That is music to my ears, that’s exactly why I started this site. Wonderful to hear feedback like that!
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This is excellent @jon. I relate to the “player” type. I get mentally bogged down during competitions and often feel that I am dredging my brain to find a way out the slump but its gone blank. I felt physically shaky on Saturday and put it down to nerves or blood sugar imbalance! I am definitely going to try out the internal dialogue recommendations. That and observing the target the way a hawk looks at its prey. Plus I will continue @CoryO mindfulness tips.
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Great article @jon. For me meditation, learning how to breathe and some of the techniques in Be a Player have been key for me on the course.
On a side note George’s comments starting at 17:30 on value/ego are worth digesting.
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thanks, but to be clear I didn’t write it - it’s from a new contributor to the site, Kent Osbourne (a performance coach)
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Very solid addition to the site! Definitely great life and golf advice… I’m pretty good at ignoring my emotions in daily life, but struggle with it on the golf course… going to work on it!
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Missed that. Great job Kent.
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This was REALLY GOOD info!!
@jon - thx for including other contributors that have provided some interesting perspectives 
I’m really interested in the “mental game” - eg. learning what it is, and how to apply it to my own game out on the course. It’s good to know that - I guess just alike to your technical skills - you don’t have to be “perfect” (whatever that is…!) at it to have a good round of golf.
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Ha, love it!!
What a good … and useful … analogy!
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No - IMHO many of them are actually doing a disservice to the majority of us average recreational golfers by constantly over-emphasizing DISTANCE DISTANCE DISTANCE BLAST YOUR DRIVER 300 GO FOR DISTANCE … and rarely, if ever, even mentioning any of the true game improvement concepts that are being presented and discussed in these forums - eg. the iron play article - so thanks again, Jon, for pulling this together and for doing what you do
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To be fair, if you hit it 300+ yards, you’ll have a shorter iron in your hand!
I do think recreational golfers should work to maximize their distance, but obviously other parts are important too!
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So very true -you nailed it.
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Yeah - to punch out of the trees.
That’s one problem I’ve observed often … guys who can smash the ball, sure, but it invariably ends up in trouble…
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I think most recreational golfers should work to improve their full swing. Better swings will mean more accuracy, more consistency, AND more distance. And as you say, more distance off the tee means shorter irons to the green, but better swing mechanics will also mean that more of those short irons will be from the fairway.
I’d take issue with “invariably”. I know a bunch of guys who can really move it, and most of them are straighter than I am too. I do know a few wild ones, but most guys with good mechanics are both long and straight.
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100% agree… the only people I know who are both long and wild are athletic and don’t play much golf…
Long and wild is a miserable way to play lots of golf… and I speak from experience. You quickly learn to rein it in, either by slowing down or improving accuracy (and usually a combination of the two).
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Yes!
(I was trying to say something like that, thx.)
I’ll change that to “often”.
Yes.
I’ll guess that you guys play on better courses with better golfers than I do. My observations from where I play is that “often” the longest hitters get into trouble off the tee…
Honestly, I mostly ply with older guys at a club… they both play a lot of golf and don’t have high swing speeds.
I have played with two former professional athletes (a pitcher and a running back) who swing pretty hard… but they are former professional athletes. Honestly, the football player needs to improve his turn and could generate a ton more swing speed.
I’ve said this before, but my dad is 6’10” and once held the world record for the worlds fastest serve… I’ve been out driving him since age 15 because while he’s more athletic, he never built a proper swing.
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Sweet spot, hitting the ball with leverage > speed
Worlds fastest serve though!! Pretty cool
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Yeah, it’s one of those fun things I get to tell people… He played tennis at Tulane, which had clay courts… Apparently his record at home was abysmal and he was undefeated on the road… Serve and volley just doesn’t work as well on clay! (nor does being 6’10")
In a similar vein, my sister is 6’ and played college squash after quitting the tennis team… Apparently women’s squash is much more of a finesse game and she was like a bull in a china shop just hitting the ball as hard as she could… They’d put her against the best players on the other teams because some of them couldn’t adjust to her play style, so they’d have a shot of their worst player getting a win, and allowing all the other players to have easier opponents… Good times!
My family is just good at hitting things hard, I guess!
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Anyway… That was definitely a really interesting article; and fun to learn about Player vs Performer types.
(…now the big question is: which one am I 
)
@jon - I hope you can get Kent to contribute more articles like this!
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glad you enjoyed it! Kent is working on several articles as we speak 
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