Travis Talks – Losing Your Marbles

Have you lost your marbles?

Several years ago, I had the game of golf described to me in very unique and accurate way. I have since shared it many of times with fellow golfers and students.

 Lets start with three containers. The first container is half filled with green marbles. Green marbles represent the great golf shots we hit during a round. The second container is also half filled, only with red marbles, representing the bad golf shots we hit during a round of golf. The third container is filled right to the top with black marbles. These marbles represent the average golf shots we hit during a round. Some average shots are better than others, but they would all be considered just that: average.

 Now, we take all three containers and pour them into one large container and shake them up and here’s where it gets interesting. In your mind, I want you to play a few holes of golf. Before each shot, reach into the container and pull out a marble.  The color you pull out dictates the quality of shot you hit: good, bad or average.

 What do all these colored marbles mean? We hit more average shots than good or bad. (If you remember that the black marble container was full, the others only half full) While on the course we can’t really ‘choose’ what shot we are going to produce, it is to some extent random.

 What we can control is how good our black marbles are, in other words, how good our average shots are. Rory McIlroy obviously has a jar made up of different marbles than you and I. However, the ratio of black, green and red marbles is the same. The difference is the average shots of a Pro are better than the average shots of a beginner.

 Improving the quality of your marbles can only take place over time and through practice. The more time spent practicing the better the quality of marbles. Once we step onto the course on a given day our marbles are as good as they get! We can do nothing in the immediate term to improve what marbles we pull out of the jar. We can however, have influence on decreasing the quality of our marbles; this is accomplished by losing focus, letting negative thoughts into our mind etc. In short, we can’t make ourselves better without practice, but we can make ourselves worse.

 Think about that the next time you’re on the course and feeling that you can’t do anything right… are you contributing to the color of your marbles?

Contact Travis or learn more about golf instruction at Silvertip Resort.

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