There is a story about a prize fight where a priest was sitting right in the front row watching one of his parishioners. Before the fight, the fighter goes to his corner, kneels down, says a short prayer while making the sign of the cross. The guy sitting down next to the priest asks, "Father, does that really help?", to what the priest answers, "Only if he can fight!". It rings true and funny, as talent and training are supposed to be biggest part of the equation when it comes to winning in sports, but once on the "major leagues", whether it is high school, college or professional sports, the mind plays even a bigger part. You've got to know you can win, you've got to have confidence that you can play with or beat the best, and you have to know that nothing, even fate, can stop you.
Sam Snead used to say, "Golf is 90% mental, and the other 30% is also mental". And he should know. He won 82 times, including 7 majors(three Masters, three PGA Championships and one British Open). He was was also second in the U.S. Open four times, which is the prime example I want to use for the purpose of this post about the mental aspect.Here is a guy who used to putt very well by straddling the ball, which the USGA banned in the middle of his career, yet he overcame it and won another 40+ tournaments with his new, legal putting method, but there was one tournament that he could not conquer, the U.S. Open:
It all started at age 25, in the last hole of the 1937 U.S. Open, where he was leading by one going to the last hole, On the tee of this last hole, a par 5, one spectator mistakenly told him that he needed a birdie to tie for the lead (no scoreboards in those days, and the leaders did not necessarily played together, as two rounds were played on Saturday without changing the morning pairings).
Snead, who was pretty long enough as it was, changed his thinking and rhythm, trying to force" a birdie, hit it in the rough, from where he played a very risky shot that later he admitted was impossible, and ended up with an 8 that lost him the tournament by two shots. A par would have won, a bogey would have earned him a playoff on Sunday. After that, he managed to lose three more opens by a shot or two, one of them by missing a 2 foot putt on the last hole that would have sent the tournament into a playoff, this time, he knew he needed the putt to tie, but he blew it.
The U.S. Open is a tournament that he "tried too hard" to win, the tournament that changed the way he played or the way he approached the game.... unlike Jack Nicklaus, who felt the majors were the easiest to win, for the very same reason, "most players are trying too hard to win and self destroy, there are more of those who people have lost to me, than those that I have come out and won".
Years later, in 1979, in the twilight of Sam's career (here is a guy whose last PGA Tour win came in at age 53, and his last professional win, came at 61!) and during the baby steps of sports (golf) psychology, Dr. Bob Rotella, the dean of sports psychology, gave a speech to several touring professionals, including Sam Snead. After the speech, Snead poured out his soul and the pain of those U.S. Open losses and admitted that, at least in his case, it had all been mental, he had allowed that first failure in the U.S. Open to get in his head as a sign that fate would actually keep him from winning that particular tournament. He always thought that he was destined to not win it.
There is the old adage of "if you think you can, then you can; if you think you can't you are also 100% correct". It is not that Sam Snead did not think he had what it took to win a U.S. Open, it is that he thought everything was against him concerning this tournament, whether it was a particular part of his game right before the week of the tournament (maybe his putting was not as sharp, or his chipping pr his driving) or fate itself, he talked himself into never winning the tournament he most wanted in his career: in this case, he never achieved his dream because he talked himself out of it. By admitting all of this. almost in tears, he not only supported his his life-long claim of the game being "120% mental", but also gave Dr. Rotella the professional credibility that he needed to continue trying to help professional golfers who need help "upstairs".
Now, I don't think that all players need a sports psychologist per say, but all players do need to have a way to believe in themselves and their ability: whether it is themselves, their own ability and successes, or whether they have the support of a close person, like their father like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, their wife like Lee Trevino or Ben Hogan, or a combination. In the end, it is up to the player to know that he/she can win, to have the self confidence that their whole game, together, is good enough.
Here is the thing, in some cases, sports (golf) psychology is actually used not to play better, but to feel better when one plays bad.... "I just blew the tournament with that O.B. and three-putt. No worries, I am a good person". Tell that to Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino etc. Tell that to your Sunday friend in the "wolf game" who always plays to win, he/she would be furious to have lost the match or the hole.... and then come next time determined he/she could win... and do. When you KNOW INSIDE YOURSELF that you have what it takes, you can make that putt, or play that tee shot just at the right time. It happens. You never give up.... "It's never over until the fat lady sings", when I have had the pleasure of caddying for different people, to keep them from giving up after a bad hole, I always say, "it's never over until all scores are in ink, all you can do is continue giving yourself chances". Same thing.
