The Successful Golfer: Practical Fixes for the Mental Game of Golf

By Paul McCarthy and Marc Jones

Written by Dr Paul McCarthy, the first-ever resident Sport Psychologist at the home of golf, St Andrews, and Professor Marc Jones - here is a book to help all golfers.

You do not have to play many rounds of golf to understand how much of the game is played in the mind. Different courses, conditions, and shot requirements all present unique challenges that need focus and mental strength from the winning player. In turn, moving from the practice range onto the golf course can often magically produce drops in concentration, increased frustration, and unexpected self-doubt: drives go wayward, three foot putts get missed, and water features seem to become magnets.

The Successful Golfer is designed to help address 50 of the most common faults that players experience and which hold them back. These include: hitting the self-destruct button when winning, nervousness on the first tee, lost confidence, failing to practise as you play, losing focus off poor drives, and many more. Each fault is remedied with a clear practical fix. You will learn to develop effective practice plans, build a dependable pre-shot routine, cope with the pressures of competitive golf, and deal with distractions.

In the second part of the book, lessons from 30 fascinating research studies on golf are presented to help keep you ahead of the field. They include research on putting, practice, choking, and overthinking. In the third and final part of the book, clear instructions are provided on developing a number of highly effective techniques that can be used across a wide variety of situations. These include: pre-shot routines, breathing exercises, goal setting, and how best to practice.

The Successful Golfer is a must-read addition to any golfer’s bookshelf. Read it and fix those mental faults that stop you from playing your best golf!

Just some of what you will learn:
- Learn to play consistently on the golf course and win when it matters most
- Develop unshakeable confidence in all facets of your game
- Build a consistent pre-shot routine to concentrate effectively and manage distractions
- Boost your resilience and learn to cope with the demands of competitive golf
- Uncover the secrets of success from the world’s best golfers

A full list of all the faults and fixes (and all the research bunkers) can be found on the Bennion Kearny website.

Bunkers Paradise Review: "As a mental trainer, former LPGA Tour player and writer... I was impressed with the depth of knowledge and the author’s sense of really knowing what is going through the golfer’s mind. This is a read I would have loved to have in my arsenal during my tour days. It is my belief that you will gain a better understanding of yourself as a golfer and then some! This is a book every golfer in this world should have on their night stand, office and reading room."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bennion Kearny
• Release date: Jul 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781909125469

Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy’s career in management and leadership consulting spans over 25 years and he has worked with almost 100 organizations across the world in over 15 different industries and directly with thousands of leaders to develop their leadership capacity, capability and competency. He has developed leaders in the UK, Europe, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai and Sri Lanka. During his tenure with Deloitte and KPMG, Paul was positioned as each firm’s subject matter expert across Canada for both Talent Management and Leadership Development, often being brought in to speak with C-suite leaders on current and future trends, challenges and opportunities in the future of work and leadership. He provides advice, guidance and has real experience of supporting leaders and leadership teams through the process to adapt how they see the future of leadership and organizations, bringing a disruptive, yet evidence-based, experiential, and experimental approach that is beginning to shift the narrative within and beyond organizations.

Book preview

Introduction

The width of any green, the length of any putt, or the height of any putter, is just 5 1/2 inches - the space between your ears Bobby Jones

If you play golf, you might think that much of this book is common sense. Though it might be common sense, it is often not common practice. In other words, most readers will be aware that they need to work on the space between their ears to succeed in golf but they do not always practise what is best for them. For instance, most golfers know that their short game is the key to lowering their scores yet it is common to see driving ranges full and short-game practice areas empty.

The enjoyment most golfers receive from practising and excelling at the long game is much stronger than the enjoyment they receive from practising and excelling at the short game. Seeing the ball fly on a perfect trajectory to a tight pin on a small green is what gains most applause around the golf course and a feeling of success for the golfer. Rolling in the putt for a birdie doesn’t seem to offer that same feeling. Yet, it is the part that matters most.

Successful golfers are people who know that much of what is written here is common sense but they are making this common sense their common practice. They have learned to get more enjoyment from the short game than from the long game. They know that the long game is important but they love practising the short game even more. They know that the space between their ears is vital to success so they integrate it into their practice and competitive golf. The successful golfer will gain most from this book because the successful golfer is always looking for ways to improve.

Our advice is simple. First, make a commitment to practise smarter (you’ll learn how to practise smarter in this book) and maximise your return from the short game.

Second, spend time planning your tee shots and preparing psychologically before you play each round of golf.

Third, be proud of the process (i.e., your pre-shot routine) you have developed to hit each shot on the golf course, and learn to accept the outcome of each shot - whatever happens.

