Unearned Influence

The day after my daughter learned she made the golf team, she asked me to take her to the driving range. Through hook after hook after hook, her driver wasn’t cooperating. I had her address the ball as she usually would, relax her grip, turn the club head barely 1/16 of an inch, re-grip, and swing. Her drive went right down the middle. “Hit another one.” Right down the middle. For some reason, I can’t coach myself to hit them like that, but I was able to help her!

I remember watching Tiger Woods on TV on the driving range before the third round of the 1997 Masters. Watching every swing closely from nearby were two coaches who helped Tiger make the adjustments he needed to continue to dominate the tournament and take home the coveted Green Jacket.

As I watched, it struck me: here is a young man who is becoming the greatest golfer of his generation, and he has coaches who haven’t accomplished anything near what he has and can’t compete anywhere near his level. Yet their coaching helped Tiger get to where he needed to be to win. 

Sometimes coaches get players to where they want to be because they’ve been there before. But far more often in sports – and life – coaches are people who maybe haven’t been there but still have valuable experience and information to help athletes get where they want to be.