KyleH's Mental Game Posts

[KyleH]

 

Tiger Woods. A name that carries weight. In this house he is the undisputed greatest to ever do it. There are countless examples of his superior mental game, but I want to expand on just one at the moment.

When I say Augusta 2019, I can tell you two things that stick out to you - 1. Tiger winning his 15th major and 2. Francesco Molinari blowing up his final round with multiple water balls.

Molinari was looking strong through 3.5 solid rounds at the Master’s on that Sunday of play. It looked like he was going to hold onto it through the back nine.

That is until hole 12, when the wheels feel off. He found the water in front of the green and he carded a double bogey while Tiger ended up with a routine par - leading to a shared top spot between the two.

I can’t say with certainty what caused the water ball at the 12th for Molinari but I can venture a guess that after that hole, the pressure had gotten to him.

Instead of playing the field, he was now in a race with himself, and his mind was in the lead. Doubt crept into his mind and after another ball in the water on the 15th you knew Molinari was all but out of the tournament. He went from contender to pretender in the span of a few holes. It didn’t matter how well he played for 3 days prior , it didn’t matter about how good his swings and shots looked for the week, he will always be remembered that year for the mental collapse he had on the back 9.

One the other side of the coin, we have Tiger, who by all stretches of the imagination should not have been in this position after everything he had been through over the past 10 years. There was a point when he believed he’d never play again. But this guy has the strongest mental game in golf. He could’ve have easily talked himself into retirement more than once and no one would’ve blamed him. He’s had one of the most successful careers you could have. But he believed he could still win. And belief is all he needed. He played that Sunday without doubts and carried himself to a win. And that’s not to say he played perfectly, he also had bad shots. The only difference is that he did not carry them with him to the next shot. He would step up, not question his swing or why that last shot ended up where it did; he gave it another rip, knowing he was capable of the shot he wanted or needed to pull off.

He is a masterclass in patience, resilience, and will. He was always known for not showing a ton of emotion while playing, only to have a huge release at the end. It’s not because he didn’t feel emotions; it’s because he knew that allowing elation or frustration or any other emotion would cause overthinking and tension to creep into his swing.

Even with the years of example of a strong mental game, a majority of golfers still focus on the swing. 

So why don't we put more focus into to improving our mental game? Take the best golfer you know and put them in a fried egg in a pot bunker and ask them how they’re feeling. All the technique and YouTube lessons in the world can’t help them outperform their mind.

[woodzie264]

3 minutes ago, KyleH said:

 

Tiger Woods. A name that carries weight. In this house he is the undisputed greatest to ever do it. There are countless examples of his superior mental game, but I want to expand on just one at the moment.

When I say Augusta 2019, I can tell you two things that stick out to you - 1. Tiger winning his 15th major and 2. Francesco Molinari blowing up his final round with multiple water balls.

Molinari was looking strong through 3.5 solid rounds at the Master’s on that Sunday of play. It looked like he was going to hold onto it through the back nine.

That is until hole 12, when the wheels feel off. He found the water in front of the green and he carded a double bogey while Tiger ended up with a routine par - leading to a shared top spot between the two.

I can’t say with certainty what caused the water ball at the 12th for Molinari but I can venture a guess that after that hole, the pressure had gotten to him.

Instead of playing the field, he was now in a race with himself, and his mind was in the lead. Doubt crept into his mind and after another ball in the water on the 15th you knew Molinari was all but out of the tournament. He went from contender to pretender in the span of a few holes. It didn’t matter how well he played for 3 days prior , it didn’t matter about how good his swings and shots looked for the week, he will always be remembered that year for the mental collapse he had on the back 9.

One the other side of the coin, we have Tiger, who by all stretches of the imagination should not have been in this position after everything he had been through over the past 10 years. There was a point when he believed he’d never play again. But this guy has the strongest mental game in golf. He could’ve have easily talked himself into retirement more than once and no one would’ve blamed him. He’s had one of the most successful careers you could have. But he believed he could still win. And belief is all he needed. He played that Sunday without doubts and carried himself to a win. And that’s not to say he played perfectly, he also had bad shots. The only difference is that he did not carry them with him to the next shot. He would step up, not question his swing or why that last shot ended up where it did; he gave it another rip, knowing he was capable of the shot he wanted or needed to pull off.

He is a masterclass in patience, resilience, and will. He was always known for not showing a ton of emotion while playing, only to have a huge release at the end. It’s not because he didn’t feel emotions; it’s because he knew that allowing elation or frustration or any other emotion would cause overthinking and tension to creep into his swing.

