I think we can all agree watching The Masters last week was pretty exciting for many reasons! There were a lot of interesting things that happened, here’s an article outlining three key “mental takeaways”
Did anything else pop out at you??
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Good article… definitely a big challenge to move on with your round after a bad shot, bad break…
It’d be interesting to look back at tiger and see if it’s a skill he developed or always had… I remember him being hot headed in his early career, but that might have just been how he was portrayed…
I’m hoping to achieve more zen on the golf course… the shot has been made and counted… the only thing I have control over is getting the ball into the hole now. I’m not sure how I’ll do!
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Tiger definitely had bouts of temper flareups on the course (choice language, a few club slams), but I think what always separated him was that he put it behind him very quickly, and was completely focused on the next shot. I think Spieth is perhaps the only other player I’ve seen (when he was playing well) that had this level of focus, and ability to stay present.
I don’t think it’s something you’ll ever be perfect at, but being able to move past a “bad” shot quickly and not let it influence your mindset or decision making on the next shot is one of the tools any golfer needs to get better.
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I’m no expert in sports psychology but it seems like what the best behavioral pattern for a player on the course depends on the personality of the player. John McEnroe needed the trigger to get upset to play his best (he was probably actively seeking for it), Rahm being stoic bottling up his frustration is probably counter productive, Hatton going at himself can be a release valve he needs to perform better.
The key probably is to be able to let go and not let it affect your next shot and round which is where at least Rahm in the past hasn’t been that good at. The other big no-no that I see at our course are players that get frustrated enough that it impacts the game of others as well, don’t be that guy!
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Obviously Dustin Johnson had his ‘A’ game going but I couldn’t help but notice how calm an collected he looked. This isn’t the first time that I have seen Dustin like this. Think of the Tour Championship, or when he shot 30 under up here in Boston, he has this what seems to be a natural prowess about him that I admire so much. I am striving to be a better player and a better mental player. I struggle at times. When I see him making his round literally look like a walk in the park it makes me very envious. The pressure at these moments are beyond anything that I will ever be able to replicate unless maybe I make a USGA event some day. But I do have my own moments of pressure and know what it feels like. I read this site and quite often think about how I can be more like this. Congrats to him!
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I pay to play this game for enjoyment, relaxation & fun.
Take a lesson from Oddball. Especially around :50 mark.
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I definitely agree with this. Occasionally when things are going bad, I need to throw a minor fit to refocus myself. The key with being this type of player is to make sure your fit doesn’t affect your playing partners.
I’ve gotten in the habit of lecturing myself on the walk between shots to refocus when things are particularly bad. That seems to help and seems to avoid adversely affecting my playing partners. Usually one lecture is enough to refocus and grind as best I can to the finish.
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I seem to hit the ball better when I’m a bit angry at myself for just doing something stupid or making a horrible swing. I wish I could find a way to keep that sort of angry focus for the 1st shot. There is a fine line though as if I get too angry then the next shot may not be so good.
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On a personal note…my goal on my rounds at my home course is to shoot my age. This year that means 76. 4 over par. The course rating is 67.9…so that is 8 over the course rating. So I am a 9 handicap.
A number of times I will be 4 over after 4 holes and mentally give up… Occasionally I will play the last 5 in 2 or 3 over due strictly to lack of focus. Then after the 9th…I will say to myself " new nine" and proceed to shoot even on the back. If I only had said "new 16 or new 14 " maybe I would have shot that 76 rather than 79 or 80.
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“that was real bad”…Not speaking for Rory, but I use statements like that to “put an end” to a bad shot, as in, enough of THAT shot, on to the NEXT one which is all that matters. Like, it’s out of my system now…there may be better ways to move on but it seems to work right now.
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I wish you the best! Nice handicap too.
I know I’m not going to shoot my age at least for a while, as I’m almost 63, LOL
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Some guys play better with emotion, and others are better without emotion. Things can go really well or South for either type. Rahm is really good, but his melt-downs tend to cost him more than a shot, and possibly affect his strategy on the next shot.
I was impressed with DJ on the front 9 Sunday with his great par save on 2, and then bouncing back from his bogeys on 4-5. I was also extremely impressed with Sungjae Im with his world class up and downs on 11 in 3rd round and 15 in the final round. Not only were these difficult shots, but he put himself in the mental space to be able to execute by not reacting to the previous miss.
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It was an interesting Masters starting with the bluster from Bryson and ending with the calm breeze known as DJ. I hope that it’s not deemed by golf experts and historians as an “asterisk”-type tournament because it was played under different conditions in November. It was still the Masters, with all the major tournament pressure and jitters. The course may have played a little differently and easier, but I guarantee you that the players still felt the same pressure that they do every April.
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I thought the field did a great job of not (at least publicly) complaining about mud balls and asking for lift/clean/replace. I also believe the course played “easier” in many aspects…but also added some new difficulties with the fall conditions.
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You can say what you want about the mind of DJ but I was listening to an interview that he conducted a while ago about his demeanor on the course. It is incredibly simple but eye opening at the same time.
Parapharsed.
“I hit good shots all the time, I hit bad shots all the time, why would I let them dictate my attitude.”
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Great goal, awesome that you can still golf your ball at that level!
Everyone struggles with scoring goals and they can influence your mindset pretty significantly. I try to get rid of them completely. I play with a combination of “aww shucks” neutral, mentality paired with a pretty intense focus of playing match play against par each hole.
Not sure if that makes sense, but to my playing partners it looks like I am just out there knocking it around having fun, but each shot gets my full attention focus, prep for about 30 seconds.
I am typically always playing a small money game, so I always know where I am in the match but usually could not tell you exactly where I stand relative to par
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Yes! Personally, I disliked the commentary about “It’s a different Masters” - implying it was not a “real” Masters tournament???
It’s still THE Masters and you have to have won something pretty big to even get an invite, so there are no weak players in the field there.
And… How about that Bernhard Langer?! Very steady play all four days in a row … that qualifies as a pretty good mental game to me!!
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Fun story from Golf.com if you haven’t seen it…
“The Dustin Johnson mentality, summed up in a food story”
https://golf.com/news/dustin-johnson-mentality-food-story/
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Hahahaha. I am so using this the next time I play with my friends…hey man, what’s in that sandwich. The answer will be: “bro, I don’t even have a sandwich, what are you talking about, have you lost your mind?!”
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