Blog

People of all ages and abilities are learning the game of golf though an approach focused almost entirely on the golf swing. Despite an uptick in golf lessons, players still struggle to go from the range to the golf course. The two are obviously not the same. In one space, you’re training your swing--caring mostly about getting your club and body in the right positions. In the other, you’re playing golf and focused on more than just the golf swing. You’re managing your mind and emotions under time constraints, picking the right targets, seeing shots, and connecting with an athletic response called the golf swing.

Seventeen months ago, Brendon Todd found his way back after Monday qualifying for the RSM Classic with a 61 and made his first cut in over a year. He aimed to keep improving his game, enter as many PGA TOUR events as he could, and qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. “That was as far as my mind could dream at the time,” says Todd.

“It began the moment I let go of the last pitch I ever truly trusted, the one that went to the backstop and changed my life, and in the few seconds that followed.” --Rick Ankiel, Major League baseball player 1999-2000, 2007-2013. Are you an accomplished athlete suddenly unable to keep the ball in play, find the bottom of the cup from 3 feet, hit the mitt, or kick the ball between the goal posts? Are you suddenly unable to get your body to perform a movement or a sequence it has repeated effortlessly in the past? Are you overwhelmed with difficult thoughts and feelings?

When it came to the mental game, Tiger had two coaches early in his life—his dad Earl and Dr. Jay Brunza. As if taking a page from Brad Stulberg’s Peak Performance playbook, Earl was intent on growing Tiger’s mental capacity to remain calm under pressure by introducing the perfect combination of stress plus rest . Earl would introduce things into Tiger’s life to try to make him feel insecure and Brunza, a mental coach who specialized in helping children suffering from cancer and other life-threatening illnesses and diseases, would help Tiger to feel calm in the midst of the discomfort.

What can be accomplished in a short walk? A lot...if you have solid mental training. I always tell my students the key to creating the wins that people know about is creating the wins that only you know about. Look for the wins within the win. You ask, What does that mean? In which space did Tiger create his epic win in the 1997 Masters? Spoiler alert: “The mental training for golf that my dad had put me through proved itself during that short walk from the ninth green to the tenth in the first round.”