Category Archives: Attitude and Alignment

Attitude 2 – There is no failure, only feedback

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If you genuinely believe that you are focusing on your target and you align yourself correctly, and yet you push the ball, or pull the ball away from the line of target. What do you do? Berate yourself for slicing or hooking? Bad move! Welcome the opportunity to learn what it was that you did, because there is going to come a shot where you want to hook it, or slice it around a tree? Excellent!

Learn from it – take joy in learning something. If it’s a consistent problem for you… then you can choose, go get some instruction from a good pro to improve your technique, learn how to re-align yourself to compensate (not so good but Gary Player had a peculiar swing to compensate for his clubs), or – very rarely – get your clubs fixed. If per chance you go to a pro who immediately tells you that you need a new set of clubs, then go elsewhere – it may be true (you can always go back later) but an expensive driver does not a golfer make. Think back to our car driving analogy – you’ve seen someone driving a Ferrari badly and someone else driving a Toyota very well? Of course it’s always worth checking your clubs for dints and dents, even Toyota’s break down (yeah but less often than Ferraris!) Of course anyone from that esteemed motor company that would like to prove the reliability of their vehicles on a personal level – I’m very happy to accept the challenge

Attitude 1 – People can change anything!

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It’s obvious that some states are good for you, and some are not so good right? Anyone like to feel angry – I mean actually enjoy it? I don’t think so… if you believe that you enjoy feeling angry, I’d suggest that you have a more powerful result from your anger that – perhaps it’s power? The angry boss who persists in it because it’s the only way they can feel powerful – strip away their anger and they crumble.

Anger – directed at self, others or the outside world – for whatever ‘justifiable reason’ harms you. Firstly. think about something really pleasant. Remember the time when you were ecstatically happy or joyful? Whenever that time was, whatever you were doing (and there’s no need to be shy, but keep it to yourself OK ☺ ) live in that moment, see what you saw then, hear what you heard, feel how you felt, smell what you smelled, and taste what you tasted. There? Good isn’t it. Now remember that moment, because I want you to quickly get back here in a moment.

Allow the good feeling to dissipate – quick wasn’t it? Still nice and lingering just a little.

Now, remember the last time you were angry. Whatever you were angry about – a poor shot, a child misbehaving, an argument with your better half, your boss at work, a customer… what do you see? what do you hear? What do you feel? Nasty isn’t it? Unpleasant, perhaps a knotted feeling, certainly you’ll notice that certain muscles are tense. Now, go back to the happy memory and stay there as long as it takes to replace the feeling.

As you come back into the room with me, you’ll have noticed a difference between anger and happiness (or joy or whatever word you like to use). It’s likely that you took longer to dissipate the feeling of anger than that of happiness? Why is this? Well, the feeling of anger most often manifests itself in tension – physical tension – most often in the stomach, the shoulders and the head – but it can be anywhere in the body. Where’s yours?

You are an athlete right? Well you play golf, perhaps athlete is a little too strong for now, but you are nonetheless. So you are aware of having muscle ache, or ‘the stitch’? When you tense your muscles intensely or over a prolonged period – the muscles burn energy much faster – too fast for proper nutrition – and a toxin is left in the muscle tissue – which takes a while for the blood system to clear up. Anger creates tension which leaves a toxin in the body which takes time to clean. Too much, too often and your body will tire of this – requiring more replacement energy – that’s why angry people eat more than happy people – oh and usually they eat faster too. IT’s not the only reason, some people are just lazy and fat, but you, you are an athlete and do exercise and stretch plenty. You know that you need to keep stretching those muscles don’t you? The more flexibility and elasticity in your muscles, the better right? So, if anger creates tension – does this benefit flexibility and elasticity? No, of course not. So not only does anger fill you with toxins, it reduces your ability to swing well. Convinced that this anger thing isn’t good for you yet? Good, let’s move on with what you want instead.

