Golf and Your Mental Game: Reacting vs. Responding

In an earlier chapter we talked about the wounded hunter who gets grazed by an arrow and is dealing with his pain but adds on a string of self-criticisms that augments the hunter’s suffering.

Perhaps the golfer and the wounded hunter might want to look at the story as the difference between reacting and responding.

The golfer with a bad shot and lacking mental training may burn up with anger and frustration blaming all sorts of factors on the bad shot rather than focusing on the bad shot and perhaps calmly try and determine what to do to avoid it happening again. The golfer carries on this suffering for the next hole, a few holes and even to the next golf game.

Often it is a case of a reaction that we simply can’t avoid. You are set for scoring an eagle on a par 5. You have had a tremendous drive and a second fairway wood shot that place you 25 yards from the green. You just may make an eagle with a good chip but a birdie for sure. Your chip shot slices into the water and suddenly you are looking at a double bogey. What golfer wouldn’t be upset but if you replay the situation over and over and beating yourself up for the bad shot your reactions are making the situation far worse.

Wouldn’t it be better to strip out these negative reactions that may have been with you for perhaps your entire golfing experience? Or is it better to unhook and disentangling yourself and mentally opening up a space where you can open up and choose how to respond to that horrific shot.

Perhaps admit the shot was a bad one and calmly analyze what happened without a stream of self loathing. Perhaps it was your stance? Was it a wrong club selection? Was it the pressure of going for a possible eagle and an unmissable birdie? Deal with it quickly and walk away with a lesson learnt or simply accept it as a bad shot and move on with a clear mind to the next shot.

What I have said here is not easy. It takes practice and discipline and subject to an occasional collapse but are you on the golf course for a wonderful day or to make yourself suffer?

Golf is a game of crushing defeats, ecstasy and adequate if mundane consistency.

RKS Wines: To Canadians (and the world) There is More Than Icewine!

To many Canadians the ultimate “dessert wine” might be Icewine from Niagara. It is awfully good but correspondingly expensive.

Muscat vines in Samos: Photo Robert K. Stephen

There are alternatives at a more friendly price point that are not “copies” of Icewine but similar on the “sweet scale” and cheaper.

For example, there are the legendary sweet white wines from the Northern Aegean Greek Island of Samos that have been famous for several hundred years but mention them to Canadians and they will have glassy eyes. Samos Vin Doux for 750 mL sells for $15.95 and Moscatel de Setúbal from Portugal for 750 mL sells for $14.95.

How about the Moscatel de Setúbal which is vintage dated 2017 whilst the Samos Vin Doux is not vintage dated?

The Setúbal is a golden brown with orange tinges. Its nose is loaded with apricot, honey, marmalade and a whisper of banana. Rich and decadent. On the palate full of amber honey and jam packed with apricot. A short finish. Not over the top heavy and at 17% you will feel no alcohol heat. Perfectly constructed but mention a Portuguese sweet wine and the dazed and confused look will radiate like a Led Zeppelin song of the same name.

Interesting what you might pair this with. It might suit a pasteis de nates Portuguese egg custard tart or a flan. Yet it might suit a starter cheese plate of semi soft cheeses with nuts and Niagara Greaves peach jam, honey or marmalade.

An incredible find and an alternative to Icewine.

This isn’t no cheap and cheerful wine. Actually it is quite a masterpiece.

(Bacalhôa Moscatel de Setúbal D.O. 2017, Bacalhôa, Azeitao, Portugal, $14.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 996181, 750 mL, 17%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 94/100).

For the final wine of 2021 a Samos Vin Doux famous for hundreds of years but in a world full of sweet wines it has dropped off the radar as a star wine for many people. Rather a shame considering the Vin Doux’s price and quality!

