CHAPTER 1
Where is Center?
When bending to the game of golf is one bowing to the teacher? Haven't you heard the golf ball say, "If you stay quiet within I'll travel truer without?"
What direction is the grip end of the golf club pointing as golfers address the ball? Is it not the belly? Where is "chi" which is an expression of eastern energy? Does the belly not move with the hands and the golf club? What is the unifying force of any total swing, but breath energy and the weapon of choice?
In golf, is it not so that the ball is quiet, and the terrain irregular, unlike most games where the playing field is at and the ball in motion; soccer, tennis, baseball, and football being examples? Golf could be a total training calibration of golf shot diversity in practice. Golf's calibration includes trajectory, distance, and swing plane factors. Movement, feeling, and thought blend with angle totally, for good reason; golf's uneven lies challenge golfers at all golf courses. However, the fifteen percent at of the game of golf is practiced in excess of the variable lie angle. This condition therefore, needs to be understood as variable lie angle, which is an uneducated eighty-five percent of golf practice!
Practitioner characteristics in either Martial Arts or golf, in the dojo or the golf range, ones katas or fourteen golf club weaponry, the choice to practice and train are on at surfaces, but the real experience of either/or is unlike their modified training location. It's time to embrace life's agenda totally: the known, unknown, and unknowable. How can the ocean be separate from the wave? Is it not so that the empi in karate is the enforcer of the other side? If we do not know the 'center' how could we establish yin/yang forces that move freely? Again, how can the ocean be separate from the wave?
Some of us have unwavering faith in traditional wisdom that proclaims, "By mastering one, you may master all." Like in yoga, one chooses one asana and practice until one has mastered it, arranging the rest of their disciplines simply to support this goal. Therefore, practice the pitching wedge on 'crooked lies'. Know the terrain. Know your center. Follow the breath. Find stability in both body and mind.
Will you ask, "How can I grow the game of golf?" As an antidote to pro t maximizing business (PMB), socially responsible business (SB) can operate in the same market spaces competing with one another for market share on the new Wedge Course. The Short Game area can t a single golf club to a poor human being-generating a unity of self and community. Please join in an effort of universal growth-find center, play golf, "Be the ball" and strike the wedge.
On this note, the shortest day, December 21, 2013, this is what has occurred, and is perfectly said from the Bhagavad-Gita, "The time was very short, and naturally Sukadeva Gosvami could have gone directly to the Tenth Canto to make a shortcut of the whole thing, as generally done by professional reciters".....
So it is in the art form golf, instead of proceeding systematically, so that both future readers and hearers might take lessons from the example of the procedure of variable lie angle, those in control seek repetition of the at lie, without acceptance of the uneven lie in its constant change only on the golf course. Hence, 'a shortcut!' Practice fifteen percent of golf's at lies, 100% of the time! Then, unwisely accept confrontation from uneven lies the remainder of the time, knowing little about "variable lie angle." This is the same as the putting dilemma: whether to "anchor or not to anchor," but not realizing an education is manifest in the act of training with the Putting Rod, an anchor system, one studies and understands by sharing the value of the anchor s pros and cons, keeping the Rules of golf in tact (no mechanical aid-no anchoring). Why not gain a disciplined arc putting stroke through anchored training? Likewise, why not calibrate one s golf shot with variable lie angle, and create a platform for Social Business?
Is it a gradual process of service and inquiries, or a poor fund of knowledge that one does not know variable lie angle calibration? Why stay uneducated in uneven lies, a diverse system where nothing is the same? Calibration on variable lie angle is the whole human beings center of thought, feeling, and movement. Thought is found everywhere. Feeling is found everywhere. Movement is found everywhere. How can I transcend that which I have never mastered? What if one can use the belly as an important gateway to the whole of yourself, your true center? What if one's use of power and ego associated with this center stem from a lack of understanding, appreciation and training? What if the heart of love and the heart of power are one and the same?
CHAPTER 2
Why a Geodesic Dome?
