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I don't generally write about golf when writing for hockey
but I believe all athletes can draw from examples of other sports. And even if
you are not a golf fan or like my old roommate doesn't even consider it a sport
at all, I think you will understand the importance of certain mental aspects of
emotional intelligence and maybe learn from the examples. I'll finish the series I started last week, I promise.
Yesterday April 9th, 2012 I sat back and watched a fairly dramatic Masters Golf Tournament
to its conclusion. It was an enjoyable afternoon. There was drama and both good
and bad play. I hadn't watched the Masters in years for one reason or another.
Just timing really as it has always been one of my favorite golf tournaments.
I've seen remarkable play at Augusta and remarkable meltdowns. I've seen
dramatic shots that ripped the green jacket off of the apparent winner and I've
seen apparent winners toss the jacket away with shots that are normally the
jurisdiction of high handicap players. I've witnessed crushing defeats and
glorious victories. My favorite moment was in 1986 with Jack Nicklaus winning
at the age of 46.
So why am I writing about yesterdays Masters. Not because of the
drama of Bubba Watson winning the two hole sudden death playoff even though his
approach shot was remarkable. Yes I do think there were a few interesting
psychological competencies that are always demonstrated during highly
pressurized matches, but there was more at this one. Not more pressure or more
instances where we could see them, but for me something more interesting.
I will interject a twitter argument I had with a sport
psychology researcher while we were tweeting away about the match. He pointed
out that Bubba Watsons shot that basically won the Masters was not a
demonstration of mental toughness because if he were mentally tough he would
not have put his drive in such a bad spot to begin with. This is just another
case of a researcher not having a good understanding of sports. While I believe
there is much more to mental toughness as I have written quite often about, I
do think it was an example of resiliency an important competency of emotional
intelligence and mental toughness. I will of course state that we don't know
from what we say on TV had anything to do with any psychological construct
other than to say it might have been a great example of resiliency. That in
fact is how I use anything seen from sports events in working with athletes.
They are stories that teach lessons about things we want athletes to
understand. What actually happened we don't have an understanding about unless
we have the opportunity to talk with the athlete and even then the information
would be questionable. But as an example of behavior we want another athlete to
emulate, it provides a great story and as such is a wonderful teaching tool. So
to my twitter friend, I'm glad you are out there doing research. I hope it is
useful to those of use that work in the real world.
Back to the Masters and why I was so intrigued. One of the first
things I heard during the broadcast was the word visualization. Not once but
twice in succession talking about a golfer. This was followed shortly with
remarks about how calm the golfer is and comments about his breathing. As I
paid attention during the tournament I heard more and more references to
psychological constructs related to performance. Hearing one or two during a
tournament is no big thing, but it seemed to me that there was a definite
tendency towards the mental picture of a golfer. I've watched tournaments for
years both on TV and in person and usually the discussion is about swing
mechanics. The only time the announcers focus on mental attributes is when a
player melts down for the world to see. This was definitely different. I heard
discussions about stress, anxiety, focus, calmness, breathing, visualization,
imagery, emotion and other skills. I have to wonder out loud, this is as loud
as I can be, if it was part of their show notes or just a new trend especially
with so many golfers working with sport psychology consultants like myself.
AS for what I saw at the end of the tournament. I saw two
golfers hit bad drives on the 2ndplayoff hole. I won't say it was stress. It could have
been something as ridiculous as just a slip in footing. The next shots I will
use as examples. Louis Oosthuizenwas in a better position for his next
shot. He left it short. Stress, loss of focus, poor club selection or a bad lie
could all have caused the ball not to carry to the green. Watson had to hood a
wedge 155-165 yards and hook the ball 40 yards to hit the green. He did and
basically put himself in the driver's seat. Oosthuizenwould have had to
sink his putt to regain control and instead put the ball past the hole. At that
point the tournament belonged to Watson. The construct I will use regardless of
what actually happened is resiliency. Watson hit a bad shot and needed a great
one to recover. Golf is an unfair game and sometimes you hit shots that don't
go where you want them to go. How you recover is how you succeed. This is one
of the keys to emotional intelligence. Bad things happen in every sport. Not
just because of stress, but often because of the good play of others and it is
how you recover that will dictate how successful you ultimately become in
anything you do.
Last week LA Laker Kobe Bryant went like 0-14 in a game and then
hits the game winning 3 point shot. People don't bounce back unless they are
resilient. There will always be examples of remarkable athletes and great
performances, but as people are rarely perfect, they most always need to bounce
back from some adversity. Resiliency can be developed within you. I suspect
it's worth a shot.
This is not just for golf, it is for hockey too.
Jr. Hockey.com Special
Offering for just a short
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Since I now
have some 19 post on JuniorHockey.com I suspect you have all read my bio by now. I am
available for workshops, team and individual consultation, assessment and as a keynote
speaker. My new book is called "The Athlete within You- a mental approach
to sports and business" It is for athletes and non athletes working to
achieve more in sports and life. http://themental-game.com/
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