Today, I’m writing my first interview with The Open Stance Academy’s Founder, John Wright. The questions revolve around issues that appear when adapting to an Open Stance. I opened by asking John one general question to open up our conversation. “What is the biggest problem with the Open Stance message?”

JW: Hi, Kendall. Yeah, good question. I like to think in terms of what is beneath the surface in most golfers. There is a psychological factor at work, which I believe is a basic fear of change. That’s the general problem. It is also the biggest illusion in golf.

K: What do you mean by illusion?

JW: It’s a mental trick we play on ourselves. Every time we go to the range or course we are adapting… changing, whether we know it or not. Less advanced players spend more time adapting than practicing. Constant, unintentional changes are occuring with these folks at all times, even though they rarely notice. It is like the frog-in-the-pot of water analogy.

K: Please explain that.

JW: Sure. A frog in a pot of water begins to boil on a stove. At first the frog is not uncomfortable. Soon, the water has heated up to the point of discomfort. But, the frog doesn’t interpret the discomfort as anything to worry about. He just keeps rationalizing his fate. By the time he has made the connection that he screwed himself by staying in a bad situation, he’s cooked.

K: Graphic.

JW: Ha. Yeah… a bit. But, it’s message is true. Too often, we fail to recognize the danger in things that we do involuntarily. We fail at intention, so we express no purpose – only comfortable discomfort. When you hear someone say, “I know my swing” or “That doesn’t work for me.”, it’s a pretty good bet they have comfortable discomfort. They are in the pot and the heat is on. It’s just too much effort for them to jump out and save themselves. I guess, maybe, apathy is the word for golfers.

K: Apathy? How can that be? They are playing golf? How can someone playing golf be apathetic about golf?

JW: It happens. Our problems can distract us from our purpose. Without purpose, life cannot have meaning. Making things meaningless makes it easier to believe in nothing. Golf is just a metaphor. Some people don’t want golf to mean enough to draw their passions away from other areas of life. Some wallow in self-pity and use their golf game as a celise. For others, golf is life. They pursue it to make it better every day.

K: And your followers… which are they?

JW: Well, obviously they are not interested in suffering, so naturally I think they are the pursuers. Well, let me modify that slightly – they are the pioneers. They are the people who know that a better way exists and are willing leave past swing problems and ideas behind to walk an Open Stance path.

K: It seems like you’re talking about a major commitment. Isn’t that the highest hurdle?

JW: What some call a major commitment, others call a goal. The only commitment is to the goal. It is the seed of intention. The process happens, whether we notice or not. The process is also incidental once the intention is planted. The Open Stance philosophy is the soil.

K: Is there any other obstacle golfers should beware of in making a change to an Open Stance?

JW: Nothing outside of themselves. Every person has the power to dictate change to the universe. We can dictate a passivity that allows change to occur without our consciousness. That’s an option. We can shut down our brains and just submit to fate. Unfortunately, it is not conducive to improvement, but rather, enslavement. Improvement dictates that we choose our path. As a result, we choose to be responsible for the consequences we experience on the way to our goal.

K: Kind of existential, isn’t it?

JW: We’ll see.

K: Thanks for talking this morning.

JW: Thank you, Kendall.

-The Open Stance Academy