Finally, accept yourself as a good person who plays golf well rather than a good person because you play golf well.

If you do these things, we are sure that golf will be a success in your life and you’ll be able to say what Byron Nelson proclaimed many years after he put away his clubs: I am exactly happy. I got what I wanted from golf. I’ve had a good, warm, inward feeling all my life.

The Differences Among Golfers

Over the years, we have learned that some golfers do not improve for one reason or another, but often because of a poor mental game. These golfers live on technical answers to all of golf’s problems but these explanations fall short when the greatest golfers in the game remind us how ‘what they think’ is so important. Arnold Palmer said: You play from the shoulders up. It isn’t all-important, just 90% and maybe over 90%.

The greatest golfers relish competition; they don’t hide from it. Seve Ballesteros explained that: Golf has always been my passion and competing has always been great. It’s one thing I always like and enjoy - I like to feel the pressure.

It seems fair to state that the greatest achievements in golf are built between the ears. The happiness quote, above, comes from Byron Nelson – a man who won 11 tournaments in a row in 1945. He said: What I did in 1945 was a mental achievement. In those days I could drive the ball so well I would really get bored. I just decided I was not going to hit one careless shot. Plus, I had the focus of the ranch [Nelson needed $55,000 to buy the ranch in Texas where he would live for the next 60 years]. I was almost in a trance. I guess what they call it now is being in a zone. Any time you have a record that stands for 60 years, you’ve done something pretty good.

In this chapter, we shall introduce you to two ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. You might identify with one way or both ways at different times. We refer to them as the Old Course and the New Course; the golfers who play at the Old Course think differently, feel differently, and behave differently to those who play at the New Course.

The Old Course

Golfers at the Old Course love to play golf, seizing every chance to get onto the course or the range to hit a bucket of balls. They watch golf on TV, read golf magazines and buy golf equipment to improve their game. If they get an opportunity, they attend a major event or the Ryder Cup. These golfers are like most golfers because they want to play golf, enjoy it, and play better, especially if they play golf competitively.

On the Range at The Old Course

When golfers from the Old Course get a chance to practise, they head down to the practice range. They head straight to the counter for a bucket of balls or maybe two buckets if they have time.

Buckets and clubs in hand, they search for a free driving bay, especially one with a good mat or maybe one with a mirror to keep a check on mechanics if things start to go wrong. They like to occupy their usual bay because that is what they are used to, and they don’t like anyone upsetting their routine because it disrupts them.

When they get in to the bay, they put their bucket of balls down and get right to it. They might think to themselves, Well I probably should warm up with a driver because if I don’t drive well, my game will fall apart. So they tee up the ball and boom – a duck hook. Damn! What happened there? I think I know. It must have been my hands turning over at impact. Then they tell themselves, Right, extend through the shot, that’s what I need to do.

They tee up the second ball, and boom, a second duck hook. Okay! Try again and so on until yes – a soaring drive, straight as a die, down the range easily past the 250-yard marker. They hold rigid expectations of how they should perform – I must not hit poor shots.

Next, these golfers say, Right, I will give that club a rest and get to work on my long-irons because, last Sunday, they couldn’t have been any worse – I was embarrassed on the 18th fairway with that shot to the green. It landed in the bunker and I made a six on the par five. If my long-irons were better I would have walked off with a birdie at least. So here goes. After ten attempts, one long iron resembles the trajectory of a professional’s shot. Yes, that is what I have been looking for! Overall, the nine previous shots didn’t seem to have any routine to them; just put a ball down on the mat and hit it. No proper set-up, just get the ball out there as fast as possible because, after all, there are lots of balls to get through.

And this regime continues day after day, every time golfers from the Old Course head down to the range. They journey to the range because the golf magazines have convinced them that their faults can be fixed if they just change one part of their set-up or ball position. But each month, the advice changes somewhat and in the end it is very confusing.

After months of anguish on the range, and on the course, it seems the only solution is to see the professional for an assessment. If my swing was sorted out I wouldn’t have many problems, no problems maybe, in my game – I would definitely improve my handicap!

Golfers at the Old Course have purchased lots of equipment, the best of everything to make the game a success, to conquer their handicap. They have an exotic range of training aids, for each segment of the swing, take away, backswing, downswing and follow through. Everything is mechanically driven and when all the parts are put together, then their swing will be perfect. Because they admire Ernie Els, they obsess about his swing. Or it could be Luke Donald or Tiger Woods or Padraig Harrington. The main point is that their own swing, the one that is natural and owned by them, is not perceived to be good enough. It is not a swing that is worthy of being seen on the first tee of the golf course. It is not a swing that shows their confidence because they lack confidence in their own ability.

