Each week this summer, Citizen editor Neil Godbout will share his experience learning to golf at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Want to get in a free round with Neil? Just drop him a line at ngodbout@pgcitizen.ca
Week 4
During the recent heat wave, it was simply too hot to pick up the clubs anytime after 10 a.m.
So I headed out to the backyard in the early morning quiet with a dozen wiffle balls Pierre here at work bought for me. They let me take a full swing but the soft, hollow plastic ball with the holes in them don’t fly too far and there’s no danger of causing any damage.
They don’t feel like a real golf ball but they’ve been great for aiming and getting me to slow everything down, focusing on a nice, smooth swing and following through. Like a real golf ball, however, a wiffle ball tells you when you’ve done it right because it jumps off the face of the club, straight and true, with a sweet click.
I’m still having to concentrate on the mechanics but now, when I’m ready to swing, I’m moving into mindful oblivion, as Citizen columnist, UNBC chemistry professor and avid golfer Todd Whitcombe calls it. Mindful oblivion is the quiet pause when everything falls away and the only thing left is the ball and creating, out of nothingness, a brief but meaningful connection.
My best practice shots have come when I’ve reached that mindful oblivion. I feel my arms, hands and wrists relaxing, despite the effort of the swing. I’m not trying to swing hard, I’m trying to swing with smooth grace and when I do that, the ball responds.
The further I go down this golf rabbit hole, the more I dwell on this mental side of the game. No wonder so many people, especially those with stressful jobs and lives, gravitate to it.
Golf is a game of rehearsed relaxation and intense concentration happening simultaneously. It demands you occupy only your immediate time and space, forcing you out of whatever was on your mind beforehand. The ability to be calm and present in the moment pays dividends, not just on the golf course but in all challenging personal or professional settings.
Prince George Golf and Curling Club pro Blair Scott has introduced some different exercises to help with that calmness. He’s having me warm up by taking swings while keeping my feet together at the heels and then opened in a V-shape. He’s really working on my swing now and trying to break me of that habit where my hips and knees slide back and then forward in my swing. Despite the obvious movement in a swing, solid golfers are remarkably still. Taking those warmup swings with my feet together forces me to turn my upper body as I pull back to start the swing. Combined with the turn and the raised back foot of the follow through, it’s easy now to see where the torque and the power come from to hit a strong, controlled shot.
When he asked me to pull out my driver (always been intimidated by that thing because it feels like the big dog is wagging me, not the other way around) and implement what I had just learned, that hound came to heel.
I hit multiple straight and powerful shots, easily the best shots I had ever hit in my life with that club.
And it made the ping!
Won’t win any competitions for driving distance but I’m feeling for the first time like everything is coming together.
Now can I put it all together – the improved technique and the mindful oblivion - over 18 holes? I’ll find out in my round later this week with the good professor himself.
