Daydreams

Does any sport lend itself to daydreaming better than golf?  I don't mean losing focus during a round and thinking about other things--but imagining playing the sport while doing something entirely unrelated.  I've played basketball and baseball for years--but I never find myself picturing an entire game in my mind before it is played.  I think that is due to the fact that there are so many other people that you have to account for in other sports.  It's difficult to imagine how your four basketball teammates are going to move in reaction to you--and then throw in five defenders and a ball that you don't always control and it's just too complicated picture accurately.  In golf however, it's just you, the ball and the course--and the course isn't moving anytime soon.

There is currently two feet of snow on the ground here in Wisconsin--but in my mind, I'm still out playing holes today.  When I accompany my wife to her church, I play "Mental Golf" during the entire service.  Sometimes I replay whole rounds from the past (a discussion on how we can remember darn near every round we play is coming in a future blog), sometimes I visualize an upcoming round.  I will even play out entire practice sessions--driving range, short game and putting included.

Jack Nicklaus has long been a supporter of visualization--picturing in your mind the shot before you take the swing.  I'd be willing to bet that Jack has played Augusta National and Pebble Beach more than a thousand times in his mind.  And if he's anything like me, he has set the course record a couple hundred times.  I would also bet that he has imagined hitting terrible shots as well.  The danger of Mental Golf is that it can give you an inflated sense of your own talents.  You learn nothing by only considering you are going to hit perfect shots.  Believe me, there is nothing more frustrating than "shooting" a 78 on a course in your mind--only to put up an 88 in real life the next day.

An added benefit from playing in your mind is that it takes only about 20-minutes to get through a whole round!  I never have a slow partner, never have to wait for the four guys ahead of us who are taking mulligans on every other hole and don't have a clue how to properly use carts (more on slow play in later blogs as well).

The Wisconsin State Golf Association posted its 2013 tournament schedule on Monday--and I've already played five of the 12 courses I may play this summer.  It will be the first of dozens of rounds before this two feet of snow melt away.  Besides, it's better than thinking about going out to snowblow for the umpteenth time already this winter.