Sheep Turd
By Codebreaker — Mark Grace
Interest
What drives us to do things? What grabs our attention long enough that we spend our time and energy engaged to experience some sort of meaningful output? What captivates us to continue to engage in this activity when there are so many other things to experience on any given day?
Here I sit after 29 years and 10 months of teaching wondering what drives me to continue to be engaged in golf. There are opportunities to do other things. Over the past year I have attempted to do some. There have been obstacles that could have diverted me in another direction, but here i sit reflecting/writing about a game that perhaps began with man propelling an animal turd with a shepherd’s crook.
A few weeks back the Codebreakers decided on asking Raymond Prior to present at our event. Rob Failes made mention of him sometime last year and Garrett Chausard let me know he had spent some time with him in the past, as an advocate, playing competitive golf. Sean Kennedy was on board, he and Rob had discussed Priors work over 2023. As we organized the meeting I asked some questions in which I was directed to Raymond Prior’s book: Golf Beneath the Surface. I read half of it that night and there I sat in a zoom conference with Rob, Garrett, and Dr Prior the next morning. I read as much as I could to be prepared, but as I looked at Raymond in my I Pad, my mind was neither nervous nor anxious - it was in shock.
What drives us to this game? I believe it’s not quite the game that grabs us. The game is more like our neighborhood. It’s our community where we engage in our day. It’s those relationships in that community that keep us planted. It’s the relationships in one’s mind that enhance the quality of life in this game. It’s the lack of relationships that may drive us to another community of sport.
The ultimate relationship in golf is resonance . It sounds like a complicated word when you read the definition. Resonance can be expressed as the reinforcement or prolongation of synchronous vibration of a neighboring object. Bagger Vance uses this language - “Duffs and tops and skulls, there's only ONE shot that's in perfect harmony with the feild... One shot that's his, authentic shot, and that shot is gonna choose him... There's a perfect shot out there tryin' to find each and every one of us... All we got to do is get ourselves out of its way, to let it choose us... you just have to learn to get out of its way”. Baggers definition can be just as frustrating. How do we get out of the way of those synchronous vibrations so that we are in perfect harmony with the field? The ultimate relationship in golf is actually love. It’s love that needs to resonate.
How did we get from a sheep turd to love? Well, that is a longer story.
We begin the journey through the art of relationship. There is an art to the discipline of relationship. The tender art of respecting and accepting one’s thoughts. Through the technique of mindfulness you will be able to cultivate an internal environment where the beauty of one’s thoughts have a prolonged synchronous vibration through the ball to the target. One will begin to recognize when you get in the way - DOING MINDSET. When you are relational with your thoughts you are present with the target. When present one will not only see the field, one will be in perfect harmony with it. In the BEING MINDSET you are not in the way. By BEING you are a synchronous vibration of the resonate field. You are present with the enormous sensory that is available to us. When we stop trying to Do - we can get out of our own way and learn to love this game in a way that does not distract from the journey of loving ourselves. I invite you to let that sink (resonate) in.
Well, at least that is my take. I will offer more in the weeks to come.
We look forward to Dr Prior at our upcoming retreat. I look forward to sharing some of his work.
-Mark