“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined and that we can do nothing to change it – look before they cross the road.” – Stephen Hawking
By Ian Hardie
Like nearly all other humans on the planet
Most golfers spend a bit of time day dreaming about the future
Or more specifically
Dreaming about just how good at golf they will be in the future
Once I buy that new driver and hit the ball 20 yards further…………
When I finally keep it together long enough during the round to finally shoot in the 80’s rather than the 90’s…………
Next year, when my handicap will be lower…………
When I get that new set of irons – I will break 80…………
As soon as I break par for the first time………….
Next year, when I get to play more often………….
The list can go on and on
And obviously every golfer is going to have different ideas
Which will be generated by where exactly they are currently in terms of golf
Mixed with where they have been previously and where they want to go
Depending on who you listen to
The cause for all this is something called the Ego
Which may or may not exist somewhere in your brain
And I’m not really qualified to debate that at all
So before you go any further – read my disclaimer here
Anyway, one of the things that the Ego likes to do
Is spend time dreaming about and conjuring up ideas
As to just how good things will be in the future
Which is nice I suppose
But in golf as in all other areas of our life
All we really have is now
As in today
Not tomorrow, next week, next month or next year
Today
I was reminded of that as I wrote the post ‘What advice have I given myself’ recently
As I was writing a song came on the radio (yes I know that makes me sound old!)
A classic song with some great advice contained inside the lyrics
It was called ‘Time’
If you are old enough, you may have even heard of the band – Pink Floyd
The song was from one of their most successful albums – The dark side of the moon
And even though it was released all the way back in 1973
The message conveyed in the words is as valid now as it would have been then
Every time I hear the song
It reminds me
To get on with things today
And not to waste time by letting my ego think about
How good I may be at golf in the future
Here are the complete lyrics with the words I find most compelling highlighted;
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say
Instead of dreaming about just how good at golf you may be in the future
Or waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Start today
Get that new equipment if that’s what’s needed
Go sign up with a gym or a personal trainer if fitness is what you need
Make the call and book in for a series of golf lessons to get you heading towards better golf
Figure out a way of reorganizing things so that you can play more often
Head to the practice area instead of the first tee
Whatever it is that you need to do
Start today
That way you can avoid looking up
And finding that ‘ten years have got behind you’
While you were dreaming of how good you could be at golf in the future
Play well
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