The Way of the Peaceful Warriors

When you take action everyday towards fulfilling a dream and do not recieve the end desired result, you are being tested. Be it fate, Universe or God, you are asked to make a decision in these moments of challenge. I failed to qualify for the Singapore Open and 100% believed I would for two months prior to competing. My preparation for that event started the moment my application was sent in through envisioning myself as being successful. My mind was quiet and positive; my body light and strong; my stride was purposeful and relaxed.



This continual challenge then becomes about moving forward with the quiet and positive,light and strong, purposeful and relaxed and adding the missing component by forgetting about the missing component. A short term memory becomes essential for success. I am not determined or defined by one score in southeast asia. My successful self is created by the perpetual persuit of obtaining all that my heart deems pure and meaningful.



Yesterday, after arriving in Kuala Lumpur where I am living for the comming month, I was walking toward the Petronas Towers (the largest twin-tower in the world) and was stopped by two monks who bowed to me on the side of the street. Their demeanor was peaceful and silent and in doing so, communicated more than any words they could have spoken that I would understand. It was a respect for me and all whose paths they crossed.



This inner harmony that they expressed had a fearlessness to it. Although you would never characterize it as a mentality that would lead you into a battle because of its tranquility, it is that same tranquility that makes it so dangerous for someone opposing it. An ability to stand up to all that deviated from the course of righteousness. It is a paradox worth exploring. Hence what is occuring all over southeast asia, currently Myanmmar. The Buddhists face death and torture, but stand up for peace with an ironclad fearlessness.



Although my endevours are not even close to being on that lifethreatening stage, that inner harmony I have been experiancing here in practice, in competition and witnessing in those interaction with true warriors, is going to be of use in all situations. "The Way of the Peaceful Warior," the "Lion Pacafist."



I'm going to continue to listen to my heart and practice this peaceful fearlessness.

Response to Scott: Why do the greens look like sand in one of the posted pics?...Because the greens were actually made of sand!! Yeah, amazing hugh? It was like playing in the middle east! The rest of the course was grass except for the greens...Kidding, the reason was because they had just top dressed the greens on that golf course.

After a day spent trying to beat inclimate weather to get in a practice round, I shot +1 in the Singapore Open qualy missing the 4 spot qualy by 5 shots. The day was spent leaving putts around the edges of holes and not having the pleasure of watching any putts over six feet fall. I put the ball in many preferable scoring positions but never capitalized on any opportunities. I'm driving the ball well and hitting solid iron shots and with a little more time to acclimate to southeast Asia, the extreame heat, differance in golf course condition and culture shock, I will be fully prepared to qualify for the Asian Tour.

You cannot tee up your golf ball in Singapore for less than $150. Including taxi ride to and from the practice facility it becomes a very expensive proposition. After spending $50 to hit golf balls at a range today and then finding out I had to shell out $200 for a practice round before the Singapore Open qualifier, I made arrangements to travel for Batam, Indonesia by Ferry tomorrow morning. I will be there for two days of practice at a golf resort. For all the golf I want to play, plus a top notch resort room and transportation for two days it was less than $150. The experiance should top the red-light district hostle we have been bunking at for the last three nights where the minute you leave the place you get swarmed by escort girls looking for a few American bucks. I quickly realized why it was the only living accomodations in Singapore under $50.

Barracks and Buddhists

After 2 days, including losing 12 hours for the time change, we finally made it into Singapore. We made it to our hostile at around 1am this moning and found sleeping in a room with 30 other people to be a pungent and overly quafable experiance (It was like sleeping in a hockey lockerroom following a hard fought game). After staring at the ceiling for 5 hours I awoke and took my first walk around. Passing a Buddhist Temple a man signaled me. He asked if I was a free thinker and proceeded to offer the Buddha incensce prayers. I followed. "When in Singapore..." None of the 10 or so others there, paid attention to the tall, white boy who looked like a five year old at her dance recital and forgot her routine and had to mimic her dance partners'. Sitting on pillows with burning incensce, we offered prayers for our families in the beautiful temple surrounded by ancient decor. I found my first moment of peace in 12 hours. My mind went blank after I made my offering and I welcomed it. I could have fallen asleep peacefully right there. Unfortunately, they didnt offer a nightly rate so I'm stuck in the barracks for now, another character building experiance. I'll take it on with a half-smile.