Attitude – Five attitudes

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Here are five attitudes that will change your life:

  1. People can change anything
  2. There is no failure, only feedback
  3. People are NOT their behaviours
  4. Respect the other person’s model of the world
  5. The meaning of communication is the response you get

The attitude you portray outwardly is a result of your inner state. You might like to think of your inner state as a feeling. Most often, our state is described by a ‘feeling’ word: angry, happiness, joyful, accepted, guilty, peaceful for example.

I’m going to look at these one at a time and we’ll discuss the implications for your golf and for your leadership.

Alignment – The hardest thing in golf is not hitting the ball!

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Many people who play golf have never taken a lesson!
They get introduced to the game by a friend or family member and learn to play by going along to the golf course and playing.
When you learn this way, by instinct as it were, you develop a muscle memory of your technique and a discovery process of what works and what doesn’t, hopefully repeating the positive patterns that achieve roughly what you want to achieve. Someone who finds that their ‘natural” swing slices the ball, will compensate by aiming to the left of the ball so that it will slice back onto the fairway.

The hardest thing in golf is not hitting the ball, it is consistently hitting the ball straight – or at least in the direction intended. You’ll hear many a golfer say something along the lines of “I was hitting the ball really well today, but my score doesn’t reflect it”. The reason for most is that they aren’t aligning their body and their swing with the target.

Thinking back to the blog on Goals and Vision for a moment. If you can clearly see your goal, both in your mind?s eye and in reality – it would be strange if you faced your club at a 90 degree angle to it? How about 5 degrees? How about 1 degree? Perhaps if you are compensating for your very “natural” slicing habit but let?s take a quick trigonometry reminder. You see, those maths classes were going to prove useful!

Let’s assume, for a moment that you have a clean fairway shot to the green 135 yards straight ahead and plan to use your trusty 7-iron in that straight line, oh, and you would strike the ball clean and straight. Aligning yourself and your club just 5 degrees away from the straight line will put your ball about 6 yards away from your target – assuming that you still hit the ball the full yardage. You don’t need me to tell you that 6 yards from the hole is usually the rough, or a bunker, or a pond. And this is when everything else is working very very well indeed. The added complication with alignment in golf is the club face alignment. 5 degrees off centre alignment with an open or closed face, will reduce the yardage of the ball because the ball will not loft as high – it’ll hit the ground sooner which robs the ball of some momentum depending on the friction between the ball and the ground. You don’t need me to tell you that a ball landing on the fairway rolls further than a ball rolling in the rough. Oh well, I told you anyway.

So how do you ensure alignment with your target. In the words of Harvey Pennick, “Take Dead Aim”. Well that’s pretty simple and something you can easily practice on the range. Many practice ranges have sticks or plastic arrows – you align one with your feet and another with your tee or ball, directing them both in parallel to your target. Swing, thwack and low and behold, on the practice range, the ball flies straight to the target. You do it again, and again, and again – eventually removing the visual markers and “imagining” them. Settling yourself calmly and your G.A.S.P. (grip, address, stance, posture) and “thwack” off the ball flies straight to target. If it were that easy, we’d all be able to do it. The physics is unarguable, the theory straightforward, the requirements from you are not overly demanding – yet, somehow, the swing just doesn?t align to the target. You spend a small fortune on your highly-engineered custom clubs to eradicate the anomaly, and still you miss the target.

The physical process is important, don’t let anyone persuade you different. A good golf coach will see if there is anything to correct in your swing that may be causing the problem, but only if the problem is physical. 95% plus of the problem is not physical, it’s mental. It comes back to your unconscious giving your body instructions. When you?re on the range, you?re hitting ball after ball after ball. Concentrating on your technique and getting into a rhythm.