If has a classic golden colour. On the nose deep aromatics of peach, apricot, marmalade and honey. On the palate you are getting exactly the same  that presents itself on the palate. Very smooth with a short finish. This would suit baklava and a myriad of Greek desserts including the famous yogurt cake of Meteora which is toped with toasted almonds and honey. From my knowledge of this wine it is very popular with those of Greek descent although is really deserves to bust out to a wider audience.

(Samos Vin Doux, Sweet White Wine (Non-Vintage), Kourtaki, Markopoulo, Greece, $, 15.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 938407, 750 mL, 15%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 89/100).

Golf and Your Mental Game: Observe

So you have a great shot on the 18th. On a par 4 your first shot is at the edge of the cart path. A great pitch over the creek three feet from the pin. Or perhaps your second shot hit the pin and dropped in for an eagle. Boy you are IN THE MOMENT enjoying yourself. You have got the right stuff! STOP and observe your mind. It is focused on the moment which you can savour. Are you really thinking about anything else other than joy of a great shot and being in the present moment? Think about it. You are not ruminating about all the bad shots you previously executed. The next time that great shot happens, and we know it will, take a moment and OBSERVE how your mind is working.

Now assume that second shot is a flub and despite being 40 yards from the green you chunk it and its in the creek. Or you have overdone it and it sails over the flag into a sand trap behind the green. If you proceed mindfully yes you made a bad shot but observe your tendency to mix up that bad shot with a series of bad shots for the round. Shots that are in the past but your mind may latch onto that bad shot before and create a negative chain. You are out of the moment and judging yourself not only on that bad shot but a series of bad shots. You leave the course in a bad and perhaps angry mood. How many bad shots end up by the golfer throwing a club into the creek! But if you and your past shot just stay in the moment you have only one bad memory to deal with which is better than linking it to a chain of bad memories. And if you want to leave the course saying you did your best and enjoyed the scenery and conversation best to leave the bad memories behind.

So what approach makes you feel better? Observe and find out! And act upon it the next time you are teeing up on the first!

Golf and Your Mental Game: Take Time to Calm Down and Relax

If you have just made a bad shot resist the self-destructive abuse you may heap on yourself. Why not calm down and relax. Take a deep breath and keep doing so until you are under control. Don’t let your emotions take control of you. On many holes this year I was on the verge of losing it with rough shots that were chunked but I took the time to step back and analyze these chunk shots out of the rough were a bad part of my game. If you think calmly you might say it is not me. Why does this always happen? I started using a rescue club out of the rough particularly in wet rough where a club can dig in even if you are a scooper. My game improved upon this simple reflection which if I had discovered 20 years ago would have improved my golf game but being so busy with self criticism, I never had the time to calm down and analyze which by the way is more natural when walking than carting.

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog Is Back: Cast and Crew Party for “A Dog Saved My Life”

Outside our villa by the pool is where the cast and crew party will be held. The menu will be steak, chicken, rabbit and saltwater crocodile filets. Dylan the Westie, Bosco and I think we will score some meat! “We Dogs Love Meat!”. There are salads, lots of vegetables and Australian desserts one with a strange name “Impossible Pie”. There are many hot appetizers too.

Before the party 6 cases of Malivoire Wine arrive. 3 of Niagara Gamay and 3 of Niagara Chardonnay. It would be apparent that Martin Malivoire, the special effects guy for the film is behind this.

So the guests arrive rather quickly at 7 and there is lots of Tasmanian sparkling wine flowing.

Wait a minute! Do I see Mel Gibson coming through the door? His “Mad Max” film put Australian film on the world’s radar. Both Dylan the Westie and I love the rawness and stark reality of that film. In our film Mr. Gibson is playing Percival Digger, Alice’s third husband who smacked her around. Us dogs run over to Mr. Gibson and we give him a gentle bark. He compliments Dylan the Westie’s and my Hamilton Tiger Cats jerseys we are showing off. As Dylan the Westie and I are in the film he wishes us to “break a leg”!

