I have just started reading Dr. Joe Parent’s book, “Zen Golf”. I’m always trying to learn more, but the reason I started read this book is because of the all the positive reviews this book has received on Amazon – and I can see why.
Very early in the book, Parent shares an Eastern philosophy “story” of how a student went to the Master to learn and they sat down to have tea. The Master kept pouring the tea into the student’s cup even after it was full. He kept pouring into the cup and eventually the tea was all over the table, then on the floor, until finally the student exclaimed “stop pouring the tea”. The Master was trying to show the student that he had so many thoughts already in his head, that his “cup” was full and there was no more room for him to learn – unless the cup was first emptied.
Parent then goes on, and this I think is a great observation, that there are four types of golf students – in this case the analogy is to a type of cup. The first student is like a cup that is turned upside-down – no matter how much is poured, nothing gets into the cup. We’ve all experienced this when reading – we get to the bottom of the page and realize we have no idea what we just read. We’re listening, but not hearing anything. Nothing is absorbed or learned.
The second type of student is like a cup with sand in it. If you add water, the water gets cloudy and muddy. This is an example of how we can take information, distort it or reshape it, so that it is no longer in its original form.
The third type of student has the cup open at the top – but there is a hole in the bottom – so nothing stays in the cup. We also refer to this as “in one ear, and out the other”.
The last student, the student all coaches wish came to their tee, is a student whose cup is open at the top, but the cup is empty – and it’s ready and willing to be filled up.
I can’t tell you the number of students I’ve had that come to me for help that have ideas that are filling their cup – ideas that are working against what I’m trying to help them with, or ideas that they have that are either detrimental or downright worthless – yet the student believes they have value. Think of it this way, if the ideas you have – the ones you can’t let go of – are so good, why are you in need of a lesson? If you’re going to take a lesson, be the student with an empty cup, it will really help the communication between you and your coach – and hopefully – and ultimately help you with your game.
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