The other day I went out to play golf with my son and a couple of friends. It was the end of the long high school summer club season and I hadn’t been playing or practicing much over the past several months.  In fact, I had basically played 4 times over the past 3 months and hadn’t practiced or worked with my swing coach since April.  I ended up shooting an 83 which was my best score in about a year, and I also hit, as my son described, the longest drive that he has ever seen me hit (260 yards) straight down the fairway.

When we got home and my wife, son and I were sitting around the dining room table, she asked me, “Why do you think you played so well today?” I thought about it and suggested that first of all, I didn’t put the driver in my hands until about the 3rd or 4th hole.  I also said that I wasn’t thinking about my swing mechanics, because I hadn’t been working on them.  I credited my fitness routine of late, weight training 3 to 4 times a week for 30 minutes, and water jogging 3 to 4 times a week, with giving me greater stamina. Finally, I stated, “I also was focused on swinging from the heart.” Swinging from the Heart is something I worked on twenty years ago with my dearly departed companion Henry Conyers who passed away in May of this year.  It appears that the lessons that he and I explored together have ripened inside of my conscientiousness and have greater meaning and power now.

Operating with heart is definitely something that champions exhibit on a frequent basis. Michael Jordan was the one of the best at it and Tiger use to be excellent at it too.  Yes, I am positive that if I didn’t have ample swing mechanics to rely on, that there is no way I could have shot an 83. And I am equally positive that my conditioning regiment was also useful in assisting me to stay focused and sharp and not mentally fatigued. But, ultimately, my focus on Swing from the Heart greatly assisted me with my rhythm and timing and kept me from getting too mental.

Today’s athlete has an array of resources (personal trainers, training clinics, camps, video, nutrition experts, etc.) to assist them in performing at a higher level.  What about the heart? How many of us are taught how to tap into our hearts to assist in our efforts on and off the playing field?

I was watching the Football Hall of Fame speeches today and it was evident that every speaker had one common bond besides their developed skill set.  Each new inductee spoke of how their hearts had to be fully engaged in what they were doing. There were several players who were late round (8-13) picks.

When I think of heart, I sometimes just label it as an act of courage or a yeoman’s effort.  Saturday’s golf game reminded me that just the simple act of tapping into the heart is something even the average person can activate to assist them to do above average acts.

If you want to learn more about using your heart to compliment your game, work efforts or just your everyday life, contact me at Jerome@icanwinnow.com .

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