The Seasons

Don Grose
"Well, I guess that's it..we're done for the season.
Ahead..Six months without the game we love..."
Olymic Hockey is on TV this afternoon - the Americans
Matts and the Swedes are battling it out right now..
I'm half listening, but I'll be paying more
attention in an hour or two when Canada takes on
Finland. What happened yesterday when Switzerland
beat our Canucks 2-0. Proof once again that the
combination of desire and playing like a team
is pretty hard to beat. There wasn't much question
yesterday which team was charged with a sense
of urgency. But I digress..the game we love
that I alluded to off the top , was of course,
the game of golf...One of my favorite quotes is
attributed to Arnold Palmer...
" What other people may find in poetry I find
in the flight of a good drive."
There is no question that when golf gets in your
blood - it's a hard master to please - and an
even more difficult compulsion to shed.
And at the end of last golf season, it did
seem as though we were bidding goodbye to a
companion, not quite certain when that
companion might return...but I have noticed
something over the past couple of years..
It's increasingly difficult to harbour any
feelings of forboding based on time..the hours
turn to days, the days to weeks, weeks to months
and suddenly 30 is 50...Certainly with all that's
happened you know you were there as a participant
for the entire time - but where has it all gone ?
So, as one golf season comes to a close , you
look only to feelings of optimism that something
miraculous is going to happen in the months
ahead that will somehow make you soooo much better
next year. It is that misguided spirit of optimism
that keeps me going - and has me so looking forward
to April through November 2006.
By the way - put away your Farmer's Almanac - forget
Environment Canada - and don't listen to the all
snowmobilers and skiiers you know. This is
going to be a great season weather wise. It may be a
little drier than the farmers in the Annapolis Valley
would prefer - but for golfers...remember you read it
here first...and you can tell your friends where you
read it too...the last two weeks of March the sun
will shine and it'll start to warm...we'll get
overnight showers, weekdays through April, but
they will be very moderate. May through August are
going to be among the warmest on record in the
Maritimes, and then it'll get nice for September
and October...and then I'll be writing this blog
all over again from the other end of golf season.
I have concluded that the reason that I like golf -
check that - love golf - is that it is by it's very
nature - so similar to the other activities I enjoy.
Golf, guitar and bridge..my three passions.
All provide me with exactly the same...there is
a complete lack of predictability - a surprise
factor that is very drug like. I never know
how well the notes are going to come together
when I sit down with the guitar. I'm never sure
when I am going to happen upon a melody that
results in that all too rare tingling in the
spine - a feeling that makes it impossible to
turn down the corners of your mouth - and
put down the guitar until the chord changes
are firmly enough implanted in the mind and
fingers that it can not easily be forgotten.
The same is true with golf. Your best game is
invariably followed by disaster - because in
the effort to commit to exactly the set of
circumstances that led to the mind frame that
put you where you had to be to perform to
such an intoxicating high level - you create
pressure that cannot be ignored - or -
overcome. But three time NS Amatuer Champion
( I think he's won it three times ) Leon
Carter once told me that the thing he liked
about golf was, " You can be playing horribly,
having an awful time, and all it takes is
one pure six or five iron - and there you
are, loving life again." So very true..
Bridge is like that as well - you just never
know. Even on the bad nights usually there is
one hand that stands out - one play that
makes the rest of it worthwhile - and even
when there is no good hand - there are always
good people with which to chuckle and share
a joke or smile...
The surprise element - the fact that there is
never any ceiling on the level to which you
can perform - and the fact that all can be
enjoyed on a very personal level, but are
best savored in a social setting - these are
the things that all of my hobbies share.
Advertising Tip of the Day....
Do what you do well...or...often phrased -
Don't spread yourself too thin...I often
hear potential advertisers talking about how
small their ad budget is and that they can't
afford to spend enough to do something
significant because they have to be in the
paper, on TV, on radio and they like to do
their direct mail a couple of times a year.
My advice to them.... while they may enjoy
seeing themselves in all the different
media - and while may enjoy having friends
mention that they saw, or heard, their ad,
this should never be confused with their
advertising producing results.
In order to be successful with your
advertising - you have to rely on an
element of trust. Decide in very specific
terms what you want your advertising to do.
Do you want to increase revenues by 15 %
over the next 12 months ? Do you want
to change the prevailing image of your
business ? Maybe you want to increase your
traffic by 25 %. Whatever your goals, your
advertising should be tied directly to
them.
Budget based on where you want to go - not
what you have already done.
I guarantee you one thing. I have never
spoken to a business person about
advertising, who is all over the place, who
has any idea what their advertising is
doing for them ( or to them ). Those that
take the shotgun approach are typically
afraid to make a mistake - so try to cover
all of their bases - and invariably don't
do a credible job anywhere.
Pick a target - decide how you are going to
reach that target - and then talk to them over
and over and over again.
You are consciously or unconsciously hit with
thousands of advertising messages each day -
and the only way you are going to have any
impact on a potential consumer is to battle
your way into their hearts and minds with an
unending barrage of invitations to do business
with you. Say it right and say it often
enough with passion and consistency, and when
the consumer decides there is a need for your
product or service, it is you he or she will
call.

" Indeed , the highest pleasure of golf may be
that on the fairways and far from all the
pressures of commerce and rationality, we can
feel immortal for a few hours."
Colman McCarthy

Happy Trials
Don