#1- Welcome to "The Waggle"
A weekly journal focusing on the curiosities and traditions of the golf world.
“No one is interested in something you didn’t do…” - The Tragically Hip
Welcome to The Waggle, a weekly attempt to amuse myself with the curiosities and traditions of golf. I have been talking about hitting “publish” so many times I am not ashamed to admit that I now feel some urgency to write: I have wasted time. It's fun to do the easy part- the places, the friends, the travel, the playing. But I have a quiet, nagging voice in my head that compels me to think about the written word, and it simply won’t shut up. So now it’s time to do the harder part; what Stephen Pressfield calls “putting your ass where your heart wants to be,” and so I when I am done sitting at this desk, I will hit that publish button and send it out into a busy universe. I hope you dig it.
Ben Hogan spends four pages discussing the idea of the ‘waggle’ in his famous book ‘Five Lessons.’ Hogan calls the waggle “a bridge to the start of the backswing….and an extremely important part of shotmaking.” We all recognize this tension and seek to release it in our own games. Hogan goes further, though, and offers in his simple but profound way that when “really concentrating”, the waggle would allow him to play the shot in his mind beforehand, allowing him to make a swing that “could not fail….to come off exactly as I intended. On those occasions, I had the definite sensation that I had really hit the shot before I even started the club back.”
When I first read these words, they rattled around in my brain for a few weeks and was the likely culprit in some high scores—mind-melting ideas. It argues that in small movements, we might answer larger questions and uncover connections already present in the universe. Sitting there. Ready to be found. According to Hogan, the waggle then is both a simple action and yet also a portal, if you believe it, to the future where your better self is already playing. I just got dizzy thinking about it.
So you’re seeing this now before you, for better or worse. I am looking for a different rhythm in my life of late, and balance points remain critical. I hope that this contribution, in its small way, helps me achieve that. I would be honored if you read and liked what you find here. You might even want to send it to a friend. Whatever your reaction, I’ll be here, clattering away, trying to find connections in this odd little corner of the golf world with my travels in the world at large. It’s a beautiful old game and has been very kind to me.
I am not sure this project will take me. But, like Hogan also said, the answer has to be dug out of the dirt. I think there will be reward in the effort.
I want to see where this takes us. I am along for the ride.