So what of, why a Geodesic Dome in golf? "Circular energy is an answer to this question, "Why a geodesic dome?" The answer is all inclusive. The dome has what the golf swing should contain —circular energy, and the cavity in the turkey is complete with its stuffing. The geodesic dome mimics a golf ball s shape and dimple. So, who needs signage when symbolism (the dome) and an art s energy (golf) are so well acquainted? "I am what I am" says either-or. The golfer may keep in movement (the golf swing) what the geodesic dome has solidified in space. In a setting like this, could it be that there is a connection for the collective and the individual?
If the dome could speak, it may say, "You (the golfer) can construct your circular energy in many places, which means locations of golf courses, and upon many locations within a golf facility." The geodesic dome fits nicely into natural settings, as a golf course fits the natural terrain of the earth. The circle is a powerful symbol. The universal state of a circular symbol can be easily shared with golf and dome properties by design.
The geodesic dome sheds snow away from its outer surface because of its spherical shape as does a golf club 'strike' a golf ball away from its circumference. The dome s presence in nature repels natures strongest natural forces with great ease, such as, snow, wind, and rain. An expert golfer removes a golf ball from his/her circle, or circumference, relative to the club head; the ball becoming a traveler, being removed from the circle, forming variable patterns of flight.
So, why a dome, connecting to a golf range, or why a golf range, connecting to a dome? Could it be that the space shared is comparable because each has least resistance towards each others circular energy? Therefore, aren't they a contribution of harmony for each other? The movement is the art (the golf swing). The structure is an art (the geodesic dome). What of space's quantitative and qualitative force shared with these two entities? What s provided? Who are teachers of circular energy?
Contemporary age has more students gravitating to smaller schools and smaller classes, but classes are combining their studies (math, history, science, Spanish etc), as does golf's wedges or hybrids etc impact educative strength by acting collectively, nurturing singular energy. I would possibly concede that the driver in a set of fourteen golf clubs can appear to be the lecturer in a classroom. It dominates its technological position (ball and club design) as a singular economic thrust by greed and power, eating territory by consumption of distance (could it be that what s needed is two-hundred fifty to three-hundred yard par three holes)? Thereby not only a driver s starting place (the tee area, the beginning of a golf hole), but including accuracy by becoming more than just power. Five other choices are renunciation, wisdom, fame, beauty, and wealth. We need the six (equal in strength) to arrive at the goal of perfection. The driver s power may bring one closer to a target, but many times off line, and those misusing distance excluding accuracy are those not framed into a bigger picture had they framed itself with a larger frame—a Wall Street repeat! What's happened to content? A frame isn't the painting. Rhythm and 'feel' are in the painting. Therefore, the six attributes in equal proportion bring radiance.
Sunday evenings around 7:00 PM, Channel 20/Chicago and 36/ Milwaukee's public television bring an auditorium of students together, about 100. This is not a small class. The subject is 'Justice.' The Harvard professor is on stage, and would appear to be a lecturer, yet this isn't so. His disciplined questions cause interaction. The energy of the student body responds by either taking sides or adding energy to the topic under discussion.
Some ask," Is the stuffing in the turkey?" Channel's 20, 36 and the professor are excellent ingredients. All three are in likeness to the chef in the kitchen. What s available or not on the menu, and what are the ingredients in the kitchen?" The belly is central. How does the consumer think? How will choices be fulfilled, and If either/or are fulfilled? Is it so with best choices, and "Why"?
Is the stuffing in the turkey? Don t forget the celery, the fiber, for digestion. "Balance your gut and Heal your Body" says Brinda Wilson, co-author of The Road to Perfect Health. The belly is central. Probiotics works the system as does micro nutrients. Energy is your reward.
Here it is January 27th, 2012. "You'll be seventy-five years of age in another month" thought Jack. Ten years ago Ma had said, "Our numbers are thinning, Jack, who will take care of you when you re older?"
"I've not had the depth of love such as you Ma," Jack had said, "no one has planned their lives. It may be karma. I feel the vehicle golf can set a good pattern in helping others, and thereby I m caring for myself as I care for others. Some have called it 'guerilla golf.' Seek out the areas to help others and oneself."
Pat Lambo had asked, "Jack, how important is the caddy?"
"Who brings home the groceries?", asked Jack.
"Who sends out the invitations?", responded Pat.
