Where this relates to golf (which you knew was coming up), is that you should also vary the way you approach the game to get the most out of it. I was on the outskirts of a conversation a few weeks back where a very good golfer was playing lots and practicing hard but was exasperated with his game and the suggestion from the well-meaning collection of club golfers was to have a break for three weeks. This is only my conjecture bit it would seem reasonable to me that if you went to a Doctor with a physical ailment and they could help they might suggest medicine, a surgeon might suggest a procedure and a physio might suggest active treatment as they would try to align their skills with helping the patient. None of them would suggest coming back in three weeks and seeing 'how it goes', even if they did, I’m sure the visit three weeks later would be full of trepidation for the patient and what were they to do if the same ailment happens in the future? The golfer equivalent of this would be the PGA golf professional suggesting a swing tweak (doctor), the same PGA Professional suggesting an equipment tweak (surgeon) and the same PGA Professional again suggesting some course management work (physio). The golfer in question was astute enough to publicly agree with the golfers and thank them for their advice and then got to work that afternoon working harder than ever whilst consulting the Doctor, Surgeon and Physio (PGA Pro!). Of course after that, the golfer is then wise to follow the collective advice and also take a break - but only when there is a plan of action in place, a goal and a timescale to follow and that makes the break a deserved one and part of a plan instead of a hopeful solution. In this golfers’ case, the problem stemmed from an impact area which was very narrow and a club face which was wildly closing to the target. No amount of time off would have changed it! My Dad, bless him, used to practice quite a lot and after hitting a couple of tubes would start shanking the ball and couldn’t stop, yet he rarely ever did it on the course. I asked him how he stopped this happening and he said he doesn’t, he simply stops practicing when he shanks a couple and goes and works on his putting, or only hits one tube of balls as it doesn’t happen by then. Seemed like a pretty good solution to me at the time. What was happening was that he used to allow his arms to swing out in front of him too much and the looser he got by hitting many shots in a row, the more exaggerated the move became until the shank appeared, the next day it wouldn’t be as exaggerated. That’s fine, until it DOES begin to appear more often - then it’s time to go to the doctor/surgeon/physio for a fix. Apart from dashing good looks (!?), a desire to file things and ‘Dad-dancing’, the other trait that my Dad passed onto me was the same movement in my swing which I constantly work on (never severe enough to shank it but it’s there none the less), I’m not sure which son I’ve passed the heritage onto yet but I think I know who’s got the Dad-Dancing!
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