My Epic Day at the Open Championship
“If someone else sets your goal for you or if you set the goal to please someone else, it is less motivating than if you create it and own it.”
- greatness, p.39
Commentary:
This principle worked itself out in my life. My dad was an engineer. He always put food on the table and had a stable job. He really thought it was a good plan and best that my brothers and I become good engineers as well. His goal for my life, while noble, just didn’t inspire the dreams rising inside of me. I slogged through school as an average student in engineering until my sophomore year of college when I changed my major to pursue something else. I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I just knew engineering was not something I owned. My dad worked through it with me and said that whatever I did, I needed to do it with my whole heart. That was very different than pursuing something he wanted with his whole heart for me. I obviously appreciated having a dad who cared about me, but my heart moved in a different direction.
When I discovered sports psychology, I found my passion. I owned it. I pursued a Ph.D., my grades skyrocketed, and my interest ignited. I owned my goal, and it changed my life.
I sit here watching the Open at St. Andrews remembering a poignant day when all of this really hit home. It was a great adventure that I would never have had unless I followed my dreams. I flew across the pond in 1990 to coach two of my players who were in the Open Championship at St. Andrews. The experience started with me speaking at the World Scientific Congress on Golf at the University of St. Andrews a few days before the Open. They gave me a dorm room for the week of the Open as well—right across the street from the 18th tee box and the Swilken Bridge. Secondly, the greatest sports psychologists in the world at that time, Bob Rotella and Dick Coop invited me to participate in an epic day. Because of the amount of daylight over there, we teed off at 5:30 am on an amazing nine-holer on the cliffs of the North Sea about an hour from St. Andrews. There were sheep in the fairways that served as greens keepers. It was a stunning morning with fog rolling in and out of the lower areas of the course. We then returned and followed our respective students in the Open. Then we reconvened after their rounds for another 18 holes at a nearby famous course. Our final putts dropped at around 10:30 pm followed by fish and chips in downtown St. Andrews. Now that was an epic day that started with the search for my heart’s dream as a sophomore in college years before. In the words of Robert Frost, one of my wordsmith heroes, “ … and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
"The people perish where there is no vision."
- Proverbs 29:18
Join Dr. Cook in the locker room, behind the bench, and in the boardroom as he shares the hidden principles of greatness. This unique vantage point and the stories that unfold will inspire and equip you on the journey to your dreams. greatness is open to all but only pursued by a few. It is the space beyond success where calling and legacy meet and a noble heart is required.
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