The introductory chapters to this book are quite a contrast to "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck". Dr Bob actively encourages you to set extreme goals and almost foster a sense of entitlement. He doesn't want you to settle for "good enough" but wants you to become the "best you possibly can" so you don't die thinking "What if?". I'm not talking about "I'd like to get to scratch" type goals here, I'm talking about Elon Musk, "I want to colonise Mars" type goals. It's like Tony Robbins giving a motivational TED Talk. For example, he says Tiger Woods was not ambitious enough when he said he wanted to beat the record of 18 Major wins set by Jack Nicklaus. Dr Bob thinks he should have said he wanted to beat it by 10 or 20 wins, as that might have driven him to have at least matched the record by now. It made me think of an interview I read with Bob MacIntyre about where he goes with his career from here. His "life goal" was to play in the Ryder Cup, and now that he's achieved it, he has to set new goals and decide what he's prepared to do to achieve them.
That last point is the important one. What are you prepared to do in order to achieve your (lofty) goals? Do you have the work ethic, belief, self-discipline, patience, and persistence that's required? Do your dreams and ideas drive a passion and provide a reason to be excited and motivated? I think about a random conversation I had on the golf course with Alexander Schack about his wife's love of Dressage and her ambition to make the US Olympic team. That's dreaming big! That's awesome! Others might think you're crazy or delusional, but embrace the challenge, love the difficulty, don't get put off by the setbacks, and fight through with patience and diligence. He quotes Michael Jordan, saying, "You have to expect great things of yourself before you can do them".
In typical Dr Bob style, he uses stories about people he has worked with over the years and the great things they have achieved. All brilliant hindsight examples of success, but it would also be interesting to hear from others who didn't achieve their Mars colonisation goals. Are they happy with what they did achieve? Do they think they came up short? I think what Dr Bob was getting at here was that if you would actually be happy reaching the moon, you've got to aim for Mars in order to have the drive to get to the moon. In that regard, not achieving the big dream can still produce a good result.
For me, the moonshot goal would be saying that I want to qualify for the Senior Open by age 60 (54 now). In order to achieve that I will need to get to scratch (at worst) to enter the qualifying competitions. Is aiming for the Senior Open the thing that will give me the desire to practice and drive my game forward? Would such an ambition clash with, or complement, my "Golfing with Gratitude" mindset? Like many things in life, I guess it's about enjoying the process rather than admiring the view. If I enjoy the process and it gives me the motivation to generally keep fit, play more and get outdoors, then that's all good. Process over outcome.
The book then moves from goal setting to his views on practice and improvement. It's like a "greatest hits" compilation of all his other books and it's all the better for that. A book like "Putting Out of Your Mind" is essentially condensed into one chapter. After the classic self-help, dream big, you can be whatever you want to be, style of the first part of the book, the rest is refreshingly practical and down to earth. It reminds me of my Stoicism and Gratitude posts and many of the things I've learned and talked about since starting this blog. It also complements what I've read from others, such as Mark Manson, Practical Golf, Jared Kenworthy, the Stoics, and many more.
A very brief summary would be "Golf is hard" and you will only improve through hard work and determination. This book is not about technical swing advice. If you want that then buy "The Practice Manual" by Adam Young. This book is more about your mental attitude and other aspects of practice. There's a great quote from Bob Torrance that "A big heart and a great mind are more important than technical perfection". Dr Bob is providing his insight into how and what he thinks you should focus on in practice.
Without repeating the whole book, there were certain things that stuck out for me and that will impact how I practice and play. Even in the half-dozen rounds I've played since reading this, I have definitely experienced a change in attitude. Like most good advice, most of it is just plain old common sense! There's the stoic stuff like mental fortitude and strength of mind, controlling your reactions, not dwelling on bad shots etc. Then golf 101 like keep reviewing the basic fundamentals of grip, alignment and posture. There's an interesting section on using statistics. He wants you to use them to help identify areas for practice and improvement but not to get paralysed by them. He's got a contrary view on the use of Strokes Gained and a strong preference that amateurs should focus on accuracy off the tee rather than distance. He's got strong but understandable reasons behind this that go against what I've read from Jon Sherman, Mark Broadie and others.
His recipe for improvement would be:
Really understand your preferred playing style (conservative or aggressive) and stick to it.
Focus on accuracy off the tee rather than raw distance. If possible, practice your driving on the toughest holes on your course as it will be more challenging than any range session. The important aspect of driving is how it impacts your GIR stats.
GIR - the top players average 12.5-13. Focus on improving your GIR and minimise the impact of your misses.
Improve your scrambling percentage from 15-20 yards short of the green. Avoid the lob shot unless there's no alternative. Experiment and figure out how to get the ball as close to the hole as possible. Get comfortable with bunker play.
Scoring clubs (8-LW). Buy the Dave Peltz "Short Game Bible" and work on full and 3/4 shots of varying trajectories. The objective is to improve shot predictability and hence improve confidence to go for tighter targets with the scoring clubs. It can be boring, but make sure you dial in the scoring clubs. Then be aggressive.
Putting. Make it part of your regular practice routine, even for just 10 mins. Dr Bob advocates attitude over technique. Let your natural instincts take over. Think about the putt before you step in and once you get over the ball, make sure you hit it quickly. Rhythm, flow and no hesitation. Don't be upset when you miss and don't be afraid of three-putting. Love one-putting and making birdies more than you hate three-putting. Believe your first instinct and don't invent a break that doesn't exist. Downplay the importance of the shot and visualise the ball going in the hole.
Practice rounds. If possible play best-ball with 2 or 3 balls and get comfortable with shooting low scores. Also, play worst-ball with 2 or 3 balls and improve your scrambling under pressure.
Course management - do your homework, have a strategy and stick to it. Four Foundations of Golf is a great book for this although Dr Bob would leave the driver in the bag more often than Jon.
I found the concluding chapters really interesting too. The first was about "Late Bloomers" and what they can still achieve and the final one was about "Maintaining Perspective", in life and golf. For those who read my blog regularly, you'll know these have been recurring themes for me.
It's been a long time since I read anything by Dr Bob Rotella, and I'm happy that picked up this. The first few chapters made me cringe in places with its bullishness (although others may love that), but the rest more than compensated. While much of the book is geared towards the elite amateur or professional, there is great practical advice that we can all benefit from. I know I'm going to focus my play and practice differently as a result of reading this.
Now, where can I find out more about Senior Open Qualifying requirements......
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