Zen Golf: Mastering The Mental Game

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Don’t let the title scare you, no need to assume the lotus position and repeat incantations as part of your pre-shot routine.  What is presented in this book by Joseph Parent, a PGA Coach and Buddhist instructor, is a pragmatic approach to managing the mental aspect of your game to get out of your own way and let your golf skills provide you with the best chance for success on the golf course.

A good pre-shot routine is essential to getting consistency out of your intended shots but the mental aspect of that routine is the part many players seem to ignore.  We have all experienced how being impulsive, indecisive, and anticipating a bad result can wreck all the good intentions of our plan.  The question is how do you clear your mind, achieve focus on your intent, and play each shot within the moment to delimit the effect anxiety and fear can have on your results.

How do you deal with the negative thoughts that creep into your head that can predispose you to a bad outcome? His suggestion is that all thoughts going through your head are like traffic on a busy street, you cannot control them coming into the picture so you should not try to control them by forcing them out.  He says, “Simply let them come up and go by, neither inviting them to stay nor trying to get rid of them.”  The key is to allow ”last time I was here I  hit in that nasty bunker” to come and go and to let stay “left center ten feet left of the pin with an uphill putt”.  It is a simple process of mental sifting.

A corollary principle is cultivating “unconditional confidence” in your intentions.  This means not being overly judgmental based on your performance at any point during a round.  We cannot expect to hit every shot perfectly and we must be able to handle the result no matter what occurs.  With unconditional confidence “instead of assuming something (mechanical) is wrong ….and trying to fix it, we reflect on what may have interfered with our intention on that shot.  This approach makes it possible to quickly turn things around and play well again.”

His central thesis in this book is a mental management process he calls the PAR Approach-a way of thinking that focuses on Preparation, Action, and Response to Result.

Preparation requires clarity-a vivid image of the shot intended, commitment-being free of doubt and hesitation of intent, and composure-being focused and poised as you prepare for a shot.  Together these three elements give you total confidence in the intended outcome of your shot.

Action is about developing, honing, and trusting a process of swinging the club that turns over control from your thinking mind to your intuitive mind.  Trying to guide your swing with swing thoughts and principles has to be left on the practice ground. When you are on the course you have to trust a process you have developed that works.  As he says, “take care of the process and the results will take care of themselves”.

Response to Results is probably the most overlooked aspect of managing your mind on the golf course.  Most of us have a tendency to focus on the negative part of our results and vocalize the flaws to ourselves.  His advice is “the best responses are those that reinforce successes and help you learn from mistakes without getting down on yourself”.  We need to take the time to appreciate a good shot and focus on how well we executed what we planned.  He says, “reinforcing good shots with positive feelings….a minimum of emotional distress around poor shots….and refraining from beating yourself up, those ways of responding to results give you the best chance of success.”

I am sure a thoughtful reading of this book will help your performance on the golf course.  It will also increase the pleasure you get from playing the game by giving you a more reasonable perspective on expectation and evaluation of performance.

The proper view this book encourages is that  “our self worth as a human being doesn’t depend on how well or poorly we strike a golf ball.  We see our nature and our abilities as basically good and the difficulties we encounter as temporary experiences.”

These are words to live by and words to play by.

Zen Golf
Dr. Joseph Parent (2002)

Huh?

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In spite of the clamor over Hunter Mahan winning the Accenture Match Play and breaking the choke hold of the monkey on his back or Rory flirting with cosmic history of being #1 in the world at age 22, the real Cinderella story of the weekend was 21 year-old rookie John Huh completing his meteoric rise from nowhere by winning the Mayakoba Golf Classic in a eight hole playoff with tour veteran Robert Allenby. He shot an 8-under par 63 to come from seven shots back to make the playoff and then outlasted Allenby making 8 pars in the playoff.

Huh is an unknown entity out there. Born in NYC in 1990, the same year Allenby started his professional golf career, he moved with his parents back to Korea for 12 years. The family came back to the states and eventually settled in California where John devoted his early teenage years to the game he loved. Not following the typical development path, John did not play in very many prestigious amateur events, did not play any college golf, but decided to turn professional in 2008. For three years he toiled on the Korean Tour honing his skills and winning the 2010 Shinhan Donghae Open. He played the OneAsia Tour as well and finished 46th and 15th in their Order of Merit in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Last fall Huh went to the PGA Tour Qualifying School as a relative unknown and surprised everyone finishing 27th to earn his playing privileges on the PGA Tour for 2012.

What is most startling about this rookie debut is his instant success despite having never played in a PGA sanctioned event before. In 2012 he has played in five events, made every cut, finished top ten twice-6th at the Farmers Insurance and 12th the next week at Phoenix, and now won in his fifth start. At Torrey Pines Gary McCord called him “John Question Mark” as in “Who is this guy?”. He now has over $1.4 million in winnings and all of this without a glass slipper.

A top ten in a major or The Players in May and this story takes on Jeremy Lin proportion.

At this point I would say he is a “shoe-in” for Rookie of the Year.

February, 2012

Misinformation

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As you can read in John Paul Newport’s Wall Street Journal article “Golf’s Biggest Delusions”, perception and reality in this game can be miles apart.  The nine things he alludes to that people talk about all the time are just not true.

So the next time one of your buddies tells you to keep your head down or that golfers overseas always play in under three hours or that it is all about length on the PGA Tour you can tell them where to put that old husband’s tale.