Out on the course, your hitting a ball, club back in bag, pick up bag, walk, walk, walk, chatter, talk, “oh that’s interesting?”, thinking, “I wonder if my better half is still angry with me?”, “I must finish that report”. “oh and that email I received.” “so and so was a bit odd today.” walk walk walk, and then getting closer to your ball. “ah there it is, a bit of long grass around it, but otherwise, a pretty nice lie, hey and not bad – a couple of feet further to the side than I wanted, but I’m getting better. I wonder if I’m going to get this right, now which club, hmm” and on and on. How much of your game is hitting balls, and how much is not hitting balls? 
See, if you play a game like squash, say. You don’t have  much time after hitting the ball, before it’s your turn to hit it again – and that short time is spent focussing on where the ball is, your opponent is and so on – a few seconds at most. Now the brain works very very quickly, but essentially you don?t have much time to drift into other matters – it’s all about the ball.
How much time do you spend aligning yourself – and by now I think you realise that I mean mentally and physically, before each shot.

Alignment is not just a physical process – that funny little waggle that golfers do. It’s about training your mind to align as well. Taking each goal for each and every shot, envisioning how it is going to be successful. Settling the body and focussing your mind – trusting your technique to deliver what it delivers. What you focus on, you will get more of?

In training your mind to give you an advantage, there is an important element. Do NOT reinforce the bad. Now if you’ve stayed with me so far, you know that the unconscious cannot process negatives, and I just gave you a negative. But that’s to get it out of the way so we can now focus on the positive. Reinforce the good.

Playing Styles and Leadership Styles

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Many golfers take up the game, in part, because it is known as the sport of business people – it is an especially good means of networking and developing relationships, so is there a commonality between the way people play the game and the way they behave at work – our research and observation shows that there is:

There are six main ‘styles’ of playing golf with a corresponding leadership style – the 6Cs of Golf and Leadership Style.
By ‘style’, I do not mean to refer to an individual’s personality or their innate character as though this were true. I am, instead, referring to the way in which you perform at your best and most naturally – which may represent your true personality – best to ask your spouse or a close friend who knows you in many other situations as well.

We’ll consider each of the styles in turn, pointing out the dominant characteristics displayed and consider a few well known players and business leaders who fit each style. Your job is to identify your own style amongst these six – finding the one which most accurately matches your approach to the game of golf, and your approach to leadership. This isn’t about choosing the style you think that you ‘should’ have, or would like to have. This is about understanding where you are now, and knowing that if you play in this style, or lead with this style, it will be the most comfortable. Later you can consider how to compensate for the weaknesses in your own game.

The Conquerer
On the golf course, this player dominates. Blasting a drive as far as possible brings great joy. The conquerer plays to shorten every hole and every shot – going for broke every time. Often an exhibitionist player and like to brag about their prowess.

Long carries over water whet the conquerers appetite – long par 5’s with a copse on the dogleg right to over-fly bring pulses of energy and make the endorphins flow.

As a leader, the conquerer revels in adversity and challenge. The more impossible others consider the position, the more the conquerer defies the odds. They want results, and they want them now. Excuses will bring wrath, and success will bring a new challenge. Seldom satisfied with the result, it can always be better.

Golf players who are conquerers include: Greg Norman, Bubba Watson, Arnold Palmer, Sam Sneed
Famous leader conquerers include: Margaret Thatcher, George W. Bush, Carly Fiorina, Lee Ka Shing, John Chambers, Michael Dell, David Johnson

The Conjuror
These golfers find excitement in difficult lies, thoroughly enjoy being tested in the rough, or an impossible shot between the trees. They excel in the bunker, and become easily bored with routine fairway shots. They gather their wits before a troublesome shot and have marvellous imagination which they are very capable of transferring directly into their game. About half of the conjurors like to show-off, whilst the other, quieter half, like to core well.

The conjuror leader triumphs over adversity again and again. Seemingly intent on making their own lives difficult and forever deliberately putting themselves and their teams into new challenges.

Golf player conjurors include: Seve Balesteros, Tom Watson, Phil Micelson

Conjuror leaders include: Herb Kelleher, Hank Greenberg, Michael Eisner

The Craftsman

The clear headed technical player, deeply aware of their swing. Knowing their game intimately. These golfers, rehearse and practice even during a round – working on particular aspects of their game that needs attention.