"Very good, Pat, because who's coming to dinner and how the dinner is prepared are part of the equation, said Jack. It's a partnership. The outcome has to do with power and wealth to some degree. Some may see the caddy/player as nothing more than entertainment. The power aspect has an internal and external function as a caddy. Control of the gallery and control of the art form—the game itself, plus the boundaries that ebb and flow in those perimeters."
Pat answered, "Jack, remembering the Cherryland Open, in Door County, Wisconsin when we won in 1981. I think the aspect of fame is another issue besides power and wealth. Door county is an enchanted place and beating Bailey in a play-off kept the spirituality intact, and therefore balanced all three: power, wealth, and fame."
In addition to caddy issues, Jack was at home in the dome when answering the phone and therefore had answered simply, "Hello," but when hearing a question about the Pyramid Stacker followed with, "Yes it is, can I help you?"
Dr. Micheal O'Brien had replied, "This is Mike O'Brien," and asked, "is this the pyramid stacker place? I'm looking at the Pyramid Stacker on your website, and I like the largest one of the've, the two hundred-eighty five size."
"That's a lot of golf balls per tray; almost a utility bucket of 300," said Jack. "How big is your golf range and how many stations at your facility?", asked Jack.
"No," said Mike, "this a private inquiry for me at home."
"You'll be inviting the neighbors in with a load like that! How old are you?" Jack asked.
Mike answered, "Seventy-seven."
"You've got me by two. It sounds to me you'll go another twenty easy, no problem, but the 204 size may be adequate," said Jack.
"Where are you located?" asked Jack.
"Boise, Idaho," answered Mike. "And where are you?"
"State line of Wisconsin and Illinois, near the shore of Lake Michigan. The tone of your voice tells me you're something to reckon with. What sports had you committed to growing up?", asked Jack.
"Hockey mainly, but I was active in everything," said Mike.
"I thought so! Where will you be practicing? Is the area confined or is it large—no restriction," asked Jack.
"I have freedom to use an area to practice as I wish, but a specific to be worked out for me is my rotation. Someone had mentioned Corey Pavin's name to me earlier today, and his rotation seems correct for me," said Mike.
"It appears you've been around golf much of your life. Be careful. Golfers exaggerate one thing at the cost of another. Lateral motion has its place you know, Mike," said Jack. "It depends upon the club's length and the lie of the golf ball that determines at or upright/rotational or lateral motion. Neither rotation nor lateral are absolutes! They share the play ground."
Mike said, "Maybe that's why we have a favorite golf club, Jack. One that works and we attempt to extract the same motion from the rest of the set, in accord to one, not the many of the set, or lie? We should know each club travels its own path."
"That's correct Mike, and our center, our anatomy, will apply the appropriate energy as we observe the target and obstacles leading to the target," said Jack.
Mike said, "I've been around golf a long time. I started as a caddy in Philadelphia and I've acquired some memorabilia along the way. I've got an ancient program from a tournament in which I had caddied. After the tournament I had acquired approximately six to eight signatures including: Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Lew Worsham, Ben Hogan, who wouldn't wear a number on his back, Chandler Harper, and the golf pro with the bent arm?"
Jack said, "Ed Furgol, great player, watched him at Tam O' Shanter, in Niles, Illinois, northwest of Chicago, in the early fifties."
Mike said, "The Furgol brothers were all great players. Porky Oliver and Gene Sarzen are a couple more signatures on the program. Do you know if these signatures have any value or anything, Jack?"
Jack thought for a moment and offered a suggestion—The Antique Show on Public TV might work.
Later Mike had said, "I m sending you a book titled—My Stroke of Insight. It s a brain scientist s personal journey, written by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. Jill s personal journey after having a major stroke at the age of thirty-seven. She had the unique distinction of reflecting on her own repair by having a better understanding of the hemispheres of the brain. If I m understanding you Jack, you are about conditioning not so much repairing, yet both.
"I think golf offers both repair and conditioning, I see what you mean," said Jack. "I've not thought with the insight of a neurologist, but if I grasp from what you're saying is that a left handed person's right brain's big picture will blend nicely with their left brain. Know your handedness: left brain's detail and right brain's big picture."
