do your clubs fit you properly? Is your set make up right for your ability? Do we really know how far we hit each of our clubs? Most people base their distances on their ‘all-time best’, not their actual average. The most common observation by professionals in pro–ams is the amateurs trying to hit each shot too far and coming up short.
Maybe it’s time to replace your longer irons with easier to hit hybrids or “game Improvement” clubs. Many times our ego gets in the way and we try to play what the tour guys play. The best recommendation is to get to a professional instructor and have them evaluate your ability as well as your goals objectively. Ask them to check the “fit” of your clubs and recommend your set make up. And while we’re on the subject of equipment, the most overlooked yet most obvious piece of equipment is your body! Get out for some brisk walks. Be sure to stretch each morning as well as before and after each round.
2. Execution – This is probably the most obvious of the five. Having a solid set up with a good grip, aim, stance and posture is the prerequisite to allowing you to make a good swing and have solid contact. Again, a good instructor that helps you make your best swing based on your goals and physical limitations will go a long way. When choosing an instructor, beware the cookie cutter, one size fits all approach. Choose your professional wisely. Never commit to a series or lesson package until you’ve taken a least one and feel confident that you and the instructor are on the same page and each of you feel confident that you are a good match. One last note, lessons do not take the place of practice. If you don’t practice what you worked on in the lesson and you take several lessons, you won’t get several lessons. You’ll get the same lesson several times!
3. Environment – This is the one “E” that you have no control over and if you are ever to truly enjoy this great game, you must learn to accept this reality. You can hit a great shot and then a gust of wind slaps it right down into a hazard. Or maybe you just hit a laser that never leaves the flag only to have it land on a sprinkler head and squirt straight out of bounds! The fathers of golf had and apropos name for it… “rub of the green.” Get over it, accept it and move on. And surely, don’t whine! Indeed every shot make somebody happy. Nobody cares about your game as much as you do and nobody is going to feel bad that you got a bad break.
Remember, it’s not what happens to us but how we choose to deal with it. More on that when I discuss Emotions and Expectations impact on your game in our next installment, until then, I wish you all great golfing!
The purpose of this piece is to help you simplify the process of improvement by understanding that each shot is affected by the “5 Es.”
Equipment
Execution
Environment
Emotions
Expectations
I’ll go into a little more detail on the first three and expound on the last two in future pieces this year. By understanding and accepting the fact that these five factors impact each and every shot we hit, allows us to better compartmentalize our plan for improvement. The good news is that of the five, we have full control over four of them. Only one is in “the hands of the gods!”
Honing his execution as well as his equipment, Vijay Singh can be found in the practice area for hours on end.
By accepting the fact that you and only you have control of four of these factors can be very liberating and indeed a major step toward improving and accomplishing your goals. You are indeed the captain of your own ship! As I have reiterated in each of the Wired for Winning installments, “Performance equals potential minus interference.” If you struggle to grasp the concept that you are in control, you are doomed to a victim’s mentality. And that is a major cause of interference when you’re striving toward any goal.
Enough theoretical, let’s get practical.
1. Equipment – Are you playing with shafts that are too stiff? Do your clubs fit you properly? Is your set make up right for your ability? Do we really know how far we hit each of our clubs? Most people base their distances on their ‘all-time best’, not their actual average. The most common observation by professionals in pro–ams is the amateurs trying to hit each shot too far and coming up short.
Maybe it’s time to replace your longer irons with easier to hit hybrids or “game Improvement” clubs. Many times our ego gets in the way and we try to play what the tour guys play. The best recommendation is to get to a professional instructor and have them evaluate your ability as well as your goals objectively. Ask them to check the “fit” of your clubs and recommend your set make up. And while we’re on the subject of equipment, the most overlooked yet most obvious piece of equipment is your body! Get out for some brisk walks. Be sure to stretch each morning as well as before and after each round.
2. Execution – This is probably the most obvious of the five. Having a solid set up with a good grip, aim, stance and posture is the prerequisite to allowing you to make a good swing and have solid contact. Again, a good instructor that helps you make your best swing based on your goals and physical limitations will go a long way. When choosing an instructor, beware the cookie cutter, one size fits all approach. Choose your professional wisely. Never commit to a series or lesson package until you’ve taken a least one and feel confident that you and the instructor are on the same page and each of you feel confident that you are a good match. One last note, lessons do not take the place of practice. If you don’t practice what you worked on in the lesson and you take several lessons, you won’t get several lessons. You’ll get the same lesson several times!
3. Environment – This is the one “E” that you have no control over and if you are ever to truly enjoy this great game, you must learn to accept this reality. You can hit a great shot and then a gust of wind slaps it right down into a hazard. Or maybe you just hit a laser that never leaves the flag only to have it land on a sprinkler head and squirt straight out of bounds! The fathers of golf had and apropos name for it… “rub of the green.” Get over it, accept it and move on. And surely, don’t whine! Indeed every shot make somebody happy. Nobody cares about your game as much as you do and nobody is going to feel bad that you got a bad break.
Remember, it’s not what happens to us but how we choose to deal with it. More on that when I discuss Emotions and Expectations impact on your game in our next installment, until then, I wish you all great golfing!