Even with the years of example of a strong mental game, a majority of golfers still focus on the swing. 

So why don't we put more focus into to improving our mental game? Take the best golfer you know and put them in a fried egg in a pot bunker and ask them how they’re feeling. All the technique and YouTube lessons in the world can’t help them outperform their mind.

This may help:

 

[klineka]

28 minutes ago, KyleH said:

So why don't we put more focus into to improving our mental game?

Because the mental game is not as important as you think it is.

 

28 minutes ago, KyleH said:

I can’t say with certainty what caused the water ball at the 12th for Molinari but I can venture a guess that after that hole, the pressure had gotten to him.

Instead of playing the field, he was now in a race with himself, and his mind was in the lead. Doubt crept into his mind and after another ball in the water on the 15th you knew Molinari was all but out of the tournament.

How can you claim that you don't know what caused the water ball but then claim that he had doubts in his mind and his mindset took over?

 

29 minutes ago, KyleH said:

But he believed he could still win. And belief is all he needed. He played that Sunday without doubts and carried himself to a win.

No dude, I could say I believe I would win The Masters and truly believe it but I'd never win no matter how many times I played in it. In order to win you still need the physical skills to shoot a low enough score to win no matter how bad you believe it.

And do you know for a fact that Tiger had no doubts on that Sunday? No, you don't, so claims like that won't hold up on here unless you can prove that claim to be true.

 

28 minutes ago, KyleH said:

Take the best golfer you know and put them in a fried egg in a pot bunker and ask them how they’re feeling. All the technique and YouTube lessons in the world can’t help them outperform their mind.

Take whatever scratch golfer you know that has the best mental game and have them play a match against an average PGA Tour player with their worst mental game and who do you think will win? All the mental game and best thoughts in the world can't help the scratch player overcome the extreme gap in skill/ability**

Fixed that for you. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by klineka

[iacas]

6 hours ago, KyleH said:

When I say Augusta 2019, I can tell you two things that stick out to you - 1. Tiger winning his 15th major and 2. Francesco Molinari blowing up his final round with multiple water balls.

This is the same Francesco who won the British Open the year before… while playing with Tiger Woods. If you're going to try to say that his mental game is what failed him, good luck with that.

Brooks Koepka also hit it in the water. He of four majors in the last few years. Tiger made a 10 or something on the 12th a few years later. It happens.

6 hours ago, KyleH said:

I can’t say with certainty what caused the water ball at the 12th for Molinari but I can venture a guess that after that hole, the pressure had gotten to him.

That's convenient. 😄

It must have just forgotten to "get to him" the year before at the British Open, for his first major.

6 hours ago, KyleH said:

he will always be remembered that year for the mental collapse he had on the back 9.

I don't think many people are going to remember anyone but Tiger that year actually.

6 hours ago, KyleH said:

And belief is all he needed.

No, he still had to play really good golf.

6 hours ago, KyleH said:

So why don't we put more focus into to improving our mental game?

Because as others have said… it's not as important as you think, generally speaking.

Roll Rory out of bed, still drunk, tell him his wife was caught cheating on him with Sergio Garcia, and give him a women's flex 7-iron and tell him that if he hits a ball within four seconds toward a green 170 yards away that Sergio's nuts will fall off, and he'll probably hit a better shot than the average 10 handicapper with all the time in the world to prepare.

Said another way, and to borrow/rephrase a Gary Player quote: "the better my swing, the more my mental game seems to get!"

[ChetlovesMer]

14 hours ago, KyleH said:

 

All the ... YouTube lessons in the world can’t help them 

This statement is true. 

[KyleH]

12 seconds, you say? Surely you can’t be serious. I am serious; and don’t call me Shirley.

Studies show that “being present in the moment” lasts for approximately 12 seconds. 12 seconds. Sit and do nothing for 12 seconds right now. I’ll wait.

That felt like an eternity. But you also know that 12 seconds is no time at all. Especially when a golf shot takes up about 2 seconds of that. What can you even do with the other 10 seconds?

Breathe.

No really. Take a couple deep breaths and feel your shoulders relax and tension melt away.

Therein lies the beauty to being in the moment of your game. It’s actually kind of a perfect fit.

Instead of using those 12-15 seconds over the ball to go through your swing thought checklist, just take a few deep breaths instead.

Focusing on the breath is a form of mediation and it brings our awareness to the moment. Stepping up to your ball and bringing your awareness to this breath and to this shot can be all the difference in your game.

