The Yin and Yang of Golf
by James Ragonnet • Springfield, MA

You’re looking at a tricky, forty-two-foot putt on the last hole. Your ball rests in the shady hollow of an undulating green whose surface resembles the curved back of a dragon.

Your putt has two distinct parts. The first part—moving from shadow to sunlight— is uphill and slow and breaks to the left. The second part is downhill and fast and breaks to the right. To get the ball uphill, you’ll have to rap it. However, if you rap it too hard, the ball will roll way past the cup. You’re not worried about making this tortuous putt. You’re worried about five-putting!

You need an “aggressively cautious” putting stroke (if there is such a thing). This putt must carefully balance up and down, left and right, fast and slow, aggressive and cautious, hard and soft, confident and timid. This putt, like all of golf, is essentially an adventure in balancing opposites. The Chinese use the terms yin and yang to express the idea of balancing and unifying opposites. Yin and yang literally mean the “shady side” and the “sunny side” of a hill, respectively. For Taoists and Confucians, these terms refer to the harmonious interplay of opposite forces or categories. Yin — the female force — is associated with the moon, the poetic, the dark, the moist, the yielding, the weak. Yang — the male force — is associated with the sun, the logical, the light, the dry, the aggressive, the strong. These forces don’t oppose or negate each other. Rather, they complement and define each other.

What harmoniously balances and unites these natural forces, according to Taoists, is passive energy (wu wei) flowing through invisible earthly (yin) and heavenly (yang) channels called “dragon veins.” This passive energy is everywhere even though you can’t see, hear, or touch it. You’ve probably seen the yin-yang symbol. It consists of a circle divided by an S-curve, which implies flowing and dynamic change. On the white side is a black dot; on the black side, a white dot. This symbol depicts how all things in the universe work. The circle represents the unified and natural cycle of the universe. The black side (yin) and white side (yang) flow into each other as seamlessly and fluidly as night turns into day. The white and black dots suggest that each force contains its opposite. Each yin-yang symbol is unique. Some have two unequal or lopsided halves. They were deliberately made that way. The uneven division denotes the ebb and flow of nature. For example, winter days have more darkness (yin), and summer days have more sunlight (yang). Spring days have more moisture (yin), and autumn days have more dryness (yang). The yin-yang circle depicts nature’s dynamic state.

Taking a yin-yang perspective will allow you to see golf with new eyes. Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Learn to start looking at familiar things with fresh eyes. When you view golf or anything else with fresh eyes, you often find some unexpected truths.

A yin-yang perspective may help you understand your emotional state. Golf as a yin-yang experience is both static and dynamic, beautiful and dreadful, messy and tidy, chaotic and orderly, comforting and heartbreaking, serene and troubling, logical and crazy all at the same time! If golf were otherwise, you probably wouldn’t play.

Taking a yin-yang swing-perspective prompted a quantum leap in my game. Having studied and played golf for decades, I discovered how a golfer can swing effortlessly and hit the ball far. Focusing on balancing and unifying opposites is the best way to build a low-maintenance swing. To build a repeatable and effective swing, you need to balance and unify opposing and complementary forces: left/right, upper/lower, passive/active, tension/relaxation, body/mind, linear/ rotational, and so on. The Buddha claimed that his job was only “to point the way.” He advised his followers to work out their own salvation with their own diligence. I wish to do the same. Once I “point the way,” you’ll need to work out your own golf salvation by diligently reviewing the other key parts of your swing, such as the grip, stance, posture, weight shift, swing plane, and wrist action.

A major power principle of the golf swing is that of torsion — twisting one part of your body and resisting with another part along a fixed axis. By doing that, you generate power. Torsion is easy to illustrate. Imagine you’re swinging an ax or a baseball bat. Would you swing the ax or bat by coiling your entire body at one time and at one speed? I doubt it! To generate power, you need torsion. So too with the golf club. You need to twist some body parts and resist with others. Simply put, the secret to gaining a powerful swing is through torsion — balancing sequentially the yin (resistance) and yang (twisting) forces of your body.

Yin-yang forces, according to the Taoists, remain in the body until death. At death, the yang goes back to heaven and the yin goes back to earth. At that point, yin and yang are ready for recycling. Perhaps the same thing happens to expired golfers. One part goes back to earth and the other part goes to heaven. As you stand over the ball — your feet on the ground and your head skyward — ponder the yin-yang forces moving in your dragon veins.

Excerpted with permission from Golf’s Three Noble Truths, © 2007, New World Library. www.golfsthreenobletruths.com.

James Ragonnet, a long time student of Eastern precepts and practices, is an English professor at Springfield College who has researched, taught and coached golf. He also maintains a teaching and writing consulting firm.