Fish Don't Whistle 

I have been​​ following the author Steven Pressfield for many years because his is a story that should resonate for all of us that aspire "to be" in life. Steven has written some heavyweight and award-winning titles after years of shooting in the 80's, however it is his book "Turning Pro" that inspired the title of today's blog, Fish Don't Whistle. It is on the face of it a fairly obvious statement, "yes we know that Tiger," but one that passes most people by in our day to day lives. It can be applied to golf, your business, or life in general. Attaining mastery in any aspect of our lives takes hard work, talent to me is the most overrated and useless attribute in the hands of an amateur.

It's that time of year for young aspiring professional golfers, dreams and aspirations are honed on practice grounds, it's to the gym early morning, practice and play for the day followed by a yoga or meditation class on the way home. The memory of last November at tour school has dissipated, this is the year when the hard work will shine through. Well-meaning advice is tempered with hitting thousands of golf balls, I will prevail.

The ability to overcome resistance, self-sabotage, and self-doubt is way more important than talent. When a pro hits adversity, they simply rally in the face of it and use it in their own way. And this leads us neatly to the age-old question of  "how do we know if we are good enough to make it out onto tour?"

David Law, (David who?) won last week on the European Tour down in Australia with a spectacular finish. You probably didn't know who he was, but for avid followers of golf, he is no overnight success. David who hails from Aberdeen in Scotland had a very tidy amateur career, winning at boys and senior level before heading to the challenge tour. He claimed his maiden victory in 2018 at the Scottish (appropriately!) Hydro Challenge tour event and made it on to the full European Tour via a top 15 finish on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. He won on only his fifth start on the European Tour in his rookie season! Inspiring stuff! But if you dig deeper, David is supported by former Open Champion, Paul Lawrie who manages him and guides him. He has access to all the latest technology, and it is this support system that has helped him realize his dreams. It is nigh on impossible to make it out on to tour without this support. The predictability of resistance will get you, and it takes a ice cold assassin to survive without it. The problem with professional golf is that unlike an author who sits in front of a blank page or an athlete that sets out on a ten-mile morning run, the cost of competing on tour is astronomical. The aforementioned David Law attended tour school on six occasions, work out the cost of that! Even with some talent, work ethic and the ability to overcome Steven Pressfields "Resistance Theory," it's the long game we are playing, and in the case of golf, it's a costly long game to come out the other side. 

Growing up I met two young golfers that to this day I would be still paying back the bet on which one of the two would have made it out on Tour. They are years apart, but the first one was one of the finest strikers of a ball I have seen, and I have seen them all, from Christy Senior to Tiger Woods. He worked hard on his short game and putting and did make it for one year to the Challenge Tour. He had abundant talent, a glittering amateur career, excellent support system and worked as hard as anyone. For whatever reason, he simply didn't make it. The second player came to me for putting lessons. I would have said he was a nice golfer, no more than that. He has excelled in the world of professional golf, and now the sky is the limit. He could be anything.

This brings us to the basis of every great film and book, advertisement and story, the "hero's journey." It is the great imponderable that drives us forward, it is why we attempt, what on the surface looks like madness but maybe, just maybe, we will pull through to bask in the warm glow of success. For every one golfer who has made it out on tour, there are thousands  who tried and failed. The odds are stacked against you but try telling that to the gambler who spends his last fiver on a "Hail Mary" bet. When you think about it, who knows if fish can't whistle?