Golf and Dog Training

Some of you know that I like to watch golf. I have never played a day in my life (but would love to) but I find this sport interesting. For the last five years I have attended the Canadian Open to watch the players do their thing. Last year Chad, my parent's and I ventured to Long Island, New York to watch the US Open (that is a whole story in itself...) and late last night we got back from going to the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. It was a great trip; I would go again in a heartbeat. I saw the world's best golfers and got to follow my favourite, Canadian Mike Weir. I proudly wore my Canada shirt that says "True North Strong and Free" on it. I had a number of people coming up to me to ask if I was Canadian and then conversations where started about where everyone was from and so on. By the end of the day I would see these people on different parts of the course and we would share a wave to say that we knew each other. It was pretty neat. I have to tell something else that was totally cool... actually there are two things. This has nothing to do with dog training or how I am going to segue into dog training. I just want to share this experience with you. If you don't care about my golf story please skip ahead to the next paragraph. ... The one thing I really wanted to do was to be on the first tee when they announced Mike Weir, so that we could cheer for him. We planted ourselves in the stands (the front row of course!) and cheered with many other Canadians and Mike's fans when his name was announced. It was quite a thrill, firstly because it was the biggest cheer we had heard all day and secondly, I think he was a little shocked by it and looked up and acknowledged us with a wave and a head nod. I think we made him feel good. I would like to say that he looked right at us and maybe, just maybe he recognized us from all the years of stalking him at the Canadian Open. My second story is really, really silly... it was late in the day and the final pairings were getting ready to go. We were walking to first tee to see Phil Michelson tee off. Chad and I were crossing the first hole near the tee with about 40 or so other people. I started to hear people yelling "Hey Phil", (I want to go on record to say that I am not really a big fan of Phil's) I started looking around to see what people were yelling at, and lo and behold Phil is standing about 6 feet from me. Being the very cool person I am, I pointed and said "Hey look Phil Michelson" (duh). He answered someone's question from the crowd and went on his merry way. Once Chad and I regrouped on the other side of the crossing my immediate response was "okay, I know I am not a fan, but that was pretty cool." It was very cool to see someone you watch weekend after weekend on TV that close to you. It was also very interesting to feel the energy around him. The fans were excited to see him and he was responding to their enthusiasm. Lastly I also think that when you are good at what you do and you are embedded in that environment you feed off of it and the result is a very palatable type of energy. My response was silly, but what a neat experience.

 

While waiting for Mike Weir to tee off, we stopped by the practice range. The golfers can warm up their driving and putting. Often the coaches and caddies are present and you can see some of the things that they are working on and hear some of the banter that goes on between the players. This brought to mind that the same feeling is true at obedience trials. Many of us are there to compete but there is the underlying social aspect to the shows. Friends group together and get caught up on each other's lives. For some of us we only see certain people at certain shows, so that is a part of the draw to that event. The other similarity to golf that I noticed was the ratio of time spend preparing vs. actually competing. Some of us train for years to complete a title that takes about a total of about 45 minute to complete (actual time in the ring + stays). These players practice every day, some play 36 holes of golf a day, plus time at practice ranges and watching video and play four rounds in a tournament for a total of 16 hours of golf. They still have family life to balance and most do charity work and have other irons in the fire with sponsors. They live very full lives just like those of us who choose to compete in dog sports. Another thing I noticed was that the players and coaches fussed about the little things. Where is your head? Keep your left elbow tucked in, routines leading up to hitting the ball and visualization are big components in golf. Sort of like front and finishes for the dog and handling skills for the human part of the team. I think the biggest comparison is that golfers practice, practice, practice and then compete under pressure to put everything they have worked on to the test. Once they hit the ball they can't take it back, just like we do when we start our heeling pattern, whatever happens happens and you have to work forward from that point. Maybe this is what draws me to golf; too bad that dog training can't have corporate sponsorship and prize money equal to this sport. Now that would make things really interesting.

 

Happy golfing, I mean training!