"When you play a sport or any game, you're aiming at some goal that in itself is trivial," he explains. "In golf, you're trying to make a ball go into a hole. What could be more trivial than that?"Hey, Dalton... are you listening?
Arbitrary in itself, the goal doesn't mean anything without the journey taken to get there; imagine the absurdity of a mountain climber deciding to simply fly a helicopter to the top of a peak. If players don't invest that trivial goal with emotional and symbolic weight, says Hurka, they won't perform.
"If you just want to play well, you won't play well," he says. "You've got to care about winning."
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