Not so simple

You know this. Your mind loves to run away when given any chance. Think about the last time you stepped up to a shot over water. You couldn’t get the water out of your head. The tape in your head playing back the clear future where you either dunk it into the drink or chunk it short. Your chest tightened up and you couldn’t feel your hands.

We tend to play scared when we don’t trust our abilities. The only opponent you have in golf is you. And you beat yourself all the time. You’re so good at playing defense against you.

“Mastery over the game is really mastery over yourself” - Jayne Storey

You’ve been conditioning yourself for years to overthink and overanalyze every shot. You search your memory trying to pull at every thread for advice and tips of the past. This is especially true when you feel like your game is off - when something feels like it needs to change. We don’t allow ourselves to sit in the hard feelings.

Master those 12 seconds

It starts before you get on the course. Meditate.

You don’t need to be a monk or spiritual guru and meditate for extended periods of time. Try 3-5 minutes a day where you do nothing but focus on your breath. When your mind strays (I promise it will), practice bringing it back to the breath. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just you learning what it will be like when your mind strays on the course.

Next time you leave yourself with a less than ideal shot, instead of panicking and inducing the fight or flight response, stop, take a couple breaths and immerse yourself in the moment.

You keep practicing that, there’s no telling how good your game can get.

What would your game look like if you hacked those 12 seconds of being present every shot?

[iacas]

Here's the issue, @KyleH. You posted yesterday, and got a few responses, mostly disagreeing with what you had to say… and you come back and start a new topic about breathing. We have no reason to believe you're any more willing to engage in an actual conversation.

So, what are you doing? Because I don't know that I'm going to agree much with this, either.

---

24 minutes ago, KyleH said:

Instead of using those 12-15 seconds over the ball to go through your swing thought checklist, just take a few deep breaths instead.

Uhhh, virtually nobody does this. The game's best players don't do this. They're thinking about the target, their swing thought, etc.

As, IMO, they should be.

[ChetlovesMer]

41 minutes ago, KyleH said:

Think about the last time you stepped up to a shot over water. You couldn’t get the water out of your head. The tape in your head playing back the clear future where you either dunk it into the drink or chunk it short. Your chest tightened up and you couldn’t feel your hands.

I can say with absolute honesty this doesn't happen to me. 

 

43 minutes ago, KyleH said:

We tend to play scared when we don’t trust our abilities.

Of course, that's why I try to practice so that I DO trust my abilities. 

If I have to hit a 290 yard shot over water or other trouble and I know my average carry distance is just under 250, only a complete idiot would "trust his abilities." 

45 minutes ago, KyleH said:

You’ve been conditioning yourself for years to overthink and overanalyze every shot.

You do not know me at all. 

Ask anyone who's ever played with me. Overthinking and overanalyzing is the very least of my issues. 

 

I say this very sincerely; I think you are over thinking the thinking part of this game. Learn what your "usual" shot looks like with each club. Go to the course and decide which of those clubs usual shots gets you to the best position to hit your next shot. Then, when you are not at the course work on improving your usual shots. There's more to it than that, but I hope you get the idea. I've been playing golf a long time I've hit some great shots while thinking about what's for dinner tonight, I've hit some awful shots while completely focusing on the moment. 

Here's the thing, I'm going to hit a range of shots every time I golf. Some will be good and some less good. If I work on my game to the point where my good shots are even better and my bad shots are less bad. I'll play better golf. 

I've read a half dozen books on golf's mental game and they are all well and good, but I really think a lot of people over estimate the importance the mental part of the game. Obviously there's something there. But I really don't believe its the great differentiator that some seem to think it is. 

Breathing and all of that is fine. But if you want to hit better shots learn to hit better shots. 

[woodzie264]

2 hours ago, KyleH said:

12 seconds, you say? Surely you can’t be serious. I am serious; and don’t call me Shirley.

Studies show that “being present in the moment” lasts for approximately 12 seconds. 12 seconds. Sit and do nothing for 12 seconds right now. I’ll wait.

That felt like an eternity. But you also know that 12 seconds is no time at all. Especially when a golf shot takes up about 2 seconds of that. What can you even do with the other 10 seconds?

Breathe.

No really. Take a couple deep breaths and feel your shoulders relax and tension melt away.

Therein lies the beauty to being in the moment of your game. It’s actually kind of a perfect fit.

Instead of using those 12-15 seconds over the ball to go through your swing thought checklist, just take a few deep breaths instead.

Focusing on the breath is a form of mediation and it brings our awareness to the moment. Stepping up to your ball and bringing your awareness to this breath and to this shot can be all the difference in your game.