Boy Nicole is a beautiful woman and she is wearing a nice dress and has make up on and she looks like a real movie star. I get a bit queasy thinking I’ll be her co-star. Can I do it?

As the barbeques are heating up Nicole Kidman asks for attention and says, “Please Welcome Canada’s Gordon Lightfoot”. Mr. Gordon Lightfoot performs “Sundown”, “Carefree Highway” and “Early Morning Rain” to wild applause. He will be doing a 5 date Australian tour in a couple of days with shows in Perth, Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane and Melbourne and Bosco will be staying with us during his tour.

Big clouds of aromatic smoke drift over our heads. Us dogs are getting a special meal of chopped steak, crocodile filet, green beans, mashed potatoes and carrots. No chicken kibble tonight!

I am meeting so many interesting people many of whom have seen the two Disney films about me. The party wraps at 11 as the crew wants their beauty sleep!  Dylan the Westie had fallen asleep under the dessert table. Nicole and Fay take us for a walk. Bob has another piece of Impossible Pie with a “stickie” wine from Eradus winery in New Zealand. He is in deep discussion with Mr. Gibson about the brilliance of “Mad Max”.

By the time we return from our walk the caterers are packing up. I give increasingly focused attention these days about the dog bite in Cairo that sent me to the animal hospital. It was no coincidence as it is why I am in Darwin now having the time of my life. Allah, Buddha or God works in mysterious ways.

Man the Rat Pack is back! Bosco, Dylan the Westie and I are sleeping in the same room! I immediately crash out in my Winnipeg Blue Bombers doggie bed dreaming of giving the performance of my life with Nicole Kidman! I think my eyes are wide shut!

Golf And Your Mental Game: Stop!

Ok so you messed up on yet another shot and that is what we amateur golfers do otherwise we’d be on the LPGA or PGA Tour. You can fly off the handle and let forth a stream of foul language which has the effect of igniting a downward spiral of negativity. I say just accept you are an amateur and your fate is many a crappy shot. So if you are about to explode why not take a breath and STOP. Do not react. Just freeze to prevent what your emotions want you to do which is to act without thinking. Try to be the boss of your emotions. Put another way just accept that shitty shot because there is a gremlin feasting on your anger and frustration. That shot is so yesterday and do you want to be haunted on the golf course by a bad shot?

“Mutantism on the March”: THE LAST CHAPTER OF BOOK ONE:  Chapter 126 Zortixia and Earthling Recognition

The Zortixians were on a bit of a roll in terms of credibility with Earthlings. Soon it would be time to approach the United Nations for membership. If successful the Zortixians would apply efforts to have Earth admitted to the Intergalactic Council. The sweet smell of success was not far off.

The Zortixians had much offer to Earth in terms of peaceful technology and medicine. Earth did have agricultural products to offer. Zortixians had subsisted on synthetic food for so long they had forgotten what real food tasted like. For example, the Montreal mutants had sent a ton of apples to Zortixia as a gift and there was a near riot when the apples were handed out as the Zortixians had never had such a fruit. Pineapples and mangoes were also the rage. There was even talk of COSTCO setting up warehouses in Zortixia selling Earthling products. The Russians had signed a multi million-dollar vodka deal, the Chinese a beansprout deal and Canada became “official supplier to Zortixia of Earthling wines”.

Not only did Zortixia gain admission as a delegation in the United Nations General Assembly but it was awarded a seat in the Security Council. The Zortixians were champions of the developing world sending engineering crews to build a modern infrastructure and medical teams to eliminate pesky tropical diseases. The Zortixians often insisted the mutants be given official recognition in the countries they were undertaking engineering and medical projects in.

The mutants never had it so good. People were helping them cross the streets and tipping their hats to them. Finally the mutants were popular and respected in the communities they lived in. Montenez was swept into power becoming the new mayor of Montreal. No more white elephant events. Instead Montreal would finally get the sewage treatment facility ignored by former mayor Droolpoop serving 10 years at St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary for corruption. Gay bars were opened. Schools were established for mutant children. Transvestites paraded the street and longhairs puffed on their joints in the open. Montreal was going to be a different city.

