To be good at most sports like football, tennis, basketball, baseball, swimming or athletics, you have to be very strong, fast or physically fit. But not for golf. Golfers come in all shapes and sizes, creeds and colors. You don’t have to be particularly strong, tall, lean or fast to be good. In fact, golf champions can be tall and skinny or short and fat.
While Sir Nick Faldo and Ernie Els are six foot three inches tall and have the type of shoulders, athletic strength, and power that could have made them champions in almost any sport, they are the exception rather than the norm. Multi-major winner Gary Player is just five foot six inches tall, while former Masters’ champion Ian Woosnam is even shorter at just five feet, four inches.
Neither does weight, or the lack of it, play much part in your enjoyment or success as a golfer. Craig Stadler weighed close to 300lbs in his prime while Natalie Gulbis is a mere 125lbs, yet both are champions.
Unlike most sports where injury often signals the end of your playing days, golfers are amazingly resilient. Ed Furgol was only 12 when he seriously injured his left elbow falling off a set of parallel bars. The elbow never healed correctly and Furgol was left with a crooked arm. On the recommendation of his doctors, he took up golf. He then won six times on the PGA Tour including one major championship, the 1954 US Open. He also played on the US 1957 Ryder Cup team.
Calvin Peete was one of the top players of his era and had a similar story. His left arm was permanently bent following a childhood fall from a tree and didn’t even start playing golf until he was 23. Yet that did not stop him winning 10 PGA tour events in the early 80’s. In fact, only Tom Watson won more in the 80s.
My good friend and amazing trick short artist, Dennis Walters is a scratch player despite being paralyzed from the waist down. No matter what it happens to be, there is a great golfer with a body style, injury or handicap just like yours.
So no more excuses. Get out and play!
Andrew Wood is an author and CEO of Legendary Marketing, a Tampa/Orland-based ad agency. He is the world’s leading expert on golf, resort, destination and real estate marketing although his successes go far beyond these core industries. Author of over 40 books including; Confessions of a Golf Pro, Desperately Seeking Members, The Golf Marketing Bible, The Hotel and Resort Marketing Bible and Legendary Advice. Andrew has spoken to thousands of audiences worldwide and was the top-ranked speaker at 97.7% of the events where he spoke on sales, marketing, entrepreneurship or leadership. A pioneer in Internet marketing his creative talent, out of the box ideas and copywriting skills are at the core of his expertise. Regarded as one of the top marketing minds in the world for his ability to craft a winning strategy, generate leads and increase income!
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