Working Harder Is Smarter

The Setup

Brian's third pitch shot landed with a dull thud in the bunker, sending sand cascading down its face like a small avalanche. He looked up at me with that familiar expression—part frustration, part plea for the magic answer that would fix everything.

"Coach Owen," he said, shaking his head, "I keep reading these golf tips that say 'work smarter, not harder,' but honestly, I have no idea what that even means. What's the smart way to do this?"

I walked over to where his ball had been, noting the divot that looked like he'd been mining for buried treasure.

The Myth of "Working Smarter"

"Brian, can I tell you something? That advice—'work smarter, not harder'—it's actually pretty useless at your stage."

His eyebrows shot up. "Really? But everyone says—"

"Everyone says it because it sounds good. But here's the thing: telling you to work smarter assumes you already know what smarter looks like. If you did, you'd already be doing it, right?"

Brian nodded slowly, his grip relaxing on his wedge.

"Look," I continued, picking up a ball and placing it on the practice area, "when people see a tour pro hit a delicate pitch shot, it looks effortless. Looks smart. But that's not because they took some shortcut to get there. It's because they've hit thousands—maybe tens of thousands—of these shots. They've failed in every way possible."

The Hard Work Foundation

I demonstrated a basic pitch setup. "Right now, you're trying to skip steps. You want the tour pro's instinct without doing the tour pro's work. But working smart isn't the opposite of working hard—it's what hard work eventually teaches you."

Brian set up to his ball again, this time more deliberately. "So I just need to practice more?"

"You need to practice with purpose, which is different. See, most golfers can't work smart because they don't yet know what smart looks like. You have to work hard first, building the pattern recognition that makes smart possible."

His next shot flew over the green into the rough beyond.

"Perfect," I said, surprising him. "That's data. Your brain just learned something about swing speed and ball contact. Do it again."

The Chess Master Analogy

"But I'm still hitting bad shots."

"Brian, think about it like this: you know how a chess master can glance at a board and instantly see the best move? Looks like genius, right? Like they're working smart while everyone else works hard?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"But that chess master earned that intuition through thousands of hours of working hard, studying positions, making mistakes, recognizing patterns. What looks like 'working smart' is actually the result of having worked very hard for a very long time."

Brian addressed another ball. This time his setup looked more balanced. "So the hard work comes first."

The Breakthrough Moment

"Always. And here's what most people don't understand: smarter approaches aren't universal shortcuts. They're contextual insights that you uncover through deep, sustained effort. The 'smart' way for you to hit this shot might be completely different from the smart way for someone else."

His next pitch landed on the green, rolling to within ten feet of the pin.

"Now that felt different," he said, genuine surprise in his voice.

"What felt different about it?"

"I don't know... I just trusted it more? Like I wasn't trying to control everything."

I smiled. "See? You just discovered something smart through hard work. You couldn't have learned that from a tip article or a YouTube video. You had to earn it through repetition, through failure, through paying attention to what your body was telling you."

The Real Formula

Brian set up to another ball, his movements more confident now. "So when people say 'work smarter, not harder'..."

"They mean well, but they've got it backwards. The real advice should be: work hard enough, long enough, with enough attention, and eventually you'll earn the right to work smart. But the smart part? That's not where you start. That's where you arrive."

He hit another solid shot, this one stopping even closer to the pin.

"The hard work is what teaches you what smart looks like in the first place," I continued. "And once you've put in that work, the smart approach becomes obvious—not because someone told you about it, but because you've lived it."

The Commitment

Brian looked down at his wedge, then back at me. "So I should stop looking for shortcuts."

"There are no shortcuts in golf, Brian. There are only longer and shorter roads to understanding. And understanding—real understanding—that only comes from doing the work."

He nodded and set up to another ball. "Then I guess I better get back to work."

"Hard work," I corrected with a grin.

"For now," he said, and took another swing.

Think About This

What skill are you trying to "work smarter" on without first putting in the foundational hard work? Perhaps the smartest thing you can do is embrace thinking like a beginner again and earn your insights through deliberate practice rather than seeking shortcuts.

Until next time, less swing thoughts, more great shots!

Owen.