Many governments in the world were trampled under the angry hooves of disenchanted populations that saw what Zortixians could do to enrich their lives. Democracy began to replace dictatorships which fell one by one and the USSR collapsed. It was looking so raw for the bad guys they began to flock to Switzerland, just what it deserved for hiding and laundering their money for so many years. Canada was no exception as railway museums were set ablaze, statutes of corrupt politicians were toppled, roads were renamed and the Canadian Businessman’s Hall of Fame was severely defaced.

Canada had just elected a new Prime Minister Joe Who a heavily jowled man from Western Canada sort of a spitting image of a previous Conservative Prime Minister Jimmy Sleezenbaker. Where would Canada be without confused and dedicated politicians like these men? Probably much more progressive! At least Sleezenbaker was human and you could laugh at him with the rest of the country. Who was not of the same pedigree and he wasn’t much to get excited about with the charisma of a dog chewed pencil. But the province of Hellberta soaking in newly discovered oil finally found a western provinces sympathizer.

The rallying cry of Who became, “Let’s go Hellberta and British Columbia”. Hellberta oil companies could laugh all the way to the bank. They actually wanted to establish a new country! Moose Jaw was to be their new capital. Quebec was supportive of Who as they had been itching to set up their own country. Well thank goodness the Zortixians were here so The United States would never swallow up Canada. Greed helped establish Canada now it was destroying Canada.

What a mess. Perhaps everyone should start again?

“Mutantism on the March” :Chapter 125 Some Earthlings Visit Zortixia

The Zortixian government had distributed over 100 pamphlets throughout the globe attempting to explain Zortixian history, customs and just about any fact that they thought would make Earthlings comfortable with Zortixians. It was now time to invite a small group of Earthlings to Zortixia and let them see for themselves what Zortixia was all about. To start with 20 Montrealer’s were to go up up and away to Zortixia. Squid placed a couple of small ads in the classified section of three Montreal newspapers looking for humans to make the trip for a cultural visit. Many people had a chuckle over what they saw as a sham. Aliens did not exist! Yet there were many that were awed by the Zortixian “cure liquid” for cancer and gave serious thought to Zortixia existing. Squid managed to get 10 mutants and 10 citizens of Montreal from all walks of life such as priests, students, lawyers, doctors and journalists. They vanished from Earth and three weeks later reappeared with incredible stories about Zortixia. Overall their initial stories were not taken seriously but credibility began to snowball as the recounters of these stories had credibility. Soon thousands of people were sending requests for trips. Extra spacecraft were added to meet demand. As the Zortixians confiscated all cameras hard physical evidence was impossible to show the doubters. The reasoning behind this was if photos were taken some countries might try to imitate Zortixian technology and use it to gain some world economic advantage.

A prominent Canadian psychologist called these visits part of a growing problem of mass insanity just as some Zortixians had feared. The mutants kidnapped her sending her to Zortixia. Her tune changed when she returned. As the masses spoke up and enrolled in local Zortixian cultural centres governments throughout the world began to perk up their ears. After several months the Zortixians had welcomed Canadians, Americans, East Germans and Italians. Earthlings were gradually coming to the realization that Zortixia did in fact exist. It was a gradual and gentle process. The Zortixians were focusing on hosting over a million Earthlings but it would take what it would take!

“Mutantism on the March” : Chapter 124 Can the Vermont Boat People Be Saved by the Zortixians?

When Dr. Zodiac heard of the plight of the Vermont boat people he immediately contacted Zortixian medical authorities to see what measures, if any, could be taken to combat the suffering of the Vermont boat people. Yes it was true Zortixian scientists had created a cure for Earthling cancer but had learnt through previous generations of Zortixian scientists nothing could be done to repair cellular damage to humans caused by radiation. Zortixians had endured so many nuclear wars in the past they had developed a resistance to radiation. These Earthlings only had decades of exposure to radiation and immunity to its effects had to be built over 300 years.

