Just Swing – Golf and Recovery

Keep the head still, grip firm but not too tight, rotate your lower body to start the swing, use your legs to take the club back but don’t forget to keep your left arm straight. Make sure the butt of the club points back at the ball during take away, now feel your hands set at the top but don’t be too “handsy”. Next, fire your right knee towards the inside of your left knee to initiate the downswing, drive downward but don’t dip, finish high but don’t forget to turn the club over after impact. Oh yeah, make sure you keep your balance through all this because at the end, when you finish, you want to have a picture perfect pose. Pretty simple, right? It’s easy to get wrapped up on the mechanics of Golf. Studying youtube videos online, reading golf digest articles to fall asleep, or even filming your swing hours on end at the range to meditate on why you can’t stop crossing the plain at the top of your swing: so obsessed with the perfect swing that your forget how to actually swing. It’s a dark hole to go down and every golfer does, but the funny thing is when I just swing, swing the way God intended me to – not perfect, but my true, authentic swing – the ball somehow lands at my target.If you’re a golfer, there is no better feeling than stepping on the first tee box without a notion of swing analysis crossing your mind. Impact so pure, it feels like a knife slicing through butter, where the only thought after impact is where my tee landed, because I already know where my ball is going. Golf for my recovery has been a blessing, a sanctuary for me to be me. There are not too many activities in life that allow me to be more in the present moment. Golf takes away worry from work and stress from relationships, and provides me a sense of comfort hard to explain. But, of course, like any golfer, I find a way to ruin it by trying to manage how I should swing the club. My pressure becomes tighter, my tempo falls off balance, and it all comes from me trying to perfect my swing.I do it in life too, I try to force something that is supposed to come natural. I try to out-think my swing just as I attempt to out-think my life. Yet, when I remember to “just swing” not only does my ball have a high trajectory with a little of that sweet five yard butter fade, but I also become lost in the simplicity of the game. Look, at the end of the day, it’s a game where the objective is to hit a small ball into a cup. Yes, fundamentals are important. The right grip, a solid stance, the correct posture, but your swing is your swing. So, remember to just swing the way God has allowed you to. The same mindset works great for my recovery as well. I need solid fundamentals, the right sponsor, a solid higher power, and the correct fellowship, but at the end of the day it’s MY recovery. My sobriety doesn’t have to look like yours and your swing doesn’t have to look like mine. Play the game the way you know best, that works for you, so remember a par is a par. Whether it’s from a green in regulation two-putt, or a tough up and down out of the bunker. So just keep it simple and whether its golf or recovery, just swing.-Austin BerryRegional Marketer