The Five Foundational Tools™ and your Golf Bag

Over the past 14 years I have played 1,103 full rounds.

Yes, I am obsessed, and people tell me I’m pretty good, and I work at it. I practice daily, take lessons, instructions, read, workout. I do this to make each round amazing for myself and the folks I am spending the day with.  I even give free and paid lessons. No, I don’t play in tournaments, I play because I LOVE IT!

The other day, I started thinking of the 5 Foundational Tools and the clubs in my golf bag.

Background for context:

At the age of 5 my father got me into golf, giving me my first walking bag and signing me up for the “Club’s” summer golf program. (The same country club and program US Open Champion Webb Simpson went through as a kid.)

Johnny Card was the club pro and he insisted that a bag only include only 5 Clubs.

• Driver
• 3 Iron
• 7 Iron
• Wedge
• Putter

Over the following 5 years, Mr. Card demanded that we learn to play the game using only those 5 clubs.  In the end, we could make every shot imaginable and could manage the course completely with these five clubs. Today, I am comfortable that if I had too, I could be very competitive with only these 5 Clubs to deliver Real, Simple, Results.  Mr. Card and his staff were wonderful teachers.

Sidebar: Have you ever been hit in the head with a 7 Iron?

Have you ever been hit in the head with a 7 Iron so hard that you had to go to the hospital to get stitched up?  Well that happened to me when I was 6. Skipper Day and I were in his backyard messing around. He was swinging a 7 Iron, I was swinging a stick, and we were knocking pinecones around. Somehow, my skull ended up inside Skipper’s full follow-through… this led me to bleeding all over Mr. Day’s brand new Buick’s back seat and a night in the hospital. So, if you ever wonder why “Walt is a little off.” That might be one reason of many.

Reveal. The 1,103 “rounds” I’m talking about playing over the past 14 are not golf rounds, they are EOS® Session Days. The days we are blessed to enjoy with EOS® client teams going through The Journey of the Proven Process. Helping them to master the use of the 5 Foundational Tools as an entire set to play the entire round.  Ultimately we help teams understand how to use the rest of the bag, the EOS® Toolbox, to play the course and the sticky shots.  EOS® is a complete system with a simple set of tools you use to master and play the game to its fullest.

As EOS® Implementors when we talk about Graduation, we are saying that we have trained an organization to Play the Game, play the course with the clubs in the EOS Bag.  You are ready to graduate when you can assess the situation and choose the right club and know how you will use it for the best result that set up not only your next shot but all those that follow.

Lesson: Think about the seemingly infinite number of ways to stand over, grip and use your Wedge… just to make one unique shot?

Think how much easier it is to take that Wedge shot when your Driver, Three Iron and 7 have laid you up on that safe little flat piece of ground just below the green, aligned with the pin, which is in the back of the green.

Your 5 Clubs are your 5 Foundational Tools, you can play the game really well with just those five. Tip: Focus and constantly master the use of these 5, pay attention and see how they work together to make you and your team better – your game and the rest of your bag will come alive.

Happy to talk.

Love,

Walt

(p.s. I am also happy to slip in a round of golf with clients.)