The Right Frame of Mind

With the Race to Dubai entering its final furlong, there were a couple of occurrences which made me think about the mental side of golf and the impact that it has.

I wrote previously about misplaced confidence in my own golf game and the times that it has come back to bite me in the arse so it was extremely interesting to see two professional golfers at opposite ends of the 'Good Place Mentally' spectrum on the same course over the weekend.


Firstly Sergio Garcia. Everyone remembers the impact he made on the golfing world at the 1999 US PGA Championship - the outrageous recovery shot from behind the tree, the running up the fairway and, more importantly, making a certain Tiger Woods work bloody hard for his W. Finally, we were told, the European Tour has a star who can compete with Him and we looked forward to many a titanic battle over the years to come.

Now, whilst Sergio has enjoyed considerable success in his career, winning some impressive titles (2008 Players Championship probably top of the list) and holding an enviable Ryder Cup record, the engravers at the major championships have never got ahead of themselves when he's been in a winning position. At the 2007 Open at Carnoustie, this event looked like being 'his time' until his notoriously flaky putting stroke let him down, missing an eight-footer on the 72nd hole to let Padraig Harrington in to defeat him in a playoff. At the 2008 US Open, he was in the lead in the final round until a misjudgement at his 70th hole allowed that man Harrington in again. That said, he rose to #2 in the OWGR that year and looked set to continue.

Nobody would have foreseen the slump in his golf that was to follow, culminating in him missing the 2010 Ryder Cup victory at Celtic Manor (Garcia was a late addition to Colin Montgomerie's management team) and, effectively, taking a sabbatical from the game during 2010. Something had affected him and there can be no coincidence in the fact that this professionally dark time came after his split from Greg Norman's daughter Morgan-Leigh.

It is said that time is a great healer and, in Sergio's case, this is definitely true. Having had the break from the game to work on his putting stroke and clear his mind, he came back to qualify for the 2011 Open at Royal St Georges (extending his run of consective major appearances to 49) where he finished T-9th followed by a T-12th appearance at the US PGA Championship. The final piece of the jigsaw was his back-to-back 'home' victories in October - the Castello Masters followed by the Andalucian Masters - breaking a winless drought of more than three years. It was fantastic to see his utter dominance in Madrid, where he won by 11 strokes, followed by a gritty, determined, not-fazed-by-some-ropey-shots 1-stroke victory at Valderrama. The latter, especially, proved that his mind is free of the doubts and personal-life clutter that caused the problems in 2009/10. He will always have his little foibles when playing (gripping and re-gripping the club, pulling at his shirt, etc) but, for European golf ahead of the Ryder Cup in Chicago next year, his return to the top 20 in the world is bloody fantastic.



On the flip side of this coin is Graeme McDowell. 2010 was an incredible year for the stocky Northern Irishman. Winning the US Open at Pebble Beach, sinking the vital putt to secure the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, winning the Andalucian Masters at Valderrama and beating Tiger Woods at his own Chevron Challenge event contributed to a stellar season and put him firmly on the global golfing map and a career high of #5 in the OWGR.

In 2011, however, something is not quite right with G-Mac. Clearly it was always going to be a stretch to match the achievements of the previous season. He changed equipment during the close season (always a brave decision on the back of a great year) and has shown only flashes of the brilliance that so lit up last year. Having finished 3rd at the Dunhill Links Championship, it seemed like his up-and-down year was going to finish well, particularly with a return to Valderrama coming up. Unfortunately, it didn't really go to plan and, whilst he made it to the weekend, rounds of 81 & 82 took him to a 72 hole total of 309, a massive 25 over par and last place. I'm no golf coach, so I wouldn't profess to have an opinion on whether his technique has changed since last year, or whether he has picked up any bad habits, but something needs to get sorted for 2012.

The mental aspect of golf seems to have taken on greater prominence recently. G-Mac himself spoke of being in 'a great place' when he won the US Open and, clearly, continued throughout the rest of 2010. Another of McDowell's compatriots Darren Clarke was able to get himself into the right frame of mind to triumph at the Open at the age of 42, whilst Rory McIlroy, golf's latest wheelbarrow-filler, described the difference between his Augusta meltdown and his Congressional command was understanding what he needed to do. He was in the right frame of mind.



I am the Part-Time Golfer