Take Dead Aim - Part One

I would like to be a better golfer. (Actually, I would like to be a better man overall, but that’s a whole ‘nother Monday Message.) So I have been reading Harvey Penick’s “Little Red Book”, which is chock full of useful golf tips that he accumulated during his storied career as a golfer and golf coach.

Harvey was born in 1904 and began caddying at the Austin Country Club at the ripe old age of 8. Later on in life he became an extremely revered golf coach and when asked by professional golfers for his best golf tip, he would always say the same thing, “Take dead aim”. Harvey liked to keep things simple, but he also knew the importance of staying focused on every single shot.

Staying focused isn’t easy, but it’s a critical factor if you want to accomplish just about anything important in life. When I was younger and really busy with work and my family, I made it a point to stay focused on the task at hand. But now that I’m older and life is a lot simpler, I seem to have trouble staying focused and I think it’s totally related to not being as busy as I used to be.

For example, I like to help my wife out sometimes by doing chores around the house. Yesterday morning a smoke detector started beeping in the back bedroom. So I took it down, pressed on the button, and it stopped chirping. I noticed it was one of those “sealed 10-year-life” units that was obviously nearing the end of its life. Our washer and dryer are in the garage, so I tossed the smoke detector on top of the laundry basket full of clothes, intending to throw it away when I got down to the garage. Unfortunately, I lost focus and dumped the full basket of clothes into the washing machine. An hour later I went to the garage to move the laundry around and the washing machine was making a funny beeping noise. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I unloaded the laundry and there was that old smoke detector, chirping ever so faintly, at the bottom of the washing machine.

I was about to toss it into the trash when it dawned on me that it might just keep on beeping. So I did the smart thing. I dropped it on the ground and stepped on it. It was a ornery little bugger and just started chirping louder. So I stomped on it really hard and it chirped even louder. I stomped it again, no luck, it just got louder. So I started stomping the heck out of it and after seven hard smashes it was still beeping. I got really frustrated… but I also got focused. I picked it up, spotted a huge boulder on the other side of the fence near the railroad tracks, took dead aim, and threw that sucker as hard as I could, whereupon it smashed into tiny little pieces never to be heard from again. I guess Harvey was right, if you want to accomplish anything important, take dead aim!

Harvey is as comfortable as an old pair of jeans, as unpretentious as a young child, 

smart as a whip, and the most contented man I have ever known.

~ Ben Crenshaw, Pro Golfer

    Referring to Harvey Penick