This morning, while reading the NY Times account of the final round of the Masters tournament,  these quotes from Tiger Woods got me thinking.

Woods, meanwhile, was distressed and referred to his day as "terrible."I was hitting it awful on the range before the round and then I went out to the first tee and hit one of the worst tee shots I’ve ever hit," Woods said.
Woods’s first tee shot was so far left, it flew over the trees guarding the edge of the first hole and over the fairway of the adjacent ninth hole until it settled in the right rough of that hole.
"That kind of told me what was going on out there for me," Woods said. "But I tried to make something of it."

No matter how great he may be, no one expects Tiger to play brilliant golf every round or even each tournament. Yet he’s often cited – including in Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Outliers – as a leading example of the 10,000 Hour Rule — that it takes at least that many hours of "deliberate practice" to achieve excellence in something.

Deliberate practice goes beyond rote repetition to focus on improving your skill set, particularly your weaknesses.

 Tiger, who started practicing golf intensively (no joke) when he was only 3,  has probably played or practiced an average of 30 hrs a week for 30 years ( over 45,000 hours) — certainly enough hours to achieve a rare level of Mastery.

So how can someone that good still endure a "terrible" day? Even accounting for the fact that his "terrible" day would be a dream day for anyone else. What could cause his "feel" for his shots to desert him?

The question interests me because, while my "feel for the water" was elusive and inconsistent 30 years ago, these days I never have a "terrible" day of swimming. Tiger is one of the most brilliant athletes in the world, while I’m, well, "average." Even so, after what I estimate to have been 10,000 hours of practice between my teens and 50s, in recent years, I have to be honest in saying my swimming feels incredibly good every day, and I haven’t had a disappointing race in years. 

 I’ve played very little golf in my life, but I suppose the difference is that each golf swing is an individual, semi-unique event. Not only do you use different clubs and hit from different lies, needing to adjust your swing slightly to hit flatter, or with more loft, or more backspin, or a hook or a fade. But you must approach each stroke with a neuromuscular system that’s been doing something else during the several minutes since your last shot – at least when playing a round. On the practice tee, the interval of inactivity may be 30 seconds or so.

Swimming strokes, on the other hand are repeated and rhythmic, with few interruptions (turns every 15 to 40 strokes in the pool. even less frequent interruptions in open water).  So essentially you get to continually "tune" your stroke. At least if you’re in the habit of being really mindful about your stroke. Which is certainly a strong argument for mindfulness.

I think I’ll stick with swimming.