Anyone who knows anything about golf knows that the Great Ben Hogan was an absolute nut for practice. His practice sessions are legendary. He insisted the answer to being a great golfer was out on the practice range and that all one had to do was go out there and "dig it out of the dirt". I was thinking about Hogan and remembered a story that I had heard. It went some thing like this;

When Gary Player was very young he got to play a practice round with Hogan whom he idolized. Hogan was not known to be chatty on the course and didn't talk to Player much that afternoon, but after the round Hogan approached Player in the locker room and said:

"Gary, you are going to be a fine golfer. Tell me, do you practice a lot?"

Player Responded: "Yes, sir, all the time"

Hogan replied, "Double it."

Thats pretty good advice whether your talking golf, magic or anything else for that matter.

Vandy

That is a great story. I know my magic would improve if I could double my practice time.

Regan

The double-time reminds me of a California magician I met in Arkansas in the early 80s. He was John Zardin. Unfortunately, John was killed in an auto accident in 1996 in Oklahoma. But in the 80s we worked some fairs, trade shows, hotels, country clubs, etc. together. John was best at close-up and nightclub magic. However, we were hungry and had kids to feed, so we did it all.

John hated practicing. We had something go wrong one time (like that has never happened!), and I got on his case about it. When you share the stage with another act, timing is critical. So John knew right where to get my attention. The next afternoon at the hotel we were setting up for the night show, and he made the announcement that really got my awareness.

"Bob, I have thought about what you had to say and it makes sense. So I'm proud to say I spent the rest of the night and all morning really practicing my act. Now I have my twenty-minute set down to seven minutes!"

Bob
Magic By Sander

P.S. - Know why you are practicing!