BOGEYBREAKERS ^TM

The first two days of the Sony Open in Hawaii must have been very exciting for
Ty Tryon, Geoff Ogilvy, and Jay Don Blake. Tryon and Don Blake each had 11 birdies
in their first two rounds and Tryon had an eagle to go with his birdies. Ogilvy
only had 9 birdies but he had 2 eagles to go with them.

Things started a bit slower for Stuart Appleby, Dan Forsman, and Rory Sabbatin
in their first two rounds. Appleby had only 6 birdies, Forsman 7, and Sabbitani
5, and none of them had an eagle.

But at the end of the tournament that Thursday/Friday birdie/eagle excitement
was all Tryon, Ogilvy, and Don Blake had to show for their week. None of them
took home a dollar because none of them made the cut.

While Appleby, Forsman, and Sabbitani may have had a lot less excitement in
their first two rounds, they had a lot more to show for their week’s effort.
Appleby took home $162,000, Forsman $94,500, and Sabbatani $31,275.

While birdies and eagles can be a very exciting addition to a round of golf
their real value is always judged, as many things in life, by the return they
produce for the round. You won’t be impressed by a stock broker whose investments
increased by 3,000% in one day, as a result of some shrewd decision making by
him, if at the end of the year he was fired for having lost his company millions.
Likewise you would not be impressed by the real estate investor who puts $100,000
into remodeling the kitchen of a one-bedroom bungalow that she purchased for
$150,000 if the two and three bedroom bungalows on the same street are selling
for $175,000 to $200,000.

While the stock broker might have had a brilliant day and the real estate
investor might have created a beautiful room, neither of them are going to get
the praise they desire if in the end there was no payoff from their efforts.
The broker’s clients want to know how he has performed over the long term and
the real estate investor’s clients want to know how the building investments
have increased the value of the entire house.

Golf is much the same way, whether you are a professional or a weekend golfer.
While the weekend golfer might get excited about an eagle regardless of the
rest of the days scores they generally spend too much time getting excited about
the prospective birdies and pars, when their excitement should come from not
getting double bogeys and triple bogeys.

Tryon, Ogilvy, and Don Blake ended up being losers at the Sony Open simply
because the excitement of birdies and eagles can never compete with the tremendous
dulling effect of excessive bogeys and double bogeys. The key to impressing
your friends on your weekend round is the same as the key to winning on the
pro tour. Try to have a brilliant round by pursuing a lot of good holes of golf,
rather than investing everything in pursuit of a few brilliant holes and producing
a dull round.

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