Robert Not Bob

Against the wind
I’m still runnin’ against the wind
I’m older now but still runnin’ against the wind
Well I’m older now and still runnin’
Against the wind

Nothing like a little Bob Seger to set the theme for my latest thoughts. I think for many, the last month plus has felt like a run against the wind. The practice group at my firm (www.weaver.com) usually does a Motivation Monday piece to get the team thinking about various topics. The members of the management group rotate on who provides the motivation piece and this week I had the opportunity to be the motivator. I thought I would share some thoughts with you inspired by that piece.

Both of my daughters played golf in high school and one picked up the game many years prior to that. While I am a horrible golfer, I tried to encourage their love of the game as best I could. Being a life-long Longhorn, I turned to one of the legends of the University of Texas and THE legend of golf instructors – Harvey Penick.   While he was a great swing coach, he was even a better mental coach, both on and off the course. I read several books based on his life’s teachings, but I especially clung to his Little Red Book for words of wisdom to share with my girls and for my own use. For those of you who have not heard of Harvey Penick, he was the long-time golf coach at UT-Austin and a club pro at Austin Country Club. One of the legendary figures in the world of golf. The Little Red Book is a series of small anecdotes about golf, but many also apply to life. As I continue to try to process the events surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, I thought about one of the stories in that book.

It is a tale is about a golfer who contacted Harvey the night before the championship round of a tournament looking for advice. The forecast called for high winds and the golfer typically played poorly on windy days. He wanted to know the secret to playing well when faced with windy conditions.   Harvey’s advice to him was:

“Wind tends to make people hurry. I believe more accidents happen on and off the golf course in March than in any other month, because of the wind. On all shots into the wind, pay careful attention to your balance. Do not hurry yourself or your swing. Just be normal…. Remember, the wind is blowing as hard for your opponent as it is for you. Take your time. Keep your balance. Don’t let the wind make you hurry or swing hard.”

We have certainly all been playing in high wind for the past 4+ weeks. And if you are like me, there are times all this Covid-19 stuff makes you feel a little off balance and hurried. This can make us swing a little too hard in certain areas of our life – both personally and professionally. On the golf course, hurrying your swing or swinging harder than normal can lead to your ball ending up in a hazard and playing from a hazard under windy conditions can lead to disastrous results. The same holds true in life. All to often when we experience hardships or unexpected conditions, our instinct is to just force our way through it instead of gathering our balance and taking a normal step. Unfortunately, if you press too hard with those around you or enter into a situation off balance, it can lead to unintended negative results.

Perhaps we need to take Harvey’s advice and realize we are all playing in the same conditions; then slow down, find our balance, and swing normal.