Archives For Tournament Golf
Today’s post is part one of a two part series on The Pressure to Succeed. Dr. Tony Piparo is a Sport Psychologist and former golf professional and has worked with golfers of all ages and ability levels develop the skills necessary to play their best golf more often. For more tips on how to improve your golf performance visit The Peak at www.peakperformanceblog.com
The 2010 Ryder’s Cup is now just a fading memory for most golfers. Unfortunately, it’s probably still a nightmare for Hunter Mahan. If you remember, he asked coach Corey Pavin to give him the last tee time in the singles matches on that final Monday with the US trailing the Europeans 9 ½ to 6 ½. The US made a great comeback with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson playing stellar golf and winning their matches. It finally came down to the last two matches pitting Ricky Fowler against Italian Eduardo Molinari and Hunter against Irishman Graeme McDowell. Ricky, down four holes with four to go, played flawlessly, birdiing the last four holes to tie the match and give the US a ½ point. Now Mahan only needed to halve McDowell to secure the victory for the US. Unfortunately, Mahan needed to win the last two holes to accomplish the comeback miracle. But it wasn’t to be. Mahan hit his tee shot just short of the 3-par 17th green while McDowell’s tee shot luckily found the right rough between the green and the green-side bunker. Had his ball trickled in the bunker, par would have been much more difficult and Mahan could have potentially won the hole with a par, setting up a final hole showdown.
With the weight of his team mates, the entire US, and his own reputation on the line because of his request to be in this position, Mahan knew he probably a miracle to have any chances of winning the hole. With millions of people worldwide watching, Mahan stepped up to his ball and proceeded to chunk his chip. It never made the green. And that was that. I’m sure most Americans who watched this Monday afternoon drama sat in stunned silence. Color commentator and former PGA professional, Johnny Miller, in a tone of despair said it perfectly, “We’ve all been there.”
Yes, we’ve all been there. We chunked our chips, probably more times than we care to remember. But we’re not part of the golfing elite. We’ll never be selected to play in a Ryder cup. How can this gifted professional golfer chip like a weekend duffer? Had he struck the ball solidly he would have had a chance, slim I’ll grant, but a chance to chip it in none the less. He’s probably holed thousands of chips in the past, some in do-or-die situations. So how could this extremely gifted golfer fail so miserably to execute a simple chip? Pressure!
You don’t have to be playing in front of thousands of on-course observers and millions more world-wide via television and the Internet to succumb to pressure. Pressure affects all of us at some time or other even if we’re playing in our weekly foursomes for a quarter a hole or just for fun. Golf is an achievement activity and any time an outcome in an achievement situation is important and uncertain we experience pressure to succeed; the more important and uncertain the outcome the greater the pressure. Because we have failed in the past where the outcome is deemed important and uncertain, the pressure to succeed creates fear of failure. Fear creates stress and stress triggers our fight-or-flight reflex.
No matter how physically skilled we may be or confident about our ability to succeed, any self-doubt, no matter how slight and fleeting creates fear, even if it goes unnoticed, and the downward cycle of stress, fight-or-flight, and the potential for failure ensues. Do you think Hunter Mahan had any thoughts that he might not hole that chip? I would bet that he knew his chances were slim even if he executed the shot perfectly. Do you think that he experienced any self-doubt? I would dare say he had plenty, even if he didn’t realize it on a conscious level.
Could he have done something about it, to at least give himself a fighting chance? Absolutely! Did he? I’m not sure, but if he did, whatever he did, didn’t work. However, most golfers are so concerned about what they have to do and worried about failure or making mistakes that they don’t recognize the signs that indicate a stress reaction. That’s been my experience with most of the golfers I’ve worked with. When I ask them about what they experience when they get stressed out, they say that they don’t know. So my suspicion is that he was too busy worried about what he had to do and the miracle it would take that he forgot to take the necessary steps to reverse the stress reaction and stop the fight-or-flight reflex.
