5 Keys to Mental Toughness for Junior Golfers |
Mental Game Essentials
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| by Jeff Troesch |
If you have any interest in seeing first hand
the impact that mental toughness has on sport
performance, go no further than the PGA or
LPGA Qualifying tournaments or “Q-School”.
Each year for the past several years, I have
worked with players on site during this
event. A great many of the conversations
that the players have are a rehashing of
their performance this past year on the PGA,
LPGA, Nationwide, or mini-tour circuits. What
I have heard frequently are things that could
help the junior golfer get a head start in
his or her career.
In attempting to describe why they hadn’t
reached their outcome goals for the season I
hear these professional players repeatedly
talk to one another about “trying too
hard”, “not letting it happen out
there”, “playing tentative” and many other
frequently used mental game phrases. The
challenge for many of these professionals is
not only to sharpen their swings and putting
strokes for this critical week, but to
sharpen their mental games as well. The
players who do well in Q-School are the ones
that will follow some basic rules about the
mental game. Each of these also has
application for the junior golfer:
1. Keep each shot in perspective.
This is
especially true in the 108-hole Final Stage
at PGA Tour School. Q-School, of all
tournaments, is understood to be a marathon
and not a sprint. There is no rational
reason to be unnerved by a bad hole or two.
Similarly, the junior golfer has years and
years of opportunities ahead. There is no
particular shot in any tournament that
is “life or death”.
2. Focus on the task rather than the
outcome. This is probably the most
difficult
of the “basics” for players to follow. It is
natural to think about the result and then
the consequences of the result. This
thinking will not help get the job done.
Whenever these thoughts come to mind, replace
them with thoughts of the immediate task at
hand.
3. Breathe. Even the best in the
world
get tense in this type of situation. That
tension can increase a player’s tendency to
hold his breath in anticipation of a shot or
a putt. This then impacts muscle tension
even more, and potentially affects his
ability to swing the club smoothly. Deep
breaths = slower heart rate and less
physiological tension. Creating a habit of
doing this as a junior player will be
invaluable as your golf career progresses.
4. Remember that you cannot control
things. Anyone who plays this game knows
that something unexpected happens in nearly
every round. A great tee shot lands in a
divot, a club you’ve been hitting well all
week suddenly starts getting shaky, or a two-
foot putt is missed. The successful players
in Q-School and elsewhere will recognize that
they have control only over their preparation
and reactions, and not over anything else.
If they know they’ve prepared the best they
could for each shot, and know that they are
capable of controlling their reaction after
each shot, they’ve done all they can possibly
do to achieve their goals. Move on to the
next one.
5. Play to succeed. Nearly every
year
there is a player or two held up at the end
of Q-School as an example of a late
tournament collapse. In nearly all of those
instances, the player interviewed will speak
of having thoughts of “trying to hold on”
or “trying not to make a big number”. Many
players will have a tendency to play to avoid
mistakes and/or prevent something bad from
happening. The players who are successful
are those who are confident in their
abilities to go out and get the job done, and
will be playing to succeed rather than to
avert failure.
These mental game essentials will help you as
a junior player ingrain habits that can help
you reach the ultimate golf goals for which
you strive!
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