Par 4, you’ve reached the green in two strokes - a fairway drive and a strong iron to land within twenty feet of the pin. What do you do next?
Do you try to perfectly calibrate the slope and putt the ball with the right amount of velocity to slowly drip into the hole, and risk falling short - leaving yourself a tap-in for par (good) OR do you recognize the necessary speed to let the ball roll into the hole with still some speed to go but risk pushing the ball further than the cup and then clawing back to par, or worse a bogey (great or bad)?
If you never take the ladder, you’ll never know if you gave it enough club - if you’re “Never Up, Never In.”
As a good friend of mine once said, “drive for show, putt for dough”. Demystified, the best golfers in the world are the best putters in the world because how you finish is everything.
“Never Up, Never In” is metaphor for life. When faced with a chance to put a nail in the coffin or play by the odds, what do you do?
If you never take the do-or-die shot, how can you ever win the game? A similar sports moment is when in basketball, the down-from-behind team has the ball with 30 seconds left on the clock and they’re down by 4. Do you go for a high probability close to the hoop shot and then let your defense get its shot to draw a turnover and then find another high probability shot to take it to overtime OR do you take the three pointer and bring the game to within 1, foul and then hope to nail the next three pointer again if they sink both free-throws to win the game?
These are the moments that sports are made of but these are the moments that life places in front of you as well. There are a few times in your career when you can pick a path that feels like a shot at Birdie (great). Can you recognize those moments? What do you do in those chances for the big score?
Most people have primed their brains to cower from pain. Most people want high probability wins and what most people are doing is a sharpe ratio - what’s the risk to return ratio and how do I achieve the outcome without overly extending my risk. Well, sometimes in business, and in life, you have a chance to go for the big shot and the outcome is binary - you’re either going to nail the goals and throw your hands up in triumph or you’re going to overshoot the hole and be playing from behind.
Without sharing too much - I’m sitting on the green in two strokes and trying to read the putt. While left to my own influences, I would likely take the mindset to play it safe and ensure par, but I’m re-reading the green and working with a team of smart and ambitious people who are ready to make a collective strong putt.
If you never give the shot the right amount of UMPH, then you’ll never know if you would have made it. If you’re never up, you’re never in.