“Golf is not a game of Perfect” is the name of a book by the renowned sport psychologist Bob Rotella.
In it, Rotella gives an insight into the mindset of a typical amateur golfer and sets about breaking down the barriers he or she may face on a golf course and replaces them with a constructive mental program of solutions. If his advice is correctly applied should better results on the golf course should follow.
However, just as the title suggests, golf is not a game of perfect, neither too are most professional athletes, especially golfers, whose performances can be closely correlated to their confidence in themselves and their game at any time. Tournament golf at best is a very technical sport. It requires a player in any one round to perform a multiplicity of shots over a long period of time in inconsistent conditions (weather, crowds etc), with no second chances for redemption. Over time, consistency comes from long hours grooving a method coupled with experience gained from prior events, but all of that is for nought if you simply have not got the talent or more importantly the temperament.
Pádraig Harrington is Ireland’s greatest ever golfer. He has been a consistent winner over the years both as an amateur and as a professional but his remarkable career entered another stratosphere with his three victories in golf’s major championships, namely the British Open (2) and the USPGA. In 2008, he could rightly be regarded as the best golfer in the world, despite his world ranking of 3, behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. At that point in his career his confidence was at an all time high and it was predicted that he had the game to become a consistent “Major” winner.
History has shown us that this was not to be the case and today as Harrington continues to struggle with his game week after week, one has to ask the question if we will ever again see him competing for major championships.
Today he is ranked 35th in the world, hardly a true endorsement of his talent nor for all the hard effort he has put into the game over the past couple of years. That said, there is no emotion in the rankings and Padraig knows this only too well. He also knows that in the end it will be up to him to resurrect his career.
Much has been made of the swing changes that Pádraig has embarked on over the past couple of years and I for one feel that he now is actually swinging the club a lot better in that his transition from the top of his swing is a lot smoother resulting in far greater accuracy off the tee. This can also be seen in his stats so far this year for his rounds played so all bodes well there. One of the biggest adjustments he has had to make over the past year has been how to deal with the removal of “square grooves” from the professional golf tours. Padraig was a master of his trade with the old grooves and his scrambling was legendary but with today’s wedges he simply will not survive unless he is consistently hitting more greens. Putting has always been a strength of Padraig’s so I have little fear for him there as long as his mental attitude is right.
Padraig has traditionally been very strong mentally, but since the commencement of the new season we are seeing huge inconsistencies in his performances which say a lot to me about his mind set. Whether he is still uncomfortable with his new swing changes of not, Pádraig knows that on the course he needs to focus solely on executing his shots and getting the best possible score out of the day. That is not what is happening as his last rounds of 78 and 75 in his last two tournaments will testify
So what does he need to do? In order to consistently regain his competitiveness, he has to go back to the mental routine basics. He has to clear his mind from all technique and focus solely on a specific target. He has to focus solely on his pre-shot routine and commit to executing his shots regardless of whether he is feeling uncomfortable or not. If necessary he should even create a new pre-shot routine to freshen things up. The key thing is that he must consistently commit to “pulling the trigger” when it is time to do so.
He also has to set re-evaluate his goals. Where winning another major championship was a realistic goal in 2009, his goals now need to be more realistic and time framed. So for example, he may set a goal of getting to the quarter-finals in the World Matchplay event this week and a further three top ten finishes and one top five finish before the Masters. In other words he needs once again to commit to building a solid foundation for himself in terms of his performances, just as he had done prior to his major championship successes in 2007 & 2008 and as Lee Westwood did when resurrecting his career so spectacularly over the past decade.
Harrington, will be happy that he does not have as far to travel back as Westwood had to get back to the top, but he will also be cognisant of the fact that littered through the history of professional golf there have been many of the games greatest names like Lyle, Ballesteros, Baker-Finch and Duval, who once they lost their confidence in their own ability were never truly able to get back as dominant players again. Harrington has both the ability and the mental fortitude to overcome his inconsistent form of the past couple of seasons.
Time will only tell if he will remain focussed and patient enough!!.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/6bwAdHAV0bw/post.aspx
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