Golf, reprise
According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association, US golf equipment sales in 2004 rose 3% to $2.5 billion. In my minority view that golf occurs in the mind rather than in the equipment, I’ve somehow managed to resist the songs of the golf sirens, singing of the “high performance” clubs and balls now proliferating sales. The NY Times on the front page today reports that in spite of this growth, both amateur and professional golf scores have stayed virtually the same over the past ten years. My father and his friends used to joke when I was a kid learning that it’s “all in the shoes.”
The article suggests that people are practicing less, while expecting the equipment to substitute for the immeasurable value of practice. If peak experience was about the equipment rather than about the mind, and golfers nationwide took up zazen (sitting meditation), they’d encounter the usual challenges of meditation and would likely run out to buy the latest in bigger, better cushions guaranteeing “at least 30 more yards of enlightenment.”
May 24th, 2005 20:45
You’re right! (And even better, you made me laugh.) Photography is much the same. Amateurs lust after better equipment and longer lenses, when mindful seeing and shooting is what is required. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
May 25th, 2005 13:05
I actually once went out and bought a buckwheat-filled zafu when I was sitting during my lunch hour. I sat because work was driving me crazy. After practicing this for about two months, the company ran out of money and I got laid off.
May 25th, 2005 17:11
I’ve not golfed in years, but I was rather good when I was a child. Thinking back, my golf game, and later on the fencing abilities, have always been best when my mind has been in a state of emptiness. I really need to learn zazen.
May 26th, 2005 06:13
It’s interesting that some of us golfed well as kids - I started at 10. Of course this would be so since one of the tenets of zen practice is that we best achieve empty mind with beginner’s mind.
May 27th, 2005 18:32
i have been golfing since i could walk. my father encouraged the sport as an alternative to aggressive sports. As golfer who does practice and also owns a big bertha or two, i still stink it up on occasion!