The Mystical Swing: Confidence from Creativity in Golf, Life, and Speaking from the Heart
116
The Mystical Swing: Confidence from Creativity in Golf, Life, and Speaking from the Heart
116eBook
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Overview
Augusto Tomas offers a truly unique perspective in this intriguing golf manual and spiritual guide. Drawing on an eclectic set of influences, he shows how the game has inspired his outer and inner journeys through life.
Marshall Goldsmith, #1 Executive Coach in the World and New York Times #1 bestselling author of Triggers
The Mystical Swingis a creative golf journey, for a fluid swing and a fluent speech, throughMind,BodyandSpirit.
As a way of sharing the author travels and personal experiences, a taster class of 60 minutes, was developed where a set ofGolfermodel poses will be used asArtmodel poses, not for drawing but for writing purposes.
By mastering a fluid golf swing, the author was able to overcome his own speech impediment, coming out of his shell by sharing his stuttering story like so many othersgolf legendsdid as Tiger Woods, Ken Venturi, Butch Baird and Sophie Gustafson.
For all of us, stuttering was a blessing to become a better person!
Asign of lovefrom the "Gods" to carry on the path forGreatness!
To honor the Gods of Creativity, the ultimate quest of the author is to inspire the humankind for the magic benefits of Speaking from the Heart!
The Mystical Swingtaster class will be of interest toGolfersand otherCuriouspeople who are into golf, as well as life!
Sales ofThe Mystical Swingwill benefitSAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that for more than a decade has provided life-changing experiences for children who stutter.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504383820 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Balboa Press |
| Publication date: | 06/29/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 116 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Point A: The Lucky Swing
Fun Ball
The purpose of The Mystical Swing was to introduce golf to friends who had never played golf before. For them to be able to have an enjoyable golf experience, I turned to creativity to help me to compress ten hours of basic classic golf instruction into just one hour. The PBS miniseries "The Creative Spirit" was a four-episode series funded by IBM. Daniel Goleman, Paul Kaufman, and Michael Ray wrote the companion book. They were a great source of inspiration for the golf swing taster class. James Earl Jones, a famous American actor who suffered from severe stuttering and became one of the most famous voices in America, participated in the TV miniseries by reciting several poems.
"Creativity is Shaking hands with tomorrow.
This poem was based on the creative analogies of Karl Anderson, a former student of Professor Ellis Paul Torrance from the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Ellis Paul Torrance, an American psychologist best known for his research in creativity, gave a very interesting definition about creativity:
"When a person has no learned or practiced solution to a problem, some degree of creativity is required."
Professor Ellis Paul Torrance provided an interesting insight about how to help people to be more creative. "There are countless ways we can help people to be more creative. Perhaps the most important are to motivate and encourage them, to encourage them to fall in love with something, and to recognize their talents and reward them." It validated my thoughts of developing a teaching framework for the golf swing.
On this journey, I've learned how to master my severe stuttering in a controllable way. The ultimate goal of creativity is to expect the unexpected. The parallels between speech performance and sports performance can be striking! Using two completely different fields — speech and golf — is a good start for a creative journey.
"Tiger Woods Wins at Golf and Stuttering" from the Stuttering Foundation's website mentions US Open champion Ken Venturi. He said,
"I have had to work through the years to overcome stuttering and to speak more easily and fluently."
Venturi compares moving smoothly through speech to moving gracefully through a golf stroke. Both the stutterer and the golfer have a handicap scale and a target wish! A stutterer wishes to speak fluently, and a golfer wishes to swing fluidly. A person who stutters could have a handicap or a disability, and a golfer could have a golf handicap. A golf handicap could vary from thirty-six (the bogey golfer) to handicap zero (the scratch golfer). To make the golf handicap more difficult, different golf courses have different golf difficulty indexes. A scratch golfer could become a bogey golfer on a difficult golf course, such as the ones designed by the Australian golf legend Greg Norman. A normal person who speaks fluently can stutter when speaking in public. A lack of proper breathing builds tension when stuttering as well as on swinging, resulting in a faulty speech or in a faulty shot.
Everyone thinks that golf is very expensive and that golf is only for elites. Some golf courses are very expensive, but even expensive courses have driving ranges with very cheap prices. For a couple dollars, you can buy a bucket of fifty balls — and you usually get a free golf club. A golf club is the proper terminology for the stick, which is made of three main parts: grip (handle), shaft (stick), and clubhead (blade). The grip is the golf club handle as well as the grabbing technique. When you are ready for the next stage — moving from the driving range to the golf course — you have many options for playing a round at affordable prices by taking advantage of sunset or weekday promotions. A golf course is usually integrated in the life of the local flora and fauna, making golf a fantastic experience to immerse the golfer in nature.
I invite you to bring your family and enjoy a nice coffee or tea in the clubhouse. Let's move on the driving range. Before I begin the mystical swing taster class, I would like to invite you to do the Pepsi Challenge. Instead of two soda cans, our Pepsi Challenge will consist of two golf swings. Swing A will be the first action, and swing B will be the last action. Swing A is about grabbing a golf club and swinging it. Just grab the golf stick and hit the ball by using your intuition.
