If a person can stand on his feet and swing his arms, he can play golf. All he needs now is the knowledge of golf.
Fundamentals is the key that unlocks the knowledge of any endeavor we choose to pursue in life.
Therefore, as people learn the fundamentals of a sport, for example, they are standing on a sure foundation.
If, however, people resist or refuse to the learn the fundamentals, they will build their foundation on shifting sand, and their success will only be fleeting moments in their own imaginations.
In golf, for example, golf clubs are designed and engineered to be swung a certain way, and when this way is learned, a person will improve his game from that day forward and for as long as he stands and remains with his feet planted on a sure foundation. But if he strays and returns to his own way, his game will decrease because he has returned to his past way of standing on shifting sand.
The fundamentals of golf is the language of golf. But if a person skips the fundamentals, he is trying to play golf in his own language, and his clubs will respond according to the voice of the golfer, who is telling his clubs to do as they are told to do. The clubs, however, understand the language of golf, and they will respond to the master's voice and not to the language they were designed to understand. Instead of learning smooth swings, the golfer will chop and hack.
As the golfer educates his mind in the knowledge of golf, by practice and by competition, he will convert his knowledge to skill, and his skill will improve as he improves his knowledge. But if the golfer has skipped the fundamentals, his game will not improve because he has never learned the knowledge of golf: for he is now playing in his own knowledge and in his own language.
If a golfer scores 100, that is his skill level, and that score will never decrease until the golfer increases his knowledge in order to improve his skill and thereby reduce his score; but if there is no increase in his knowledge, there will be no decrease in the score. For this reason, a golfer's score of 100 can remain there for weeks, months, and even for years, and that score will never change until the golfer makes a change within his own mind. There is nothing wrong with his clubs, for his clubs are responding in the manner in which the master is telling them to perform.
On the other hand, if a golfer is scoring 70, he has acquired the knowledge that enables him to reduce his score, little by little, and week after week, because his clubs are responding to the golfer's knowledge.
There is no secret to becoming a better golfer.
There is no magic formula that will enable a person to instantly become an ace golfer in one easy lesson, nor in one easy solution. Playing better golf requires the discipline of work and practice, work and practice, work and practice, but lazy golfers look for an easy way out. They do not want to work. They do not want to practice. They want to believe that there is a secret to golf, or an easy solution, and neither is true.
The greatest problem with beginning golfers is the illusion that they can be successful by swinging golf clubs any way they please! But golf will not let them do that because the clubs are not designed and engineered to be swung as axes, picks, shovels, and chili scoopers. As a result, the discipline they create to keep them unsuccessful keeps them unsuccessful.
Because of their pride, they will not admit that they do not know what to do in order to improve because that would be an admission of failure, or of being wrong: for in their own minds they are never wrong: and an admission would be saying that someone else knows more about golf than themselves!
Because of their pride, they will not seek the help of a golf pro or golf coach because no one else knows golf like they know golf.
Because of their pride, they continue to play the game of their own knowledge and in their own language when, in truth, both their knowledge and their language are wrong!
Thus their game is stuck in mud and muck because their foundation is built on shifting sand.
In the beginner's mind, however, he believes he is playing golf---which, of course, he is. But he is playing his own game, in his own knowledge, and in his own language. He is not in the same game with other golfers, for they are further down the fairway waiting for him to catch up. But he keeps believing that he will get better if he keeps playing his own way. But he never gets better. He never improves. He is trying to play college golf with a kindergarten education.
People do not need to be super athletes, or gifted with the talent to play golf. None of us are born to be natural golfers. But all the people playing golf need the same education. All of them need to know the foundation, which is fundamentals. Skipping the fundamentals is like skipping classes in high school and expecting to graduate with a diploma from college!
People are born with talents, yes, but those talents must be disciplined, educated, and groomed in order to produce a bowl of delightful fruit.
So then, the golfer is the master of his own destiny and his future is in his own hands. But he will never shoot 70 with a diploma that reads "100".
A prideful golfer, however, is a living nightmare. He refuses to wake up! He refuses to see the disaster of his own making! He refuses to admit that he doesn't know what he is doing! Even in front of his friends and his family, he continues to play toddler golf! He even appears to enjoy hitting golf balls all over the world because he knows that all eyes are on himself! He has the attention, the spotlight---and he likes that!
The prideful golfer does not lack physical ability, nor does he lack natural talent: for all he lacks is the knowledge of golf.
In closing, let me tell you that I was that prideful golfer in 2009. And what I have learned most, since 2009, is that a person's relationship with golf will be no greater than his relationship with God. For if a man will not humble himself to God and admit he is wrong, that same man will not humble himself to golf and admit that he is wrong. Thus the man will continue to be a sinner just he will also continue to be a chopper and a hacker, for he is deceived by his pride, blinded by his own self-image, for he believes that the mirror on the wall was invented for himself.
In 2010, God gave me the grace to humble myself to golf, at which time I went to see a golf doctor, who told me the news. The news was not good. But when I accepted the golf doctor's diagnosis and prescription plan, I was able to increase my knowledge of golf, which increased my skill, and now I am scoring about 80 per game instead of scorching the fairways with a hot 100.
