Gary Player's secret

Gary Player was probably one of South Africa's greatest golfers. He beat the likes of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in his time. One of his favourite sayings was, 'the harder you practice the luckier you get!'
I once read about him, somewhere, that he hit 1000 golf balls per day! And he jogged regularly and did push ups. But besides his physical discipline he had the habit of keeping his cupboard tidy. He learned that from his father who died when he was only a young boy. His father never saw him play golf. His father never saw how much he achieved. Sometimes he had nightmares about his father - watching him play golf! But his father taught him how to keep his cupboard neat.
His shoes were in the right place, his socks would be folded up and placed in the one corner and his belts in the other corner. His shirts would be folded up and packed on top of each other and his ties would hang in order. The trousers and jackets would all be hanging in a certain order.
Gary firmly believes that the little disciplines of ordinary life is what helped him when he had to sink the championship winning put on a golf course. When the mind is used to orderliness in normal circumstances it will be disciplined under severe pressure as well.
My father was like that - he was a lieutenant in the Air Force of South Africa during WWII and flew the Tiger Moth planes. His dream was to fly the Spitfire but he never went to England. The Air Force kept him at the home front and put him in charge of the Arsenal because he did such a good job of putting things in their place.

So you can imagine what his cupboard looked like: like a men's department store! It was never out of place. Even on the day he died, I opened his cupboard and it was extremely neat and orderly!

There is an obscure verse in the New Testament describing Jesus' tomb. The disciples went to the tomb and found it empty. But they found the grave clothes and the head cloths folded neatly at the head where Jesus lay. That is a sign of a slave telling his Master that his work is done and that he is waiting for His reward.

Jesus had completed his earthly mission to perfection. He folded up his graveclothes neatly and stacked it where he laid his head to show to His Heavenly Father that his work was done: it is finished!

In the army we only got weekend passes if our cupboards passed inspection.

I also know that artists need a bit of chaos around them to be creative! The earth was created out of chaos, remember? Even God requires some chaos to prove His creativity!

But there is a lesson to learn here, somewhere,that a disciplined mind is a certain asset under pressure. To think under pressure is not just a gift, but a practiced behaviour. What you cannot do under normal circumstances you cannot hope to do under pressure.

So, thanks, Mr. Player, for that bit of advice, we salute you.