Golf as a Proxy - Walker Simas

I’m fortunate to have a large bank of lessons to iterate on throughout the rest of my days. Lessons are great memories because we assign meaning to them, and as a gift in return we get to go back and revisit those moments. Lessons can be so powerful that we even remember the ruffled timeline of their surroundings, as well as tiny details we forget everywhere else. 

But forget the big moments. In the cracks- the mundane- the routine-- there’s value there too. There are patterns waiting to be noticed. To a degree, that’s the crux of it all. I found it staggering how significant this game of golf has been in so many of these lessons. 

My story begins with golf as a sport- devour mode. As a competitor you’re incentivised to be curious- to investigate, apply, and repeat. To be reactive, but only after being proactive. To learn the power of consistency, and that it’s not the only variable in the equation.

Because we overuse the blanket statement “golf is comparative to life”, my goal today is to explore these three lessons I’ve learned through golf, and how using the game as a proxy can justify prioritizing golf experiences as a life supplement. 

Lesson #1

Consistency of a good habit creates a positive feedback loop and a positive, non-linear return. 

Consistency of a bad habit creates a negative feedback loop, inducing doubt and fear. 

I used to do a simple putting drill that nearly drove me mad. 

The setup was eight tees. Four of them North, South, East, & West at four ft. The other four the same at six ft, offset. The drill was to make all eight in a row, with one condition. On each putt, you had to care incrementally less about the outcome. 

As each putt falls, the desire to make increases. The mind must be trained in the opposite direction.  Without it, we become entirely outcome focused. It shifted my primary goal to reducing the “try”, and made the act of making putts the second most challenging task on my to-do list. It made me reactive. 

When I did this consistently, I would then ride these wonderful stretches of putting. Again- non-linear. Above all, this drill confirmed something I could have told you at the very beginning: If you love the drill, you just love putting. You must. 

Day- of range sessions made me a worse competitor. 

Training is for preparation, but different people need to draw the line between preparation and execution in a different manner. Some need the freedom to tinker closer to game time. Some want no part of it and take bad swings as if it's just another day. What if today is not just any other day? What if you have the chance to do something special or achieve something new? 

Regardless, a beautiful part of our game (which will never go away), is that you must play with what you have. The score can mislead, but over time it cannot lie. The ball certainly doesn’t. 

So eventually over a span of years I turned a warmup into this major bullet point on my day instead of a small transition piece- the act of simply “warming up”. The recipe to a good day’s ball-striking is not by ignoring contact and ball-flight pre-round. The answer is ALSO not anything that burdens the player in any way whatsoever. 

It took a year of no competitive golf for me to see this behavior so clearly as the key bad habit which was practiced consistently. In the moment, it felt routine and focused. At its worst, stressful. Because my focus was on having control, I failed to see past any small liabilities instead of using trust to lean on my game and instinct. 

Am I allowed to quote Theo Von? “Nothing changes if nothing changes”

Lesson #2

Reactive is only good if it is preceded by proactive. 

• Be theoretical and methodical in your prep and decision making

• Be fluid, unbothered, unburdened, and instinctive in execution

When the bottle rolls off the table behind you and you catch it instinctively, what do we call that? When you toss someone your keys so they can put their golf shoes in your trunk, do you think about how you’re going to throw them?

Better yet, you may have been faced with a decision that impacts many people, many families. Those decisions have to be made, and usually in a timely manner. Our best decision makers can be reactive only because they had been proactive prior. 

Golf presents so many of these opportunities. When (and how) do I prepare for challenging moments? And when I’m in them, how do I leave everything behind and become childlike-- free of concern for outcome? 

In our work, this takes its own shape, as it does in family life, and in our community. Golf does a much better job of providing instant feedback in that regard. We begin our day on the golf course by consenting to consistent, repeatable, immediate feedback for every action we take. 

Course management, managing expectations, and being prepared only matter if they are applied with freedom. If you're prepared but not free to execute, you could find yourself in a tougher position than you would the other way around. 

The solution is reps, like anything. Referencing my previous point, the line has to be drawn between prep and execution- proactive tasks and reactive tasks. Knowing always what pool you’re in is a start. 

"Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.” –Plato

Lesson #3

Put yourself in position for feedback. Curiosity, investigation, application, & repeat. 

Before I hammer feedback again, let’s break down the flow chart briefly. 

Curiosity: 

Remember the story of the stone mason? Failure on the 100th strike, with success on the 101st? The non-curious never turn over enough stones to find the gold. Among the most curious you’ll find the 100+ reps with nothing to show for it. You’ll also find that their success stories make so much sense in hindsight. J.K Rowling, among others, come to mind. 

Investigation:

Investigation is the vehicle which transports you from curiosity to application. In the golf swing and course management just the same as our careers and relationships- consistent investigation exposes our weaknesses. Properly harnessed, it sets up your personal to-do list. 

Application:

The true art is in the application. We all know someone with unconventional methods. We all swing it a different way with different feels, different drills, and a different understanding of how to put together the final product. If the application is not informed by the previous two points, you’re headed to a different destination. 

& of course, Repeat. 

The question that I ask myself often is “how do I structure my life to receive feedback like I did on the golf course?” My fitness band is a great example. A long Nebraska day ending with a pack of col’beers will lead to a morning in the red. It just will. I’ll see white when I stand up. I’ll be fighting for my life in that unforgiving sun, being peppered by the sand. Curiosity sparked the purchase, investigation is simply paying attention, and the application is to change the behavior if you want a different result. 

Comparatively, you could say the same for going for par fives, aiming at flagsticks, or taking on shots you know have fractional chances of working out. Over time, these choices manifest into scores that don’t lie.

What Now?

All of us are here reading this because we have some tie to the game. If you haven’t been blessed with a round at sunset with your best friends, made an important putt coming down the stretch, or even choked a lead away, I’m surprised you’ve found your way here. 

As I navigate my mid twenties, I’m consistently the least educated and practiced in the room. Getting out on the golf course is like receiving a software update, as lessons I’ve learned before seem to re-download and filter into my professional and personal life. This is why I believe golf is a necessary supplement.  

The Abbey is a public golf course in central Florida where I play. I walk barefoot with 3-4 clubs, and try to pick away at hitting the shots I could once hit repeatedly. It’s therapy in the truest sense, and I would be worse off without it. Similarly, playing 9 holes after work at Landmand’s sister course Old Dane with my colleagues and brothers instilled memories I look back on frequently. So much so, that they affect my life now in a very real way. 

Using golf as a proxy for experiences and lessons is a valuable tool. Find your opportunities and f*****g send it.

- WS