Swing A will be the reference point for your progress. A bad swing means you will progress throughout the taster class. A visible progression will validate the concept of the taster class. If you hit a good swing, you will be immediately confident in your golf abilities. That confidence will help you absorb the techniques of the taster class. As the coach of the taster class, I will always have reasons to be happy — whether your first attempt was bad or good. If your first swing A was stressful, swing B will be enjoyable. That is the secret behind a good swing.
To resume the concept of The Mystical Swing taster class, I use the creative framework from Edward Bono's Six Thinking Hats:
• white hat — experiences (Point A)
• red hat — emotions (Open up)
• green hat — ideas (Warm up)
• yellow hat — benefits (Power up)
• black hat — opposites (Leap up)
• blue hat — outcomes (Point B)
The Mystical Swing Taster Class
I was in the right place at the right time and had the opportunity to attend a swing taster class by David Leadbetter. He was presenting his new book, The A Swing, at the driving range of Pondok Indah in Jakarta, Indonesia. Throughout the one-hour event, David Leadbetter invited a volunteer to allow him to show the impact of his new A swing technique. I was surprised because it totally resonated with the approach I was developing. David Leadbetter is probably the world's top golf teacher. He opened his taster class by highlighting the overthinking swing of Western culture and wrapped up his taster class by suggesting the tai chi swing of the Eastern culture. I love this kind of dialogue between the West and the East. The way that David Leadbetter organized it validated my confidence. I included those elements in my own framework.
The vision games explained in this book are based on Western culture, and the swing games are based on Eastern culture. Both factors complement each other. The main function of the vision game is triggering the doubt into our voice of judgment, and the function of the swing game is to work as an icebreaker to release the skepticism from our voice of judgment.
The Mystical Swing taster class will cover twelve techniques, and each technique will be practiced with three balls. A bucket of fifty balls will be enough to complete the taster class session. The seven iron is used since it is the most ergonomic of the fourteen clubs. The seven iron is the steel shaft one — not the lighter graphite shaft — because we want to be able to extract the power of gravity.
The taster class was designed to be taken in sixty minutes. It follows the 4H (head, heart, hands, holism) holistic learning model, and it is structured in four phases of fifteen minutes each:
• Open up (head) is about the golf swing fundamentals that are associated with the feeling of earth grounding.
• Warm up (heart) is about the golf swing from the right side of the body, which is controlled by the left side of the brain.
• Power up (hands) is about the golf swing from the left side of the body, which is controlled by right side of the brain.
• Leap up (holism) is about connecting all the dots of the golf swing by understanding the harmony in the swing movement.
Each phase is structured in three stages that follow the essence of the "Torrance Incubation Model of Creative Teaching and Learning" and pave the path for our journey through mind, body, and spirit:
• The vision game (mind) is designed to prepare the student adequately and mentally for the project ahead (heightened anticipation).
• The technique game (body) is where the problem is defined and applied and creativity is nurtured (deepened expectations).
• The swing game (spirit) is a list of metaphors that encourages students to take the lead (extended learning).
The three stages of each of the four phases will be unfolded in five steps. I use an analogy from my technical knowledge of how a mobile phone will perform a handover between two cells:
• The Vision Game (brainstorming) starts the compressed mode of learning.
• The Technique Ready (preparation) is played with three balls.
• The Technique Aim (execution) is played with three balls.
• The Technique Fire (completion) is played with three balls.
• The Swing Game (icebreaking) stops the compressed mode of learning.
Each technique will be played with three balls:
• Ball 1 (capture) will be hit with a very slow-motion swing — as slow as possible (the slow ball).
• Ball 2 (clarify) will be hit with a soft-motion swing, which usually becomes our best self-reference (the soft ball).
• Ball 3 (confirm) will be hit with a super-motion swing — with as much power as we wish to release (the super ball).
A short briefing and debriefing will mark the welcome phase and the wrap-up phase. At the beginning of each phase, I will share some of the most important golf swing secrets from Ben Hogan, the master of the masters. William Ben Hogan was an American professional golfer, known as the Hawk. He is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game. At the end of each phase, I will share some personal stories from famous champion golfers about how they were able to overcome their severe stuttering.
The taster class will focus on learning different ways to generate extra power without extra effort. By utilizing different body parts in the golf swing, we will be able to generate a powerful, consistent, precise, and smooth swing! The golf techniques explained here will not cause any back injuries — or any other injuries. The vision game and swing games are important so the muscles and the skin of our hands can rest, recover, and heal. The famous left-hand golf glove, which deteriorates our grip sensibility, will not be needed. Ben Hogan played and practiced golf without wearing gloves.
The vision game presented in the book will be like a mind game. Mind games in golf are extremely important. A person could balance a not-so-nice swing with very good mental focus and imagination. We have an excellent biological computer embedded in ourselves. If we can transmit a very clear intention of our goals, our internal biological computers will give the best orders to our physical bodies to achieve our intended targets.
