Sunday, July 11, 2010

the seven-iron of enlightenment


It is said that a good golfer should be able to shoot par on nearly any course using only his seven-iron and a putter. A pitcher usually sticks to a few strong pitches to retire most batters, albeit playing with the unpredictability of combinations. Likewise, many professional fighters claim to know countless techniques but prefer four or five—again in varying sequences.
So here’s the thought: which techniques are my seven-iron and putter? Which are my fastball and overhand curve?
....I get this ridiculous image in my mind of testing these options out by doing free-practice in a fairway bunker or on a lush tee box.
My training partner yelling “fore” as I go hurling through the air.

4 comments:

  1. The other day I picked up some rusty second hand clubs and headed to a driving range for the first time in my life, and I found great similarities to practicing Aikido! I recommend it to anyone with patience and a driving range close at hand.

    How about for your seven iron and putter techniques ... you use a seven iron or a putter. That could be brutal.

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  2. I think of that often, and there are 7-8 techniques that I'd actually use in a fight, unless I'm given the chance to use others. There are just a couple of techniques from my art that I'd never use.

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  3. Z. -- funny. we would need a caddy on the battlefield....

    d.-- i think aquiring multiple techniques expands one's perception of the art, and maybe some we would throw away, or maybe they would appear out of nowhere....

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  4. Indeed. And probably, some techinques we believe to be "ineffective" just because we didn't fully understand them. I believe it's the man that gives power to the technique, not the other way around. Or, to use a common sentence: Ask not what your style can do for you; ask what you can do for your style.

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