Part two will be posted on Thursday…
photo credit: eschipul
This year the US Amateur Public Links is being played at Bryan Park Golf Club near Greensboro NC. In some delusional state of confidence I entered the tournament. All you have to do is have a handicap under 4 and not belong to a private club. Check and Check.
What I thought I would do (to hold myself accountable to some form of preparation) is begin tracking my progress towards competing in one of our national championships.
Stay tuned if you wish to follow my journey. Let the prep begin.
This time of year golf slows down for most of the world and yields to the gridiron of the NFL or College Football bowl season. Some dream-chasers however, are making a final stride towards realizing life long goals to compete on the PGA Tour. Christmas will come early on December 7th for the 40 or so golfers making it through the arduous six round marathon.
The fall classic, as it is affectionately called, always produces some of the year’s best stories. This year will it be David Duval’s rebirth (I thought it might come at Bethpage) or the right of passage for Rickie Fowler?
One player I will be watching is Chris Mundorf. He and I played Jr. and collegiate golf around the same time but became friends while students of the same coach, Robert Linville, at Precision Golf School. Chris has been looping for Troy Matteson this year on tour. As timing would have it, Troy won the Frys.com Open the week Chris took off for the first stage of Q-school. Chris figured going to first stage cost him six-figures.
I think it will be a good opportunity cost if he makes it through this week. You can can follow Chris here as he chases an early Christmas.
Recently, I was invited to play in a Scramble Event. The format also falls under the aliases of Captain’s Choice and Superball. It is very common for charity events and corporate outings. The rules of a scramble allows each member in a team (usually 2 or 4 golfers) to hit each shot and play the best one. The four person teams usually consist of A, B, C, & D players, with the “A”having the lowest handicap and the “D” player with the highest. I have played in numerous superballevents and believe this strategy will bode well for you.
Here are three keys to going low in the Scramble format:
- Choose the right playing order. Most of the time I have found teams do not give this all important decision any thought. As a result numerous birdies and eagles are left on the course. Think about a 4×400 relay in track and field. You have a first leg, second leg, and so on with the anchor as the strongest closer but not always the fastest runner. Many times the fastest runner will go first or third. In the scramble I believe the same holds true. For example, on the greens, have your second best putter go first. This will allow the weaker putters to learn from the line and speed of the first putter if they do not hole the putt. The same principle can be used for tee shots and approaches. Just remember the “A” player isn’t automatically the best at each part of the game and every player should have a role to play.
- Play the percentages. It is very easy to pick the shot that is closest to the hole or longest off the tee. That ball however does not always give you the highest percentage of making a birdie or an eagle. There are numerous examples I could use here, but two that are very common. The first is a situation when there is one tee shot which is the longest and in the fairway but leaves an awkward yardage or angle into the green. The percentage of getting it up and down are less than a ball that may be yards farther from the hole but allow the team the best chance of hitting it close and making birdie. The second example is found on shots around the green. Just because it is “on the dance floor” doesn’t mean it is the best shot to choose. I would rather have a 30 foot uphill shot from the fringe than a 15 foot downhill putt with 4 feet of break.
- Ride the MO’. The Scramble format is a shoot-out with the motto, How low can you go? Red numbers are a must. A lot of red numbers. To get on a run where a team can rattle off birdie after birdie momentum is crucial. How do you get it? Hit one good shot at a time and give yourself a chance for birdie on every hole. Sometimes you may have to switch up the batting order to overcome the inertia of making pars. Have each team member contribute. When players feel like they are helping, they perform better and excitement is transferred within the team. Once momentum is created, ride it like a wave. Let it carry you from birdie to birdie. Then get out of your own way!
I believe these keys will help you shoot lower scores at your next company outing or charitabe fundraiser. Tell me about your strategies for Scramble success. No one strategy works for every team. Choose the game-plan that helps your team function as the best combined player of your talents.