These golfers have forgotten what has helped the professionals gain the swings they have, the countless hours of practice, but also the trust in their own capacity and ability to judge their swing as useful and appropriate for them.

When the golfers at the Old Course go see a golf tournament and watch the professionals in the practice area, they should recognise that each swing is unique. It would be impossible to find two swings that are exactly the same in every way. All golfers are trying to do the same thing, to keep the clubface square at impact - but how they get there is different. Remember, these professional golfers have honed their skills to represent them at major golf tournaments and they trust their swing. Yes, they want to improve and, yes, they change aspects of their swing but most importantly they are doing what is natural and owned by them. They are proud of their swing technique because it is theirs – they want to own their swing.

The golfers at the Old Course cannot get away from the long game; they believe that mastering their long game will advance their golf game most. The other aspects of pitching, chipping, bunker shots and putting can take care of themselves. Anyway, what fun is there in rolling a putt on the putting green when I can boom a 300-yard drive down the fairway? And to practise bunker shots means getting sand in my shoes and on my clubs and I have just washed them to come down to the range. I can do some pitching here on the range mat if I have to, just a few shots to these markers because that is exactly how the game will be. And chipping, well there is not much to that game really. I do my chipping when I warm up for a game on Sunday if I have time. So my short game is fine, it’s just the long game that needs sorting out.

These are the beliefs of an Old Course golfer, and they know them to be true. The only road to success lies in mastering the swing. Now, let us meet the golfers on The New Course. Something about them seems different.

The New Course

We have seen how Golfers at the Old Course love to play golf. They grab every chance to get onto the course or go down the range. Golf on television and in magazines is always present, and new golf equipment is always on order. If they get an opportunity, they attend a major. These golfers are like most golfers because they want to play golf, take pleasure in it, and play better. Do you feel like you might have read this somewhere before? Golfers on the New Course are like golfers on the Old Course, in many ways, but how they use their mind seems to make all the difference to how they practise and subsequently play.

On the Range at the New Course

When golfers from the New Course get a chance to practice, they head down to the range. They head straight for the counter for a bucket of balls or maybe two if they have the time. Buckets and balls in hand, they walk past all the driving bays and head for the short game area. They like the range and will return, to finish off the session, but they are wise about their game. They know only too well that the short game is the game that really matters. They are well aware that putting alone can make up forty percent of their strokes in a round of golf.

Like the players at the Old Course, they love the driving range with all the clean balls and perfect lies and plenty of targets to aim at - but they know that they need to attend to the short game.

Now, when the players at the New Course get to the short game area, they don’t just put the bucket of balls down to start chipping or pitching. They begin with a plan. They know that they will spend their time chipping, pitching, putting, and in the sand, but how much time should they give to each part of the game? Well, that depends on how their game is going and what they have identified as the most important parts of their game to work on.

Next, they stretch to make sure they have a good range of movement in their wrists, shoulders, arms, and hips. They are ready to begin.

These golfers might have identified three skills to work on: 50-yard pitches, chipping from the light rough around the green, and 15-yard bunker shots. They have identified that they have an hour and a half to practice so they allocate 15 minutes to each of these parts of the short game, leaving 45 minutes for putting and the long game.

Because they only want to work on lag putting, they set aside 15 minutes for a specific drill to improve lag putting. The long game needs some attention, especially maintaining tempo, regardless of the club in their hands. The strategy is to work on sustaining a calm and relaxed pace to strike each ball. Then, they will finish with a putting drill. On another day, they might spend more time putting, stroking short putts to increase their confidence and feel for putting - completely trusting in each stroke they make.

These golfers begin with variable practice on the short game. This means that they hit a bunker shot and follow that shot with a chip from off the green. They might follow that shot with a pitch shot to a marker on the range. The discipline for such practice means that they can organise and prepare for each shot and execute each shot according to their routine.

Each shot requires them to be patient, assess the lie, and prepare mentally to execute the shot. One of the most important parts of practice is developing a routine that can actually be used on the golf course. Sometimes it is useful to spend time focusing on just one aspect of a skill and that requires a block of concentrated practice. Golfers at the New Course spend time going through the process of what they would do in a game situation. But the most important focus of their practice is that they are meticulous about their set-up and mental approach to each shot – that never changes, ever. Before each shot, they form a clear picture in their minds of what they would like to achieve before they attempt the shot.

If they are having a difficult practice session, and the outcome of each shot is not what they would like it to be, they do not get upset or start to blame someone (or something else) for their performance. They accept the outcome of each shot and prepare to execute the next shot with the same mental