August 15
Consistency
I am thankful for consistency. If I only had it! I think a better thing to say is I am thankful for the infrequent times of consistency. I got to thinking about consistency because of my golf game. As you probably know from reading these blogs, my golf game is not good. It is nowhere near what it used to be. But that is probably because I don't put the time and effort into it that I did in high school. Back then, golf was everything (at least until I discovered girls). But now it is a pastime, albeit a cherished one, that I may devote a day or so a month to, unlike the daily practice and play of the past.
In thinking about my golf game I came to the conclusion that it's not that I don't hit the ball well, because I do. At times. It's just that those times are too few and far between. When I hit it well, I come close to hitting as well as I used to. My irons are maybe a club less in distance than they used to be but my drives are probably farther than they used to be. My short game and putting are as good as they ever were. So it all boils down to a matter of consistency. And I have none, unless you consider being consistently inconsistant to be a consistency of a sort. My scores on my last round ranged from 4 to 10. There were so many penalty strokes that I lost count: out of bounds, in the hazard, lost balls in the trees, and unplayable lies. Not to mention the hit my wallet takes from losing a lotal of 7 golf balls. I kept plodding along, trying to keep from falling apart on the inside, and was rewarded with one of the best shots I've hit in many a year on the final hole. Of course it didn't count because it was just a practice shot. Just my luck!
I did a Photo of the Day Blog about accuracy earlier. Statistically, you could consider accuracy to be how close you are to the target, or the target value minus the mean of your values. You want that number to be as low as possible. If you are at your target value, this number is zero. Consistency, is how often you can repeat the same way. It could be called standard deviation, or how scattered you results are. Of course, you could be very consistent but way off target. Let's call that consistently bad. It's like having a low standard deviation but bad accuracy. My golf game is a prime example, consistently bad! Or you could be consistently good. In this case the standard deviation would be low and the accuracy would be good. This is what we are all striving for. It is difficult to achieve but it stands as a goal for us to go after. And isn't that what life is all about? Striving to achieve the difficult. I bet you didn't know you were going to get a statistics lecture today (that is if I haven't lost your attention by now)?
Today's photo was taken at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Grand National Links course in Opelika, Alabama, four years ago. This is the tenth hole, a par 4. I cheated a bit on the photo by cutting and pasting multiple copies of my golf ball on the green to demonstrate consistency. In truth, if I hit four golf balls, I would be lucky to get one on the green! So props to Photoshop! For your information, my real ball is the one on the lower left. One of my rare chances at a birdie these days. I don't remember if I made it or not, which probably means I didn't. Let's just say I did, ha ha!
consistency
there are those who are consistently good
they are the best of the best
they stand head and shoulders
above all of the rest
there are those who are consistently bad
they are the worst of the worst
for their lot is to plod along
and never come close to first
then there are those consistently inconsistent
what you get again and again
is who knows what and anybody’s guess
so say a prayer and an amen.
© rt tulley
consistency 2
she looked at him and frowned
said “i can’t ever trust you
to the all of the things
that you are supposed to do”
he replied with a grin
“at least you can say ‘bout me
that i am very reliable
in my own consistency!”
© rt tulley