No Payne No Gain: Writer's Block V

I was attending my first Natural Golf Clinic in New Orleans. It was a beautiful day. The air smelled crisp and clean, and the temperature was perfect. I was waiting with three other students outside the clubhouse. The Master Instructor, Tom Sanders, was a protégé of Moe Norman and had an excellent reputation of being a lot like his mentor. Moe Norman was a golf savant, and his unusual mannerisms were legendary. I will never forget meeting Tom for the first time. He came around the corner of the clubhouse dragging his bag of clubs. He was sort of pear-shaped, his cap was on crooked and his shirt tail was out of his pants on the left-hand side. He introduced himself and promptly led us to the driving range where there were four piles of balls. I’d never seen so many balls in one place. He teed up two balls, pointed to the 200-yard sign and announced he was going to hit the sign. He addressed the ball and, without any hesitation, swung. The ball bounced off the metal sign with a loud bang. Before anything could be said, he struck the second ball and it hit the sign with a “ker-thunk.” The four of us, speechless, looked at each other in awe. Tom looked up at us and realized something was going on and asked, “Is there something wrong?” One of the students spoke out, “We’ve never seen that done before.” Tom, the Master Instructor, looked at us matter-of-factly and uttered, “Well, it’s a pretty big sign.” The sign was, at best, three feet high and four feet wide.

Next, Tom showed us the Natural Golf grip, stance and swing. For the next three hours, non-stop, we hit balls. Tom moved from student to student, saying the some thing over and over. We took thirty minutes for lunch and returned to hit balls for three more hours without breaking. Two of the four participants gave up and quit after the first hour after lunch. Two of us remained, and at the end of the six hour lesson, Tom started picking up his things to leave. He thanked us for coming and half heartedly asked, “Do you have any questions?” Although exhausted, my co-participant explained the brochure indicated that there was a lesson on how to get out of a sand trap. Tom looked stunned and replied, “You want a lesson about sand?” My partner nodded. Tom quickly retorted, “Stay out of it.” He turned on his heels and left.

You want a lesson on writer’s block? Stay out of pressure situations. Authors that write for the enjoyment of it, the fun, the excitement, never ever come close to getting writer’s block because there is no pressure. Don’t get into a position where you have to write something. It is that simple.

Dr. James Payne, a nationally-recognized scholar, educator and speaker, is a professor of Special Education at the University of Mississippi and a Fulbright recipient. He is the developer of the PeopleWise Event Management System and the PeopleWise Profile System.