This player excels when tinkering with the minutai details of how to play a particular shot. These players prefer a low stress game, hitting the fairway just right, and onto the green all day will suit them just fine. Quiet and concentrate more on scoring than exhibition, these are solid players and maintain a consistent game.

The Craftsman leader similarly likes a smooth-running business where they can constantly and continuously improve aspects of their business in incremental steps.

Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Ben Crane, Charles Howell III

Gordone Bethune, Andy Grove, Sandy Weill

The Cavalier

The consummate performer – the true exhibitionist of the game, these players like to shape their shots as much as possible and work the ball towards the target. How the shot, and they, look is important. This is the player who says “watch this“ as they carve a beautiful shot around a tree and over the water onto the green. Others do this occasionally, with luck, but these players thrive on it. They like to wow the crowd and fellow players and are the shot-makers of the game.

The Cavalier leader is the ‘show-offs’ of the leadership world – not necessarily egotistically, but because it motivates them. Often, they will stun the audience with acts of derring-do and controversial behaviours. These leaders enjoy the limelight and are more frequently in the press.

Cavalier golfers include: Lee Trevino, Corey Pravin and Chi Chi Rodriguez

Cavalier leaders include: Richard Branson, Ken Lay, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart

The Conductor
These are the players who pull the others together as much as play for themselves. Often, the unsung heroes of the regular round with friends, these players organise, cajole and hustle. More concerned for everyone’s enjoyment than just their own, they thrive on playing with others. Taking part is more important than winning, they can glory in other’s success. Few of the world’s top golfers fit this style, yet without them, the amateur game and local competitions would not exist for long. Disciplined and organised, these players like to keep accurate scores and seldom show-off.

Most leaders would like to be considered as conductors, concentrating their efforts on bringing the symphony together in perfect harmony towards a particular goal. These leaders empower others and seldom take centre-stage in public view (like an orchestral conductor, they have their back to the audience and their guidance focused on their team.)

Players who are conductors include: Tony Jacklin, Colin Montgomerie
Leaders: Charles Heimbold, Carol Bartz, Elizabeth Dole, Ralph Larsen, Bill Marriot

The Chess player
These are the strategists of the game. These players plot their way around a course from point a to point b to point c. Positional golf is their forte and they are content to hit fairways and greens and two-put all day with an occasional birdie. They know that consistent, planned performance will win most of the time against all other styles. The Chess player gets the most from their game when they are thinking clearly, and using their minds throughout the round. Nothing flashy about their game for the most part, these players are good in all aspects of each hole and tend to strike the ball cleanly and well. These are the scorers of the game – they may appear to showing-off but that is due to their considerable skill and focus.

All leaders would like to consider themselves to be chess players, understanding the ‘art of war’ and the plethora of books on strategic management. But that’s just it, the vast majority of strategists are managers, not leaders (except by title). These leaders understand the environment, the context, the shifting positions of the competition and play a solid game along known successful routes, not too greedy and with contingencies for rough times. They understand foremost, who they are and what drives them, secondly they know their people and leverage their strengths and deploy all their resources to best effect.

Golfing chess players include: Ben Hogan, Bernard Langer, David Toms and Tiger Woods (an ex-conquerer turned strategist)
Leadership chess players are most exemplified by Jack Welch, Walter Shipley, Howard Schultz, Gordon Bethune, Tony Blair

Each of us in reality possess aspects of each of these styles in our game and in our leadership. Underneath the situational style we may have developed though, lies a core style that suits us best. A style in which we are truly ‘playing with ourselves’ – a place where we are at ease with our game, and feel confident that we will achieve what we set out to achieve. Knowing your pre-disposition for a preferred style means that you know where, when the pressure is on, you are going to play naturally and with least effort. Knowing yourself and trusting in the strengths of a particular style will enable you to actively reduce your golf score and pro-actively lead your people.

Dr. John Kenworthy, Learning Innovator, GAINMORE Leadership, GAINMORE Golf

My Clubs: Ecademy Southend Area Club|School of Networking | Gainmore Golf Community
Blogs: MyBlog |My Bar | Golf Blog

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