What Ben Hogan and the Game of Golf Can Teach Us About Managing Control in the Time of Corona
Risa Teksten
“Good golf begins with a good grip.”
Every practitioner of the game knows Ben Hogan’s insistence that grip is THE first fundamental lesson every golfer should master.
Golfers also know that having a good grip is counterintuitive; too firm or tight of a grip gives you LESS control - not more - over the power and trajectory of your swing. As an instructor said to me last fall, “Risa, it’s like life. You have to be okay letting it go a little.”
Well, okay Elsa. Easier said than done.
One of my last acts of defiance before sheltering in place two weeks ago was to go to a driving range. So the idea of managing our grip comes to mind as I spend time confiding with friends and colleagues around our current battle against COVID-19 and mitigating its spread. Control over the trajectory of our lives beyond our swing, and whether we have any levers for it, seems to be the consistent theme with which everyone is grappling.
One caveat I’ll make, is that my statements here are not universal. I’m fortunate to speak with peers who exist within the most privileged population when it comes to our health and economic crisis. While there is a spectrum of stability, nearly everyone I’m reflecting upon has the capacity for employment, through either an educational or professional pedigree, access to accurate information, housing options and networks that makes us far better off than those in the most impoverished and threatened demographics.
That caveat aside, suffering and anxiety over losing control is a pervasive sentiment for many, especially now. What I’ve observed is that those who I worry will suffer the most (emotionally & psychologically) are those who find themselves in situations that are inauthentic to themselves. ie. employed in a job they haven’t been happy with for a while, but haven’t been motivated to change. Or partnered in an unsatisfying relationship, but reluctant to rock any boats. Resistant tendencies that stemmed from fear of change before, are now reinforced with an even tighter grip stemming from a fear of losing total control in a world seemingly spiraling out of it.
The world is indeed spiraling on its axis. Systems, institutions, routines and schedules have ruptured and we’re being challenged to quickly adapt and design our new normal. We are also challenged to understand that when we come out on the other side of COVID, many of those societal bedrocks will be permanently impacted and different from here forth.
It’s stressful to process how we’ll return to the NEW new normal once we’ve overcome this one. Anticipatory anxiety is looming especially as we forecast economic turbulence; how WILL we relocate to that new city we had been planning on this year? Or finance that home renovation? How will our relationships change now that the way in which we regularly see each other has changed as well. I’ve heard people say, “Well a few weeks of this is one thing, but months of it is impossible.”
Trying to round the curve by insisting that we can do a U-turn back to where we were, is, in my opinion, futile. One of the keys to our well-being is releasing our grip a little and trusting that the pathway ahead will most certainly be a detour, but that we have the emotional and community resources in place to navigate where we eventually want to be.
It’s in these emotional and community resources that faith presents itself strongly for me. Faith is my emotional resource that generates hope, optimism, perseverance and a sense of assurance that despite our current instability and fears, we will wind up better than before. My faith helps me witness the unexpected silver linings. Getting to know my children more intimately as human beings (messy human beings) as the days and time blend together; the realization that I should have been FaceTiming with friends living in other states a long time ago; and even more profound transformations like the resurgence of clean water in Rome and signs of nature and animals flourishing more than ever. Faith makes me resolved that we will all ‘get to’ where we were meant to be - perhaps even sooner than expected - just not in the same exact way as we had originally planned six months, or even six weeks ago.
“The grip is the heartbeat of action.”
One thing about golf is that the way the game is played doesn’t change. That stability frees players to constantly adjust (everything). Golfers are non-stop tweakers. Isolating, adjusting, applying, testing and adjusting again. It’s frustrating as hell but when you finally lock in the right adjustment, the satisfaction of your impact on the ball feels so clean and damn good.
Hogan taught that while mundane, the grip is central to the chain reaction generated by our body to effectively deliver control. He also preached that we persistently practice this ‘unglamourous’ habit.
Herein lies our opportunity: When we have so little under our control, let's practice our grip fundamentals, and practice them daily. I’ll describe one example that recently resonated with me:
I’m fortunate that my employer, Snap Inc., offers scheduled meditation and has adapted virtual video conference sessions since our company has instituted a work from home policy. Usually not lasting more than 15 minutes, they’ve been simple boosts of comfort and focus for those who join.
Last week, our final focus was centered on the idea of support. Namely, how we take care of each other in these times. We were asked to visualize someone who has made a gesture of kindness or support to us. Equally, we took a breadth to acknowledge how we’ve been caring or kind to someone else as well. Is there anyone you’d like to express kindness to - and can you make a small adjustment right now in that direction?
If something like meditation seems completely irrelevant and passive given the magnitude of change we’re experiencing from the global pandemic, I challenge you to return to Hogan’s wisdom. Paraphrasing his opening paragraph, these drab fundamentals, while seen as nothing decisive, are in fact where the beauty of the game - and our control over it - begin.
Risa Teksten is a Global Client Lead at Snap Inc. with a sadly high golf handicap that she hopes to improve once she’s able to return to the course.
