Carve Your Statue
A certain king had a son. Although in his late teens, the son looked very small and bony. His skinny legs, sunken chest, thready muscles, and poor stamina indicated that he needed help. The royal doctor suggested nutritious food and tonics to vitalize the young prince, but nothing worked. He remained weak and under-developed. The king became very worried and wanted a solution.
One day, as good luck would have it, a wandering monk came to the king’s palace. He was given a warm welcome and accommodations in the royal guesthouse. The monk, endowed with a keen power of observation, soon learned of the king’s worry and offered to help the young prince. He asked the king to send for the royal sculptor.
When the sculptor arrived, the monk asked him to carve out a statue of a fully grown up, well-built man. He wanted a full-size statue with perfectly formed muscles and biceps expressed in it. The sculptor followed the instructions and made the statue ready in a short time. “Look here, young man,” the monk addressed the young prince, “you must keep this statue in your room and look at it as often as you can.” The monk then went away.
The young prince, having placed the statue in his room, would look at the statue every day. When he got up in the morning, he looked at the statue. As he walked in and out of the room, he looked at the statue. While sitting, studying, eating, resting, all through the day, his eyes fell on the statue. “Can I too have a well-formed and beautiful body as this?” the prince asked himself one day. He had developed a desire to be what he admired. Soon, he learned how to do physical exercises, how to lift weights, flex his muscles and follow other related rules of body building. Within a few months, the skinny, bony, young man was transformed into a strong, well-formed muscular figure. The statue had transformed a weakling into a strong man. This was accomplished all with just a statue.
Every field of life has a statue, or, better said, a “role model.” Athletes have their “statues,” their favorite idols. Scientists, teachers, accountants, even golf professionals‒everyone has his or her own role models.
The point is not whether you have a role model, but rather what role model you have. Does who you emulate make you a complete person or professional? Does who you look to have the full complement of all your needs? That is how one must select one’s role model. Once a role model is selected, one can’t help becoming formed in a similar manner.
On the evening of Sunday, March 20, 2022, at Inglewood Golf Club the PNWPGA will be celebrating the most recent class of Section award winners. These winners are each at the penultimate of their respective professional careers. More importantly, each them have the potential to serve as our own “statues.” We can look to them, emulate them, learn from them, and, with work and determination, succeed like them. I congratulate our 2021 winners for being recognized, for their work ethic, and for providing an aspirational vision to us all. I encourage you all to spend some time becoming more acquainted with these extraordinary professionals.
Equally motivating to us, particularly in the critical area of player development, our past player development grant recipients have done remarkable work. Every year, those professionals innovating and dedicating themselves to growing the game in so many impactful ways offer us all models to consider, adopt and expand in our own ways. I would like to encourage you all to consider making an application for the 2022 Player Development Grants. My sincere thanks, especially, to Ben Foreman at Yamaha for continuing their generous support for this important member and community benefit program. I encourage you all to visit our “player development best practices” wiki. I am confident you will find incredible resources and exceptional inspiration.
http://www.pnwpga.com/bestpractices/
Lastly, I want to personally salute all those PNW PGA 100-Hole Marathon participants who are about to, for the second year, play 100 holes of golf at their chosen facility for the charity of their choice. If you are interested in participating or simply want to learn more, please reach out to Molly Cooper, PGA at MCooper@pgahq.com.
As always, if I or any member of our exceptional, Section staff may be of any service, never hesitate to contact us.
Frank Talarico, CEO