Greetings Golfers,

Have you read the book “The Halo Effect” by Phil Rosenzweig? He debunks many of the popular business books that promise easy answers to success. The “halo” means that when a business is rocking that the halo blinds people to believing that everything they do is right … though, when they start failing and the halo dims, they are still doing the same things that were once praised.

I think he brings some much needed clarity and sanity, but he doesn’t offer any options to success.

Most business books talk about strategy and execution. Most sports teams talk about strategy and execution. Most generals talk about strategy and execution. But few businesses or teams or armies continue to succeed, because most can’t change their strategies. They rely too much on execution.

Do you remember when Childress had the Vikings running AP only in obvious situations? He’d gain one yard and then Chilly would blame the offensive line for poor execution. How about blaming himself for poor strategy?

The key to success is to execute a successful strategy. For guys like Chilly, strategy was by the book and the total emphasis was on execution. That only works if your talent is WAY better than the competition. Or, in business if your product is WAY better than the competition. Or in war, if your army is WAY more powerful than the enemy.

Years ago I played golf with a college player who hit the ball beautifully and shot 80. I scraped it around and shot 72. We talked about strategy after the round – he had no clue. He tried to hit the perfect shot every time – with no margin of error. Good shots were a yard off and turned into nightmares.

As good as Adrian Peterson was, he couldn’t run through a defense that was expecting him to get the ball.

Years ago, I beat a local tennis pro in a match – he then threw his racket at the clock and it exploded. He was an excellent player with beautiful strokes … I was a garbage player like Bobby Riggs. I never got into a rally with him – why would I try to beat him at his own game?

Your strategy has to be based on what you can do. Not based on some perfect model. The perfect model will work if everything is perfect. Talk about La-la land.

I believe in creative and realistic strategies that allow for a large margin of error. We need a book called “The Reality Effect”.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com