Can you imagine Ben Hogan going to a sports psychologist? Jack Nicklaus? Lee Trevino? Bobby Jones? And now, Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson? I can't, but they also had someone who they believed, and who believed in them. Surely Jack would not have won as mush without Barbara's support, nor Ben without Valerie's or Trevino without Claudia's. When they came home after a bad round, they did not hear how bad they were, they were reinforced that they were good, it was just a bad day.
On the other hand, I can see Rory McIlroy doing so. Why, he is "too nice" and, maybe naive. Why, after reaching #1 in the world, why would he want to play second fiddler to Tiger Woods in Nike, with "Tiger Woods" golf clubs? I will never understand that. Frankly, he needs a sports psychologist to tell him that he has talent galore and that he went for money too soon.
I don't just talk because I want my opinion to be heard. I used to be a pretty decent player, good enough that at one time I thought I could make a living at playing golf.... then I met Lee Trevino (1971-1976 when he played in the Mexican Open several times), Billy Casper and Sever Ballesteros, in that order, over a span of 7 years. First, I saw Lee Trevino play a practice round for the Mexican Open in 1971. He shot 66 in a course he had never seen. I was 20 then, and my best score in that course was a 71... a course that I played 4 times a week. Ben Crenshaw, my age, had just won his first tournament on the PGA Tour....
Then in 1973, Lee Trevino and I hit balls together at Bellavista, where he won the Mexican Open that year. It was a clinic that I'll never forget... nor the sound of the ball when he hit the center of the face time after time. Now, I can say I "beat Lee Trevino once". Yes, the first round I shot what I thought was a very decent score of one over par 73, while Trevino shot a 75. The next day, I shot 77 and barely made the cut, while Trevino shot 65, a score I knew I couldn't match in my dreams.
Then, I met Billy Casper on Monday of the same tournament in 1977, in the driving range. The same sound I had heard four years before, he never missed a shot. I thought, "what in the world am I doing here? I can't beat these guys!" The next day, my "negative" thoughts continued (or reality setting in?) when I played nine holes with my friend, Ernesto Perez Acosta, a very accomplished player and host pro, and none other than Seve Ballesteros, then 20.
During those nine holes, Seve hit some shots, some of power and some of touch, that I KNEW I couldn't hit. By all practical purposes, IN MY MIND, no matter how much talent I thought I had, I knew that I knew that I could never play like that. My "tournament career" was over. Whether my mind would have been strong enough to drive me to get better or not, is something I will never know, plainly because I gave up, something that years later I read Ben Hogan never did. In his early years as a touring professional, Hogan went broke not once, not twice, but three times!
Each time he came back home to work at a golf course and odd jobs, save money to go back on tour, and did so on his own dime. Always with a strong mind that Rotella or anyone like that, would have never been able to give him. Hogan knew, deep inside, that he was born to play the game at a championship level. And once he fixed the mechanics of his swing, never giving up, he became the champion that he always wanted to be. The "secret" of his success, "was in the dirt", was in outworking others with more talents and means.
Here is a guy, who was left handed and had to learn to play right handed because professional left handed clubs were not really available in the 30's and 40's. Here is a guy, the first player, to overcome the "yips" and still win championships (later Langer did the same), here is a guy, who was determined to dig the secrets out of the dirt, every day, from sunup to sundown. Presently, I only know only two people, both young, who do that, who cannot go to bed without having hit some balls or at least play a few holes. THAT IS THE START, but that is not where it ends.
To the young people that I know who want to make a living at playing sports, and especially golf: yes, you've got to have the talent, but talent alone will not do it. Once you know that, do not let other people dictate to you what you can do or can't do, do not let other people distract you from your goal, only you know what you are capable of and only you know how much talent and dedication and improvement you have made. Once that is accomplished, being always prepared and the knowledge that you belong there is what you need.
Remember, "if you think you can, you are right; and if you think you can't, you are also right". If you cannot see yourself winning tournaments and beating everyone else, ALWAYS PLAYING TO WIN, well, you are 100% right!
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