[Hank's Mail]Like Tiger Woods

Dear all,

Good morning!


According to a poll released on Monday, Tiger Woods was named by US sports business and media executives as the most marketable athlete for the next five years by a triple margin with Peyton Manning, the quarterback of Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, in second place. For your knowledge, LeBron James, the NBA star of Cleveland Cavaliers, was ranked in third and Derek Jeter, Yankees shortstop, in fourth.

Some say that Tiger’s talent of the century is developed through hard work. Some say Tiger’s achievement comes from his ability to maintain control despite the tremendous pressure he faces. Quite obviously, Tiger’s unstoppable, record-breaking wow plays have helped golf top other athletic sports as one of American’s favorite pastime and also made passionate Koreans go crazy about playing golf. There was even a news clip of the brave Korean golfers in Washington, when they were the only players out in the course due to the sub-zero temperature. Koreans appear to be golf-maniacs in the eyes of foreigners.

Also, last Wednesday most local newspapers carried a criticizing account of the Air Force Chief of the Staff playing golf on the day when the entire nation mourned over the death of Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho, who was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. On the same day another news account followed that the four-star general disclosed his wish to retire. According to the government’s official announcement, his decision is more related to the recent accidents of the F-15 and KF-16 fighters. It might not be the cause of the general’s retirement that he enjoyed the golf outing during the mourning period for Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho but must have been the last straw.


You may recall the terror attack on a U.S. government office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in April 1995. The terror was the deadliest, claiming 168 lives and leaving more than 800 injured, until September 11, 2001. All Americans stood aghast at the daring cruelty but I cannot forget the tidbit on the Washington Post that President Clinton played a round of golf in one of the courses at Andrews Air Force Base the following weekend. More surprisingly, I couldn’t locate any news account criticizing President Clinton’s apathy to the tragedy.

These episodes remind me of the attached story below. The retiring general didn’t need to play during the sensitive period should he have read the story below. We may be able to play with razor-sharp accuracy like Tiger even without playing golf for a while when we act on the suggestion in the story below.


Good weekend!


Hank



[18 Holes in Mind]


Major James Nesmeth had a dream of improving his golf game ? and he developed a unique method of achieving his goal. Until he devised this method, he was just your average weekend golfer, shooting in mid- to low-nineties. Then, for seven years, he completely quit the game. He never touched a club. Never set foot on a fairway.


Ironically, it was during this seven-year break from the game that Major Nesmeth came up with his amazingly effective technique for improving his game ? a technique we can all learn from. In fact, the first time he set foot on a golf course after his hiatus from the game, he shot an astonishing 74! He had cut 20 strokes off his average without having swung a golf club in seven years! Unbelievable. Not only that, but his physical condition had actually deteriorated during those seven years.


What was Major Nesmeth’s secret? Visualization. You see, Major Nesmeth had spent those seven years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. During those seven years, he was imprisoned in a cage that was approximately four and one-half feet high and five feet long.

During almost the entire time he was imprisoned, he saw no one, talked to no one and experienced no physical activity. During the first few months he did virtually nothing but hoped and prayed for his release. Then he realized he had to find some way to occupy his mind or he would lose his sanity and probably his life. That’s when he learned to visualize.


In his mind, he selected his favorite golf course and started playing golf. Every day, he played a full 18 holes at the imaginary country club of his dreams. He experienced everything to the last detail. He saw himself dressed in his golfing clothes. He smelled the fragrance of the trees and the freshly trimmed grass. He experienced different weather conditions ? windy spring days, overcast winter days, and sunny summer mornings. In his imagination, every detail of the tee, the individual blades of grass, the trees, the singing birds, the scampering squirrels and the lay of the course became totally real.


He felt the grip of the club in his hands. He instructed himself as he practiced smoothing out his down-swing and the follow-through on his shot. Then he watched the ball arc down the exact center of the fairway, bounce a couple of times and roll to the exact spot he had selected, all in his mind.


In the real world, he was in no hurry. He had no place to go. So in his mind he took every step on his way to the ball, just as if he were physically on the course. It took him just as long in imaginary time to play 18 holes as it would have taken in reality. Not a detail was omitted. Not once did he ever miss a shot, never a hook or a slice, never a missed putt.


Seven days a week. Four hours a day. Eighteen holes. Seven years. Twenty strokes off. Shot a 74.



[White Hairs]


One day, a little girl is sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly notices that her mother has several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast to her brunette hair.


She looks at her mother and inquisitively asks, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?”


Her mother replied, “Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.”


The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then asked, “Momma, how come all of grandma’s hairs are white?”


타이거 우즈 처럼


여러분, 안녕하십니까?


월요일 발표된 조사에 따르면, 미국 스포츠 비지네스와 방송계 임원들은 향후 5년간 가장 광고 효과가 큰 운동선수로서 수퍼 보울 우승팀 인디애너폴리스 콜츠의 쿼터