Not so simple

You know this. Your mind loves to run away when given any chance. Think about the last time you stepped up to a shot over water. You couldn’t get the water out of your head. The tape in your head playing back the clear future where you either dunk it into the drink or chunk it short. Your chest tightened up and you couldn’t feel your hands.

We tend to play scared when we don’t trust our abilities. The only opponent you have in golf is you. And you beat yourself all the time. You’re so good at playing defense against you.

“Mastery over the game is really mastery over yourself” - Jayne Storey

You’ve been conditioning yourself for years to overthink and overanalyze every shot. You search your memory trying to pull at every thread for advice and tips of the past. This is especially true when you feel like your game is off - when something feels like it needs to change. We don’t allow ourselves to sit in the hard feelings.

Master those 12 seconds

It starts before you get on the course. Meditate.

You don’t need to be a monk or spiritual guru and meditate for extended periods of time. Try 3-5 minutes a day where you do nothing but focus on your breath. When your mind strays (I promise it will), practice bringing it back to the breath. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just you learning what it will be like when your mind strays on the course.

Next time you leave yourself with a less than ideal shot, instead of panicking and inducing the fight or flight response, stop, take a couple breaths and immerse yourself in the moment.

You keep practicing that, there’s no telling how good your game can get.

What would your game look like if you hacked those 12 seconds of being present every shot?

You’ve already tried to come with this mental stuff once and refused to engage in the counterpoints. We see someone every once in a while who comes to make statements like “Master Your Game in 12 seconds” and they don’t make it long here.  This group is not one that will placate to grand statements with unbacked points. Don’t let this be Strike 2. 

[iacas]

17 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

Don’t let this be Strike 2. 

To be clear, by "strike two" he doesn't mean anything other than being rebuffed a bit by forum members. You've not gotten a warning or anything, and nobody's going to do anything to limit your account, punish you in any way, etc.

He just means similarly to what I said in the first post: you've posted about this stuff just yesterday, then didn't engage in the discussion beyond that. That's not a discussion: it's you dropping something and then leaving it as if it's unassailable or doesn't need or warrant any back-and-forth or any discussion.

It's a "discussion forum" and your actions lately seem to ignore that.

[woodzie264]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

To be clear, by "strike two" he doesn't mean anything other than being rebuffed a bit by forum members. You've not gotten a warning or anything, and nobody's going to do anything to limit your account, punish you in any way, etc.

He just means similarly to what I said in the first post: you've posted about this stuff just yesterday, then didn't engage in the discussion beyond that. That's not a discussion: it's you dropping something and then leaving it as if it's unassailable or doesn't need or warrant any back-and-forth or any discussion.

It's a "discussion forum" and your actions lately seem to ignore that.

Exactly. Sorry if my post was ambiguous. 

[billchao]

3 hours ago, KyleH said:

You know this. Your mind loves to run away when given any chance. Think about the last time you stepped up to a shot over water. You couldn’t get the water out of your head. The tape in your head playing back the clear future where you either dunk it into the drink or chunk it short. Your chest tightened up and you couldn’t feel your hands.

I can’t say this has ever happened for me. Quite the opposite, actually. My mental highlight reel flashes back to the one time I hit that flighted 5i through a 5’ window in the trees in front of the course superintendent onto the green and I’m convinced I can hit any shot I can conceive of, forgetting the dozens of failed attempts at similar feats. It causes me to make high risk decisions on the course that add to my score. As @Vinsk once put it, I’m the “hold my beer” golfer.

[boogielicious]

My favorite line is, “studies show…”. What studies? Can you cite them? If you can, why don’t you? Silly stuff.

[ChetlovesMer]

37 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

My favorite line is, “studies show…”. What studies? Can you cite them? If you can, why don’t you? Silly stuff.

According to many books you are exactly right. 

[dennyjones]

5 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Breathing and all of that is fine. But if you want to hit better shots learn to hit better shots. 

very profound!

[ChetlovesMer]

Just now, dennyjones said:

very profound!

You may call me Captain Obvious.

[Denny Bang Bang]

I’m going to give everyone the secret to mastering the game of golf.  It’s been public knowledge since 1980…

Be the ball.

Hit it in the lumber yard?  You’re not being the ball.  It’s that simple.

[Vinsk]

@KyleH Have you seen ‘ The Legend of Bagger Vance’? I’m assuming yes. So the inspirational scene where Bagger is telling Jonah to see the flag and disregard all else around him? The nice music as the green magnifies and focuses in….I’ve had that beautiful experience…..and then hit a solid, cold shank. I could just hear the sound of a record being scratched and stopped suddenly. It all took about 12 seconds.