Zeus who had read of the tragedy phoned Montenez and offered to take a few thousand of the hopeless to the Zlano dimension where just possibly they might think that they were in heaven and die with a smile on their face. Zortixian craft organized the airlift and en masse the poor wretches died many with a smile on their faces. It was preferable to dying in a filthy boat.

The Greek gods told Montenez they “wanted to start all over again” and wished to welcome the less critically affected and start a new civilization. The Gods had somewhat recovered from their disgust of humanity which had caused them to move to the Zlano dimension and were now happy to start all over again with humans. Zlano was humming. The boredom of Zlano had been stifling for the younger gods who yearned for adventure and drama that humans created. The other survivors had been invited by the new SGR provisional government of Nicaragua as part of their repopulation plan. Each guest would either be given a plot of land and a simple dwelling or offered a position with The Reconstruction Bureau. The world continued on its way and Canada continued to export uranium and their CANTDO nuclear reactors. A few thousand deaths should not be permitted to obstruct the sacred goal of profit.

“Mutantism on the March” :Chapter 123 Vermont Nuclear Meltdown Swells the Ranks of the Mutants

A terrible human error at the Four Kilometre Nuclear Plant in North Hero, Vermont thrust thousands into the ranks of mutantism. Employees were too busy watching a baseball game on television and forgot to flip a control switch causing a reactor to overheat and explode and melt not only Alburg but North and South Hero and a toxic cloud of radioactive dust blanketed Burlington. Thank goodness for Canada the poisonous cloud was moving southward down to Boston. Vermonters were severely poisoned if they were not melted. The United Sates government was brutal in its “solution” of the problem herding thousands of contaminated Vermonters into surplus navy ships, towed them out to sea and set them adrift with food, water and medical supplies. 65,000 Vermonters were set adrift in the ocean like stateless refugees. They were warned by their federal government should they set foot on American soil they would be “terminated”. Embarrassed governmental bureaucrats in Washington bet on the probability that these contaminated Vermonters would all be dead in a week. Washington called this vile action a “quarantine” to protect further contamination.

Hence the birth of the Vermont “boat people” drifting aimlessly on the ocean with no fuel and dwindling supplies but with lots of morphine! Americans were frightened with this “accident” but the federal government assured them they were safe and it was a one in a billion accident. The Vermont boat people were outraged with their treatment many of whom were quiet and loyal Americans formerly lulled by the chanting’s of their government about how safe nuclear power was. Most of these Vermonters died a horrible death. Rumours were circulating amongst the Vermont boat people that those who did not die would be “finished off” by their government to prevent embarrassment of federal officials whose slack training and safety protocols were to blame and the greed of the public utility salesman always willing to cut corners as far as safety was concerned.

The Vermont boat people drifted about hoping some country would give them refuge. Perhaps Cuba. But as they landed on the shores of foreign countries nobody was willing to give sanctuary to these contaminated souls instead giving them supplies and towing them back to sea. Some of these countries had nuclear power plants and who did not want their population to think they were next! Canada had actually sold uranium to this Vermont nuclear plant. Uranium was a valuable export. Count the cash and keep quiet.

The first Vermont boat person recorded was seen in Newfoundland by a hunter who was terrified by the horribly disfigured space creature and shot it and returned with a local reporter. Squid and the Montreal mutants had gotten wind of the killing and pressured the Canadian government to admit these poor souls and if it was concerned about radiation, they could move the Vermont boat people to the Yukon in Northern Canada. The Canadian government expressed “deep concern and sympathy” for these unfortunates but mimicked the U.S. governments position that the “quarantine” was necessary and only temporary. Besides these Vermont boat people lacked proper immigration papers.