Your Survival Guy has a huge collection of vinyl records that we play through our McIntosh MA 6100 Pream-Amplifier and monster Klipsch speakers. It’s a richer sound than my CDs and Sonos setup, which is not to knock them because of their convenience; it’s just nice to have options to get me back to that original sound of vinyl. Which is why, as a golfer, I was intrigued by this article in the WSJ on getting rid of the new tech gadgets and getting back to the original game. Laz Versalles writes:
For the past 20 years, I’ve been an early adopter of the latest in golf-improvement gadgets—new equipment, shot-tracking apps, high-tech training tools—all in an effort to optimize my game. And here’s what I’ve learned: Optimized doesn’t necessarily mean optimal.
There’s no question that technology has made golf more enjoyable and less frustrating for the masses. New players are coming into golf thanks to scientifically engineered clubs that are more forgiving. Hitting the sweet spot has never mattered less, because the entire club is one great big sweet spot.
But whatever has been gained in making the game easier has to be measured against what is lost. Much of the game’s beauty lies in its uncertainty and inability to be mastered. The technology that surrounds the game today leaves a lot of that challenge and mystery by the wayside.
I was in a foursome last fall in Minneapolis with a man who didn’t have hyper-engineered clubs or gadgets; he didn’t even wear a glove. While the rest of us showed off our latest gadgetry, he strode the fairways content, unconcerned with the kick points of his driver shaft or the spin ratio of his golf ball. I asked him about his approach to golf and he said something I haven’t stopped thinking about ever since: “I like to feel the game.”
Something changed in me that day. I realized that in my quest to optimize my game, I had drifted farther from the game I love playing—the game that can never be mastered, the game we play outside on imperfect terrain and just as much in our thoughts and in our dreams. I was hitting the ball farther than I ever had, despite being in my mid-50s and in horrible shape, but there was a hollowness to it all. I wanted to feel golf again.
The vinyl connection
This isn’t unlike why some people are drawn to vinyl records. I recently asked the owner of a vinyl-record store why vinyl remains popular.
“People want to feel something,” he said. “People want something tactile in their hands. There’s a richness and feel to the music on vinyl.”
It struck me that my friend in Minneapolis was playing golf on vinyl while my game was an auto-tuned MP3. If I was going to start to play the kind of golf I wanted to be playing, I’d need to get back in touch with the game.
There are times when everyone needs to get back in touch with the basics. To feel what they’re doing. Simplicity is often the key to that feeling. Keep it simple (KISS: keep it simple, stupid) is a powerful strategy for golf, music, and investing. Dick Young often mentioned the KISS strategy in Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report.
Action Line: Are you keeping it simple? When you want to talk about your portfolio strategy, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
