Listening to an episode of The Brainbooster I learned about Susie Meyers’s “Point A” idea.

In essence, the idea is a story inviting you to be in the present moment while playing golf. Naturally, I listen to the podcast to enhance my way of playing golf, but actually, I’m sticking with that podcast as it helps me think about the many ways, we can train our mind. Golf then becomes one of many applications.

Instead of playing from one shot to the other, Susie Meyers suggests playing one shot after the other.

The shot that we are creating in that moment is the relevant one. Whatever we think of the previous shot, it is in the past and can’t be changed. Whatever we think about shots to come, they are in the future and can’t be addressed at this point in time.

There is only one shot we can attend to.

And there is only one moment available to attend to the shot, that is when we are close to the ball and start creating an image of the shot we want to make from “Point A.” That is where we are at that moment, or where the ball landed based on our last shot. Once that image is created, there is nothing else to be done than to execute what we imagined. The clearer the image we create, the better our body will know what to do.

Does it guarantee that the ball will land where we imagined? No, certainly not. There are too many details we can’t integrate into the process of imagining the shot. But what we did was the best we could in that moment. And consistently doing the best you can is almost more than is possible.

What I like about this image of always playing your next shot from Point A is how simple this image is. It describes the single activity in a game of golf then can constantly be repeated and lead to doing the best possible. And yet, no shot can ever be repeated.

It’s also easy to see how sticking to playing from Point A fits into the journey from the first tee to the last hole. The relationship between both makes it possible to accept the idea of always playing from “Point A.”

Working with teams, working with leaders, quite often it is a challenge to step back and create an image of something that one can constantly come back to to be effective.

The image also makes it visible how the ability to stick with playing from Point A transforms the experience of the game itself.

A last point that is just as relevant: creating a shot is only about 5% of the time spent during a round of golf. The 95 % in between serves many functions, among which socializing, letting thoughts come and go, and learning to see the environment may be the most important ones.

An enjoyable and successful round of golf means balancing the different approaches to the 5% and 95% of our time. But both invite us to do our best.