Asia

As you awake this morning, I am sitting in Hong Kong airport waiting to board a flight to Singapore. The 17 hour flight from New Hampshire consisted of two movies: Ocean's 13 and Evan Almighty, Christine teaching me Chinese and me dragging my tired body from the seat with 4 inches of leg room (poor lady in front of me didnt get any sleep), to the bathroom tightly quartered bathroom. I say this honestly, it was all worth it just to get the rush of excitement that surged through my body like a Yellowstone geyser when the plane came in to land in Hong Kong. The green South China Sea glisend in the orange sunset and the triangular shaped mountains towered over the runway. It was an awesome sight. It was foreshadowing of the beautiful experiance to come. Talk to you from Singapore. Over and out.

10/8

Ten days from seperate me from a flight across the world to Singapore. My game is building toward pureness; like Led's acoustics in the begining of 'Stairway to Heaven.' There are nothing but positives shining through in my performances as of late, and the upcomming chorus of my song is going to be pure bliss, pure, rock-solid success. Today, it occured to me that because success is contingent on engaged, nurishing preparation, setbacks in performance are attributed to poor preparation.
If I were a body builder, I would work a muscle group to exhaustion and give it recovery time, only to come back and push it slightly farther to discomfort before another recovery period. During that recovery period, I would break-down another muscle group. I am compartmentalizing. Practice that yields results in any field, requires this recovery period. This is how college courses are structured for an all-around, mentally enhancing experiance. Classes are conducted every other day for a specific subject and in between classes, you have hands on activities, namely homework, that engages different skills with the same subject.
This formula also applies to the golfer set on improving. Find a way to make yourself uncomfortable during every session; whether it be playing a money game, or trying to incorporate subtle changes into your positions, push yourself beyond that level and stop before that discomfort detracts from your excitment. If golf is wholistically enhancing bodybuilding, then bicep curls are hitting your least favorite shot off the tee, pectoral presses are the wedge shots you dont get close enough to the hole, shoulder raises are the sand shots that you cant get up and down and the leg workout is the 4 foot putt you miss all too often. Take this formula, and do bicep curls monday, leg workout on tuesday with a brief shoulder raise session following and pectoral presses supersetted with bicep curls on wednesday...etc and repeat. Take this preparation formula, make yourself uncomfortable, put your ass close to the fire, your ego on the line and improve yourself. You'll never make it to third base with one foot on second!

On the front nine today, I had missed a short putt in an insignificant match against a club member. I was frusterated and followed the missed putt with a poor shot that left me dropping a ball in front of a pond. I was not pissed because of the poor shot results, or because I allowed one shot to influence another, but because I couldn't stand creating an opportunity for my opponent to have a chance. Following a birdie on the next hole I thought, "alright, keep battling you warrior. Dont give this guy any breathing room." It is great that competative spirit isnt just a switch that flips off and on when I arrive at a tournament. It is a constant mindset that says, "this is a battle that you love and expect to be victorious at." We can debate whether or not the idea that approaching a one vs one mentality as opposed to a one vs oneself mindset is a proper way to approach a match play situation, but regardless of that discourse, I am getting the most out of that practice experiance because I care. When you care you arent just going through the motions of a monotinous job. You care because you love aspects of your experiance. That love of the desired end result creates a love of the process and a care for every moment in it. Loving those moments I find myself in the present. Life is not lived while "you are busy making other plans" when you are in the present moment. That love creates a oneness with the present, which is where your experiance becomes the most meaningful. I went on to win the match as expected, but, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.