Each technique will be practiced with three balls, and a seven iron with a steel shaft. The seven iron with a steel shaft is very important because it increases the natural power from the pendulum effect of a heavier club. The aim is to achieve a nice, smooth, rhythmic golf swing. For that purpose, we will take advantages of any small powers that are available during a golf swing. This way, we can avoid smashing the golf swing when using only the power of our arms, which leads to a failure in most cases. We will use a short tee at the driving range.
The idea behind hitting the first ball to be played with a very slow motion is to give our bodies a chance to adapt and get ready to learn something new. Also, each time we learn a new technique, the body will fail in the first attempt. It is better to gracefully accept that fact and play for a failure of doing a very slow-motion swing movement. The body will celebrate the failure instead of being frustrated from the first attempt! Happiness is a subtle, powerful engine for the mind and should be used in the swing.
The idea behind hitting the second ball to be played with a soft motion is to understand the power of the rhythm. The slow rhythm will conduct the flow triggered by the mind and the body's subtle powers in the swing movement. This will be the heart of the swing.
The idea behind playing the third ball with a super motion, using as much power as we wish, is to satisfy the instinct and desire to hit the ball with brutal force and send it as far as possible. We have a tendency to hit the third ball with excessive power, causing us to land on the many golf swing pitfalls. You will probably miss the ball instead of hitting it because brute force without control is like sudden death when trying to hit the ball. The element that is able to control the brute force in a swing is the rhythm-of-the-flow motion. Nevertheless, hitting the third ball with excessive power teaches us a great lesson because we can see the advantages of hitting the second ball with a soft motion.
We always practice by hitting the ball. We don't do rehearsal swings without the ball. We always practice with a set of three balls. The first slow-motion ball can be considered the rehearsal. We will progress the confidence by always hitting the ball, which will always be our first major achievement. We want to assure the mind and body that we will hit the ball each time we swing. When we play on a golf course, we only have one opportunity to hit the ball — and we will be penalized if we fail to do so. We want to prepare ourselves to be ready to play consistently on a golf course.
The swing game is a powerful tool. It will make us laugh, which relaxes the body and enables us to practice a good swing. It will also show the essence of the current phase and simultaneously give us an insight of the next phase. The swing game will be like pulling rabbits out of a hat.
In the beginning of each phase, there will be a small briefing where a golf book will be presented as the inspirational source for the topic of each phase. At the end of each phase, there will be a small debriefing that recommends a yoga meditation for further reflection on what was learned. The short briefing and debriefing sessions will allow the body to rest and absorb the physical movements and mind state of each phase.
This will be fundamental for the body and the mind to absorb new information quickly. It is like filling a glass and then drinking it up so we can fill the glass up again.
For the purpose of highlighting the most important golf key points of each phase, a secret will be revealed about Ben Hogan's famous golf swing in Ben Hogan's Secret Corner. Ben Hogan showed relentless effort to become a golf champion in spite of all his adversities in life. Ben Hogan didn't suffer from stuttering, but unlike a person who stutters, Ben Hogan decided to immerse himself in the golf course. Ben Hogan practiced alone for hours to forget watching his father take his own life in front of him when he was a child. Everyone has life handicaps to improve. It is up to us to see the positive and grow from there. There will be no mention about stuttering in Ben Hogan's Secret Corner, but the mind-set that Ben Hogan used to improve his golf swing could be applied to improve stuttering.
Overcoming stuttering can be a long exercise, and it is as difficult as overcoming a golf handicap. At the end of each phase, I present lessons from golf that can help manage stuttering. This section is called the Stuttering Golfer's Hall of Fame. I share the main advice from a golf legend who suffered from severe stuttering. Also, I will share some insights from my own experiences as a way to control and heal my stuttering.
Many famous people have suffered from stuttering, including Demosthenes, Moses, Napoleon, Marilyn Monroe, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. All of them would agree that stuttering was a blessing, an opportunity to strengthen their personalities, and a tool to help them become better people. My stuttering was a blessing. It taught me to see the light in the darkness, over and over again, and rescued me from many tricky situations, including near-death experiences.
Each phase and step is designed like a child's cube brick. One brick fits the other. There is no need to stress about each step not being perfect because we will always review the previous steps as we progress. The Irish playwright Samuel Beckett said,
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."
It is not about failing on purpose but it is about to take many different approaches in life. Seve Ballesteros, a Spanish golf legend, said,
"I miss it, I miss it, I miss it, I make it."
Winston Churchill, widely considered to be one of the greatest public speakers in the twentieth century, suffered from a persistent speech impediment that he tirelessly worked to overcome. Winston Churchill said,
"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Mystical Swing"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Augusto Tomas.
Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments, ix,
Chapter 1 Point A: The Lucky Swing, 1,
Chapter 2 Open Up: The Under Swing, 15,
Chapter 3 Warm Up: The Inner Swing, 31,
Chapter 4 Power Up: The Outer Swing, 46,
Chapter 5 Leap Up: The Radar Swing, 63,
Chapter 6 Point B: The Golden Swing, 78,
Chapter 7 Gift of Love: The Mystical Swing, 87,
Appendix, 95,
Image Credits, 101,
About the Author, 105,