I was lucky enough to be included in a round of golf with some clients this morning at St Lucia Golf Course. We only played 9 holes and the format was a 4 ball ambrose. Whilst I have been playing a bit of golf and practicing much at the driving range of late, I have been pretty ordinary so I was more than happy we were playing an ambrose. To say I was chuffed with how I hit the ball today would be an understatement. Right from the first hole I was hitting my driver well and enjoyed a great morning with come quality blokes.

When we got to our last hole (18th) I had the words of a guy I have played a bit of golf with this year who is off a single figure handicap in my mind. His principal golf maxim is encapsulated in this quote:

“Think about your shot and decide on what you are going to do … then stop thinking and swing the club as hard as you can!”

Now there is some important background here: due to the combination of a troublesome hip and neck and nearly 20 years of lacking self confidence in my golf swing I have developed a way of getting my driver in the fairway by only hitting it at 80% power. It has worked for me for years and I have rarely strayed from it.

Today though, as I stood on the tee of the 18th and with some urging of one of my playing partners, I decided that I might as well have a go at hitting my drive at 100%.

The 18th hole at St Lucia Golf Course is a 302 metre par 4 with a very wide fairway and a great that is guarded at the front by two large bunkers that have a strip of grass about a metre and half width between them that feeds up to the green. The tee is a little elevated and the tee box today was right at the back of the available space.

Armed with the maxim above, I decided that the shot I wanted to hit was going to be a driver as hard as I could hit it which I expected would end up about 20 metres from the bunkers. Then I stopped thinking and swung as hard as I could. Off the club I said to myself that it was in one of the green side bunkers and the shot would have ended up there if it had not been directed at the patch of grass between the two bunkers. After a hard first bounce, the ball trickled up the patch of grass and rested on the fringe of the green (before it rolled back down to end up nestled between the bunkers a metre off the green). I have never hit a ball so far and had reaped the benefits of putting into the play the strategy my regular golf companion has been pushing to me for some time.

Now if you had read this far, you are probably thinking that this post is simply just a vanity exercise. Whilst I am chuffed about my drive on the 18th (and have told the story at least 10 times already which is a golfer’s perogative), the application of my friends maxim got me thinking about its application in other contexts.

What the maxim is really all about, in my view, is making decisions and then sticking to them without over thinking them. I know I, for one, am a chronic over thinker which at times leads to the procrastination I have already spoken of. Some times I wish I didn’t think so much and focus more on making a decision, sticking to it and, once said decision is made, “going hard” at it. That is easier said than done but is certainly something to strive to because I am sure that if we all focused more on execution of our personal goals rather than over thinking we would all be happier and being happy is what life is all about isn’t it.

I know it is only just golf and it is only just one golf shot but thinking about the thought process that lead to the result of the shot may well have given me some clarity as to how I might in the future avoid the procrastination that has dogged me. It is time to start thinking less and “go hard” me thinks!