Does Your Improvement Puzzle Have Too Many Pieces?

By Greg Schulze, PGA Master Professional

 

 

How many pieces did your first childhood jigsaw puzzle have? I’ve seen them in toy stores with as few as 4 pieces. How many pieces were in the puzzles you bought as you got older and became an adult? More? Why? Did you assume that you would become bored quickly with a 4-piece puzzle?

When you aged from a junior golfer to an adult golfer, did you assume that learning was supposed to get more complicated simply because you got older? Do you currently think that you’re struggling with your game because of what you “don’t know, or you’re missing something?” Do you assume that “better golf” always requires MORE of everything? Do more pieces always equate to ACCELERATED LEARNING or LONG-TERM PROGRESS? To all these questions… an emphatic NO!

Have you caught the irony? How many golfers “complain” about the perceived difficulty of the game, claiming confusion from all the information that they have been exposed to? Craving simplicity yet assuming they need MORE. They’ll surf YouTube MORE, they’ll read MORE golf instruction articles in magazines, they’ll watch MORE Golf Channel instruction shows, they’ll take MORE golf lessons, they’ll “practice without a purpose” MORE, MORE, MORE. Craving simplicity, yet not being content unless it’s complex!

You DON’T need more pieces to reach your potential, you NEED LESS! Think back to the concept of the jigsaw puzzle; regardless of whether it’s 4 or 4000 pieces, the final picture ends up looking the same anyway! But which approach takes longer to “see?” My clients learn LESS from me; becoming aware that often what’s been on their perceived “to-do list” was never required in the first place. It’s the “addition by subtraction” principle. There is only a SMALL list of relevant and required science/laws common to all top golfers. If you practiced ONLY what was relevant, would you enjoy golf more? Or, deep down, maybe would you almost “miss” that confusion, struggle and challenge to “figure it out” (I’m pretty sure psychologists have a term for this mindset).

NEWSFLASH, you don’t need to “figure it out,” you need to become aware of what someone else figured out eons ago! Maybe you’re scared; it’s a “leap of faith” to truly believe that you can “get the whole picture” with FEWER pieces to your improvement puzzle!

I’ll leave you with one final thought to go “hmm…” after. Have you ever watched the top players on TV and thought, “Wow, they make it looks so easy?” Does that sound like more or less pieces to you? Hmm…