The Trench Warfare Lesson
Day 1 from Part 2 of “Driven: A Year at the David Leadbetter Academy,” by Kevin Cook
The Golf Book Club: Every day, we share a mental game lesson inspired by great golf books—stories and strategies to help you think better so you can play better.
Adapt, and keep dreaming.
David Leadbetter was born in England. He loved sports, but his options were limited by asthma. He often sat on the curb, literally out of breath, and watched his friends play in the street.
David grew tall and strong. He looked like a stork on the tennis court. He dreamed of turning pro but had to quit. In the 1950s, asthma was more limiting than it is today.
It’s hard to surrender a dream. But David had learned a lesson from his grandfather, George.
George dreamed of becoming a surgeon.
Then he was drafted into the trenches of World War 1. A bullet wound left him permanently blind. Some said his dreams were over. But George adapted and kept dreaming. He went to medical school and became an osteopath.
George was proof: Limitations are not stop signs; they’re road signs.
So David took his asthma to a game where you did more walking than running, and more thinking than moving.
Missing the cut by half an inch.
David loved golf. He dreamed of the European Tour, read every book, practiced with a plan, and worked his handicap down stroke by stroke.
In 1976, he felt ready to compete in the European Tour’s qualifying event. On the back nine, he needed just one more birdie to make the cut.
He says, “The last hole was a par-five. I played it sensibly. Laid up and hit a pitch to twelve feet. I can still see the putt. It broke right to left... and rolled over the right edge.”
He missed the cut by half an inch.
From pro to pro teacher.
Even if David had made the cut, he would have been at the bottom of the pack. He had reached the limits of his technical skill, and he knew it.
He had dreamed of becoming a professional golfer. He adapted again and dreamed of becoming a professional teacher.
The ideas he introduced—ideas like, “More lower body, less hands” and “More trust, less analysis”—would change the game.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that, for most of us, every time we swing a golf club, we owe a little nod of thanks to David.
The publisher Malcolm Forbes said, “When you cease to dream, you cease to live.”
What does today’s lesson have to do with lower handicaps? Absolutely everything.
Think about it this way. Dr. Bob Rotella is the top mental game coach in the world. When he begins working with a golfer, his first question isn’t about your swing. It’s about your dreams.
According to Dr. Rotella, when we don’t have a dream, we don’t make a plan. And when we don’t make a plan, we don’t move forward.
Today is a reminder to check in on your dreams—a reminder we need to hear again and again. As Dr. Rotella says, “A golfer with great dreams can achieve great things.”
That’s all for now. Until next time, keep imagining what’s possible.
THE GOLF BUCKET LIST
Brandon Dunes, Oregon: Approach on 1
