Any given Sunday...

On an earlier blog post I placed a link to the Al Pacino "Inches" speech from the film Any Given Sunday. In the days when my weekends were taken up by the more physical pursuits of rugby and football, it became an intrinsic part of my pre match build up. When I first took up the glorious game of golf I applied the same mentality. Hunger, passion, desire, winning...it didn't serve me particularly well, and recently I have started to question whether winning actually has a place in my golfing life.

I've felt a huge pang of sympathy this summer for Wayne Rooney, Andy Murray and Lee Westwood. The weight of expectation on their collective shoulders is such that even the mythological Greek Atlas may struggle to bear it. Anything short of specific silverware is deemed failure. As Westwood completed yet another top finish in a Major he was once again lambasted for having not won a Major. I sincerely hope he can break his duck at Whistling Straits so people recognise his considerable achievements since bouncing back from a crushing loss of form. Unfortunately, he will probably be informed that the truly great players win multiple Majors.

For my part I must confess I started playing golf wanting to 'win' without any clear idea of what that actually meant. Was it beating my playing partner, getting a scratch handicap, pummeling the course into submission to the extent that the wind whistling through the trees seems to say "please stop we beg you"? I forgot why I had taken up the game in the first place, the fact I'd played pretty much every other sport from the age of five. On reflection I blame school. Whatever sport it was the ambition was to get in the school team and then to win. I have a picture at home of my first sports day just before my sixth birthday proudly holding my age group trophy and the Victorum Ludorum. I won the double again a year later, came first in every event and scored maximum points.

I then read Bill Elliot's excellent piece in the latest edition of Golf Monthly. In This Golfing Life he recollects his experiences of the game as he is asked to reflect on the misleading simple question that: if you play golf for fun, what for you is fun? It suddenly dawned on me that although I have said I play sport for fun, that is actually a lie. I've always played to compete, well almost always. When I studied for my MSc at Loughborough I decided I wanted to have a bit if recreational sport. I joined the athletics club and rather than getting involved onthe sprints which I knew I'd take too seriously, I had a go at pole vaulting. A very technical sport that requires years of training, technique development and body conditioning. I had no expectations, a very good coach and a lot of fun that year. Mmmmm....