God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. (James 4: 6)
Fundamentals is the key that unlocks the knowledge of any endeavor we choose to pursue in life.
Therefore, as people learn the fundamentals of a sport, for example, they are standing on a sure foundation.
If, however, people resist or refuse to the learn the fundamentals, they will build their foundation on shifting sand, and their success will only be fleeting moments in their own imaginations.
In golf, for example, golf clubs are designed and engineered to be swung a certain way, and when this way is learned, a person will improve his game from that day forward and for as long as he stands and remains with his feet planted on a sure foundation. But if he strays and returns to his own way, his game will decrease because he has returned to his past way of standing on shifting sand.
The fundamentals of golf is the language of golf. But if a person skips the fundamentals, he is trying to play golf in his own language, and his clubs will respond according to the voice of the golfer, who is telling his clubs to do as they are told to do. The clubs, however, understand the language of golf, and they will respond to the master's voice and not to the language they were designed to understand. Instead of learning smooth swings, the golfer will chop and hack.
As the golfer educates his mind in the knowledge of golf, by practice and by competition, he will convert his knowledge to skill, and his skill will improve as he improves his knowledge. But if the golfer has skipped the fundamentals, his game will not improve because he has never learned the knowledge of golf: for he is now playing in his own knowledge and in his own language.
If a golfer scores 100, that is his skill level, and that score will never decrease until the golfer increases his knowledge in order to improve his skill and thereby reduce his score; but if there is no increase in his knowledge, there will be no decrease in the score. For this reason, a golfer's score of 100 can remain there for weeks, months, and even for years, and that score will never change until the golfer makes a change within his own mind. There is nothing wrong with his clubs, for his clubs are responding in the manner in which the master is telling them to perform.
On the other hand, if a golfer is scoring 70, he has acquired the knowledge that enables him to reduce his score, little by little, and week after week, because his clubs are responding to the golfer's knowledge.
There is no secret to becoming a better golfer.
There is no magic formula that will enable a person to instantly become an ace golfer in one easy lesson, nor in one easy solution. Playing better golf requires the discipline of work and practice, work and practice, work and practice, but lazy golfers look for an easy way out. They do not want to work. They do not want to practice. They want to believe that there is a secret to golf, or an easy solution, and neither is true.
The greatest problem with beginning golfers is the illusion that they can be successful by swinging golf clubs any way they please! But golf will not let them do that because the clubs are not designed and engineered to be swung as axes, picks, shovels, and chili scoopers. As a result, the discipline they create to keep them unsuccessful keeps them unsuccessful.
Because of their pride, they will not admit that they do not know what to do in order to improve because that would be an admission of failure, or of being wrong: for in their own minds they are never wrong: and an admission would be saying that someone else knows more about golf than themselves!
Because of their pride, they will not seek the help of a golf pro or golf coach because no one else knows golf like they know golf.
Because of their pride, they continue to play the game of their own knowledge and in their own language when, in truth, both their knowledge and their language are wrong!
Thus their game is stuck in mud and muck because their foundation is built on shifting sand.
In the beginner's mind, however, he believes he is playing golf---which, of course, he is. But he is playing his own game, in his own knowledge, and in his own language. He is not in the same game with other golfers, for they are further down the fairway waiting for him to catch up. But he keeps believing that he will get better if he keeps playing his own way. But he never gets better. He never improves. He is trying to play college golf with a kindergarten education.
People do not need to be super athletes, or gifted with the talent to play golf. None of us are born to be natural golfers. But all the people playing golf need the same education. All of them need to know the foundation, which is fundamentals. Skipping the fundamentals is like skipping classes in high school and expecting to graduate with a diploma from college!
People are born with talents, yes, but those talents must be disciplined, educated, and groomed in order to produce a bowl of delightful fruit.
So then, the golfer is the master of his own destiny and his future is in his own hands. But he will never shoot 70 with a diploma that reads "100".
A prideful golfer, however, is a living nightmare. He refuses to wake up! He refuses to see the disaster of his own making! He refuses to admit that he doesn't know what he is doing! Even in front of his friends and his family, he continues to play toddler golf! He even appears to enjoy hitting golf balls all over the world because he knows that all eyes are on himself! He has the attention, the spotlight---and he likes that!
The prideful golfer does not lack physical ability, nor does he lack natural talent: for all he lacks is the knowledge of golf.
In closing, let me tell you that I was that prideful golfer in 2009. And what I have learned most, since 2009, is that a person's relationship with golf will be no greater than his relationship with God. For if a man will not humble himself to God and admit he is wrong, that same man will not humble himself to golf and admit that he is wrong. Thus the man will continue to be a sinner just he will also continue to be a chopper and a hacker, for he is deceived by his pride, blinded by his own self-image, for he believes that the mirror on the wall was invented for himself.
In 2010, God gave me the grace to humble myself to golf, at which time I went to see a golf doctor, who told me the news. The news was not good. But when I accepted the golf doctor's diagnosis and prescription plan, I was able to increase my knowledge of golf, which increased my skill, and now I am scoring about 80 per game instead of scorching the fairways with a hot 100.
God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. (James 4: 6)
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