Future Collegians World Tour
Dr. Bob Winters FCWT Mental Game Series © Copyright 2009 Note: This is the 4th article in a series that is aimed at getting you ready to play in the FCWT national tournament. In this article, Dr. Bob explains why sometimes we become fearful of playing with golfers with “established reputations and big names” and why the worry prevents you from playing to your potential. Dear Dr. Winters, When I am in a big tournament or when I play with “name” players, I become nervous and I don’t trust myself. I worry that I won’t play well or worry about what they will think of me as a player. I tend to lose my focus and mess up my shots and I end up with a high score. How can I get rid of the doubt and not embarrass myself? Jamie M., Little Rock, Arkansas Dr. Bob’s Answer: Well Jamie, the first thing I have to help you understand is that for you to play your best golf, your focus should be engaged with just three things: You, your ball and your target. Of these three, the most important item is yourself because it is the only item of the three that you can have total control 100% of the time. Your task as a performer is to let go of everything and everyone else around you and to get your eyes and thoughts totally into the target as you step into the ball and to maintain a single thought of your ball going to the target. I think it is important to point out that the golf ball and the target do not care how motivated or confident you are or even how worrisome you may be when you step into the address position. This is because the golf ball and target are inanimate objects and they do not have feelings, brains or emotions! The golf ball is simply a white orb that is just sitting there waiting to be struck by the instrument that you wield. It is not your enemy or your friend. It is just a piece of scientific technology that is awaiting your physical action. The target, whether it is a flag or a position that is visually marked in your memory, is in a fixed position and is simply waiting for the ball to be struck towards it. Neither the ball nor the target care who you are or how you are playing. Also, you have to consider this: Other players and performers don’t care about what you do or don’t do because they are too busy taking care of themselves and their games! In truth, the best golfers in the game learned at a very early age that no one really cares one way or another what you do or don’t do and that most of the time, they are so involved with what they are doing that they don’t have time to worry about anyone else! Simply, other golfers just don’t want to waste their energy focusing on you. Does that sound too rough? If it is, I am sorry to hurt your feelings with this statement, but nonetheless it will still remain true. Other players are too busy taking care of their own games and getting into their own little world to allow themselves to be distracted by what you are doing or scoring. You should adopt this philosophy as well! Think about this: If it is to be….it must start and end with me! I hope that this idea comes across to you because as a human being and a golfer, you have to become familiar with just letting everything and everyone else around you go and not worry about what they may be thinking or not thinking. But, I can assure you this…if you put too much value in what others think about you and your game….you are not focusing on what YOU should be doing and that is playing YOUR GOLF GAME! If you want to think about it in another way, let’s take Tiger Woods who is getting ready to play in this year’s United States Open. He is the returning champion and multiple major title winner. Do you think that Tiger really cares what other people think about him when he is playing? I can assure you that he does not. Tiger doesn’t care if he is playing with Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson or Peter Pan. The only person that Tiger can control is Tiger. In fact, Tiger lets go of what the other players are doing and gets himself into his own “bubble of performance” and that is evident by his intense focus and steely stare as he is sizing up the shot or putt. But, as a fellow competitor (let’s say a tour rookie) who is playing with Tiger, I can only assume that his focus is perhaps more on Tiger than it is on himself. If this is the case, this would be a major mental error that needs to be addressed. If you stop and think about it, in trying to impress Tiger with your good play, the best way to impress Tiger is to let go of what Tiger Woods may or may not be thinking about you and for you as his playing partner to get so totally involved with what you are doing, that playing with Tiger Woods becomes a non-issue. That is, it doesn’t matter who you are playing with or what the stakes are for, you are just focused on taking care of you, your ball and your target. I can only imagine that Tiger would take notice of your focus and that would probably be what would impress Tiger the most…..that you got into your own game and played with a fierce intensity and didn’t care what he was doing. Now, that would be something now…..wouldn’t it? However, your question is one that troubles many young tournament golfers because playing with other “big name” golfers creates a sense of inadequacy or a feeling of not being able to measure up to others’ standards or previous achievements. Also, just playing in large events creates a feeling of trepidation for some golfers because they want to play so well, that they try so hard and in turn, create an internal pressure and end up sabotaging their talent. As human beings, the thought of having other people watch us and evaluate our performance creates a sense of evaluation that leads to feelings of nausea. We just don’t want to be viewed as inept and incompetent! Many of us worry that we will be judged as fools and poor golfers! For many young golfers, the thought of swinging a golf club in front of “name” or established golfers creates a situation that is utterly overwhelming.
So, what are you supposed to do with these feelings of dread and doubt? Here are three (3) things that you can do to help you play to your true potential. 1. When you arrive at the golf course, recognize that you are there because you are a part of the competitive field. You have to take responsibility for your attitude and remind yourself that you belong there and that you are a deserving competitor. I like what Hall of Fame golfer Lee Trevino said about playing in tournaments. Lee stated: “Hey, someone’s going to win this thing….why not me?!?” I like that philosophy because it sets forth the premise that anyone can win who is a part of the playing field. So, if you are in…..you can win! Adopt a philosophy that reminds yourself that you are a deserving and worthy performer/competitor and let your clubs do the talking for you! 2. Remember that a name or reputation never beat anyone……unless, you allowed that name and reputation to intimidate you and make you feel like a loser. You have to ask yourself the question: Is it the other players who make me feel this way? Or, am I making myself feel this way? For most of us, we give away our power to the other guys even before we hit our first shot! The funny thing about big names and reputations is this: Many times if we didn’t know the other player was a “big-name” player or that they had a top ranking….we would just go ahead and play the way we normally play and we would probably end up doing well if not having a lower score than the established star! The reason for this is that we place more energy into our own game rather than distracting ourselves into worrying about what the other guy or girl is doing. Let go of the names and the big players. You are here to play your game. Honor your talent! 3. Get involved with what you can control. Get into YOU, YOUR BALL, and YOUR TARGET! Let everything and everyone else go. Don’t allow yourself the luxury of worrying about others. Take care of # 1 which is YOU! This is not a selfish mindset, but one that allows you to give yourself the best chance of getting what YOU want! When you stop looking around and “star-gazing” and start to get into your routine and your target…….is the day you start to become one of those “name” players! (Now think about that for awhile and see if that doesn’t make sense). May you always play for yourself!
About Dr. Bob Winters Dr. Bob Winters is an internationally renowned Sport Psychologist and is located in Orlando, Florida at the David Leadbetter World Teaching Headquarters in Champions Gate, Florida. He is the author of several books and is considered a leading authority on sport psychology and confidence. He is the author of several books and he has players on every major tour around the globe. If you would like to consult with Dr. Winters or learn more about Dr. Bob, please visit his website at: www.drbobwinters.com or email him at drbob@drbobwinters.com. Or call him at his office of 407-264-4222.
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“Letting Go of Others”