The strangest golfer I’ve met

I promise there is a golf lesson at the end of all this – just hang in there please.

David is the strangest (in want of a better word) golfer I have encountered in my time doing this golf thing. He has sent emails and left the odd comment on the blog, has also purchased some products and I even did a review of his swing (he sent in a video and I gave my comments). Then one day in 2010 he sent this little gem through (please ignore the spelling mistakes),

Hi Cameron,
Tried to read the comments from your mates tonight: just gave up….. useless!
Automatic golf is definitely not for me if these desparates have been taken in by it: regret wasting some of my time in this way.
Would try and enjoy trying for specific goals rather than wafting around esoteric ideals with this lot!
Let’s not waste each other’s valuable time. I asked for specific tasks/definite goals/techniques/mindsets/even drills!: now don’t expect to recieve any from this directon.
It’s only golf: but we love it! (in our own way, probably not yours, definitely NOT theirs!)

Wow. I was taken back and quite angry with this. It bothered me and I had trouble letting it go. I had spent considerable time going back and forwards on email with him and gave my best effort in trying to help him. Wasn’t sure he was having a bad day (or life) and I eventually responded with this,

CS: Very sorry David that I haven’t bent over further for you in the last
few days. I can hardly believe your attitude here. Seriously, on more
than one occasion I have ignored your behavior but have kept going
because I thought you had something to offer.

There are over 300 articles that explain my ideas FREE. Perhaps if you
took some time to learn and stop looking for a miracle cure you would
have found something worthwhile.

Maybe you expect me to keep spending time on your game. But no longer.
I should have listened to my gut. As stated previously auto golf is
not for everyone and it’s definitely not for you. I have deleted your
subscription and you will no longer hear from me.

Thanks for teaching me a valuable lesson.

I hadn’t heard from David since 2010, but he popped up again the other day when he sent these beautiful messages through;

I have received an email from some stranger telling me to download something “to cure my slice”! Get real, cowboys, the link didn’t work, anyway!
Send me what I have paid for and f**k off.

and

would have thought that you might prioritise your activities into fixing your atrocious website links before playing with meaningless email contruction (sic) to people who just don’t care……
finally somebody has got your attention, short-span as it obviously is.

Bad links are an annoyance and they shouldn’t happen – but a quick email and the matter would have been solved. But not with David, he likes to go a bit further. The funny thing here is that David has re-signed up after his account was deleted. He is also reading the website on a regular basis and couldn’t help but purchase a product or two that was on offer. Not bad from a guy who thought this wasn’t for him.

So what’s the golf lesson here?

David is like Pesky. He can distract you and cause you to lose focus. It’s all too easy to change plans and bend over to please the town clown. But you’ve got to resist. When you hit a bad shot, get an unlucky bounce or start feeling frustrated, you’ve got to keep moving forward – you’ve gotta keep playing the game. Pesky is a side-effect of entering the arena and when he shows up you know you’re on the right track.

So embrace the Pesky of your universe. By not attaching too much negative emotional energy to his ways will allow you to get on with things. This took me a long time to learn. I’d lose the plot after a string of bad golf and get really upset with negative feedback about my writing. But not anymore – Pesky is not real and his garbage flies in and then flies out. He can test you from time to time, but ultimately you have full control and this is what makes him more like a mushroom than a menace,

He is kept in the dark and fed manure

The really good bit: By accepting the odd annoyance you get less of them. When it comes to golf you ultimately have more good days than those horrible bad ones – and this makes golf far more enjoyable and rewarding.

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11 Comments

  • Lukey

    Reply Reply March 17, 2013

    I was starting to think you might have run over a china man or something similar Cam but here is my take on this particular situation.Here some years ago I had a lesson with a very good teacher in Glen McCully and after the first couple of days I’m thinking how good is this I will be down on single figures in no time but things were getting a bit worse so a a year or so later I had another lesson and thought the same but unfortunately I went backwards and went from 12 to 20 at a rapid pace.Ironically I was perusing my latest copy of AGD and noticed your ad Cam and decided to look at auto golf.Now without going into it in great detail I have found auto golf to be the way I will go and continue to go.So what is the moral to this post?it’s really simple actually I could have paid on Glen McCully big time for stuffing up my game or I could choose the path that better suited me (auto golf).You could also ask the question why did I not pay out on Glen and again the answer is simple,no way he is an absolute gentleman and does not deserve it.So the only thing I would say to David is figure out what you really want to do golf wise and stick with it.It also reminds me of the quote “a good tradesman never blames his tools”.If you don’t think Cam is the way go David bugger off elsewhere and let those that do continue on without your tripe.
    Cheers Lukey

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply March 18, 2013

      Lukey: sometimes people should just go quietly. I don’t see the point to carry on like a two-year old when things don’t go your way. Anyway, hopefully have filtered this nut case away…

  • Brock Harvey

    Reply Reply March 17, 2013

    ha ha
    maybe he thinks that automatic golf means that the club will just swing for him?!
    Not that its a mindset.

    Let it Fly!
    Let it Roll!
    Let It Drop!

    Three pesky killers that i tell my self on the course
    my slice killer is also let it fly inside out.
    Dont aim to hard….. and dont think…..
    Just
    Let it FLY!!

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply March 18, 2013

      Brock: I like your approach a lot. Let it fly (or roll or drop) is something our brain can work with. It doesn’t bog us down with too much and there’s plenty of room to move in respect to adding our own flair and style…

      Good stuff here…

  • Frank Hoekzema

    Reply Reply March 17, 2013

    Fascinating indeed. It’s great to keep reminding oneself of how strong pesky kan be. I am 100% convinced of playing automatic golf yet more often than not I find myself fighting pesky when I am out on the golfcourse. Amazing really how the mind works!

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply March 18, 2013

      Frank: It is. Learning to control that Pesky mind will always be our greatest challenge but it’s a mission well worth mastering.

  • Steady

    Reply Reply March 18, 2013

    Starchs,
    David needs to take spoon of cement. Typical desktop toughie hiding behind his computer.
    If you don’t like auto golf no one is holding a gun to his head to stick with it.
    Test tube father.
    Steady

  • wayne

    Reply Reply March 18, 2013

    hi CAM, Funny thing happened the other day, i have had a really busy couple of weeks. I seriously haven’t had time to even think about golf let alone practice,and i have actually started to play good again.[well fancy that ]

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