Hey, it’s not about the sand iron

This comes after the video about Phil Mickelson hitting a shot off the cart part. Here’s a comment from Lukey and I imagine many others would be thinking the same thing.

but for one thing I don’t want to ruin my sand wedge

Here’s my response…

Here’s a question for you Lukey? (and everyone else who would be scared of damaging their sand iron).

Would you be prepared to try this shot (or one like it) and possibly scratch, mark or scrape your club (but not do any real damage) but actually learn something really valuable? If so, then what are you waiting for?

I’m sort of picking on Lukey a little here – but what damage could you really do? Seriously, a scratch or a nick is the worst thing.

Fear (our Pesky brain) comes up with all sorts of reasons why we shouldn’t do something – but usually, these are the things we should be having fun with. I can see young kids the world over trying this shot from concrete and having a ball – they’ll be learning and trying to emulate Lucky Phil. But there’ll also be a heap of “older” guys too scared to get off the couch and try it for fear of damaging the club. The club damage isn’t the real cause – but Pesky’s excuse for you to stay put and not challenge the status quo.

Again, this is not a direct hit on Lukey – he just happened to be the first guy that came along…

While we’re at it, what else are you shying away from?

– learning to hit a lob shot
– playing with a draw
– hitting the ball high or low
– trying a new shot

I could go on and on but sometimes we let fear (or an excuse) get in our way to explore, create and learn something new. Most of the time it’s the fear of a bad shot or having a bad score that stops us – Pesky knows no bounds, he’ll try anything to keep you grounded. But in my mind the fear is a sign that we’re moving in the right direction and we should embrace it. We need to follow the fear and not shy away from it.

And this is why playing automatic golf does take a level of courage. The first step is the scary one but after that it does get easier – especially when we realise there was nothing to be worried about in the first place.

So don’t let fear and self-doubt stop you playing the game. After all, how much trouble and pain can we really get into? A little scratch on your club is only character building…