(Click here to read John Paul Newport’s Golf’s Biggest Delusions)

John Paul Newport

Wall Street Journal

February, 2012

Spittin’ Image

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I am pretty sure Keegan Bradley got a text from Ponte Vedra late Sunday afternoon summoning him to the principal’s office.   After watching Keegan repeatedly drool on his Tommy Hilfiger shirt over the last nine holes Tim Finchem had to be concerned about stemming the rash of young players projecting lugies during PGA broadcasts.  This is a sport where they have shoved the chain smokers into a closet forcing them to hide their butts in their palms while on camera.

Keegan is bad enough with his shpilkus pre-shot routine-it brings back bad memories of Sergio’s 47-Waggle days.  But the spitting is downright gross.  Either they need to outfit Keegan with a Hilfiger drool bib and a spittoon on his golf bag or get him to learn to do his business behind a tree before he picks his club.  If the young kids pick up on this there won’t be a dry place for the Canadian Geese poop on the fairways of courses in the northeast.

Other than that the Northern Trust Open at Riviera was Survivor Pacific Palisades in Soft Spikes.  Following the horde of contenders on the back nine was like watching the hockey coaches try to tip toe to the bench in their leather loafers after the Zamboni Machine has done it’s due diligence between periods.  The chilly temperatures, encroaching gum trees, and some seriously punitive George Thomas bunkers left a pile of dazed guys lying flat on their backs staring up at the bottom of the Jumbo-Tron.

In the end it was Mickelson and Bradley’s improbable birdies on eighteen-there were only eight all day on the finishing hole and two of them came in this last group-that forced a playoff with the Fed Ex Cup Champ Bill Haas.  The playoff was decided on the short and treacherous tenth hole when all three players, knowing it was going to take a three to end the drama, tried to drive it on the green but put themselves in some serious bother.  Haas went for the croquet up and down pitching away from the hole and then buried a side-slinging 43-footer for the birdie and the win.

Finchem has to be pleased with the Sunday drama his sport has provided these last few weeks, but I think he will be considering adding the Emily Post Handbook to the welcome pack for the players next year.

February, 2012

Muni Respect

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The first time I visited a Municipal Course, I was astounded by the fury of the battle……
The gameness and concentration of those golfers was as fine a test of sportsmanship as I ever saw.  Everyone who aspires to concentration should play such a course.  These was no nonsense as “Please move your shadow off the line of my putt” or “Stand still while I play this shot”….It was an endurance contest, and it was played with perfect indifference to outside influence.

George C. Thomas
Architect of Riviera Country Club
Golf Architecture in America (1927)

Their Love Of The Game

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In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Rich Lerner did a wonderful piece on the Golf Channel from Cupid’s golf haven, Pebble Beach, called “A Valentine For The Game of Golf”.   It opened with a Dr. Suess quote, who once said of love, “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams”.

To which Lerner adds, “Golfers get that”.

This testimonial piece was a compilation of responses from players and celebrities on what they love about the game of golf.  There were a whole bunch of the little boy growing up with the game in their responses.  Their answers were wide ranging and thoughtful getting to the heart of why they are smitten by the game.

At the end Lerner concludes,  “It is much more than a game….it is a love of a lifetime”.

Got that right.

February 14, 2012

Note: Unfortunately the GC content life cycle of this piece has passed and it is no longer available for viewing…..our loss.

Isleworth Golf and Country Club

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Isleworth is a 600-acre private gated community surrounded by picturesque lakes and about 10 miles of private waterways.  It is ten minutes from the center of booming Orlando and provides these pros everything they are looking for in a residence community.  Except for one infamous middle-of-the-night fire hydrant incident back in November of 2009, there is rarely anything that disrupts the solitude of this place.

The schools are good, income taxes non-existent, major airport a drive and a five iron away,  tolerable weather ten months of the year, and a golf facility fine tuned to their every want and desire.  As a result, it is the home of a plethora of PGA and LPGA pros including John Cook, Stewart Appleby, Darren Clarke, J. B. Holmes, Paula Creamer, Annika Sorenstam, and Yani Tseng.  Other sports and entertainment stars and high worth individuals have purchased homes here as well so there is a real who’s who atmosphere on the property every day.

The Isleworth Golf and Country Club is the centerpiece of the community that was started by a group of investors in the mid 1980s.  The Tavistock Group subsequently took over the development in 1993 and worked to bring it up to a standard that would attract the golf professionals and high worth individuals for their permanent residences.  They built an exquisitely appointed 82,000 square foot club house that blends classic design with casual elegance.   From the locker room to the wellness center everything about this place speaks to daily needs of their members in an informal atmosphere of comfort.  Tavistock even appointed the property with distinguished pieces of lawn sculpture from artists like Henry Moore, Phillip Jackson, Eric Goulder, and Arturo Dimodica.

Charging Bull Greets You At The First Tee

To most guys the Champions Grill is the centerpiece of the Isleworth experience.  This grillroom is something to behold.  You walk down a spiral staircase from men’s locker room surrounded by the golf bags bearing names of the pros who are members at the club.  This leads you to an area with a manly wood appointed  bar and restaurant outfitted with comfortable seating and a flat screen TV everywhere you look.  The walls are covered with captivating memorabilia including plaques for each Major Championship with winners listed who are Isleworth members. Adjacent is a large recreation room with a putting green and a half court basketball court as it’s centerpiece.  Additionally you will see every boy toy ever invented including a pool table, ping pong table, video games, table top shuffleboard, dart boards, air hockey, and a golf swing simulator.  There are cushy spectator chairs horseshoeing each of those so there are lots of ways to settle a push bet on the back nine with your buddies.

The golf facility leaves no pebble unturned.  It includes a massive practice facility with reclusive areas where the pros can practice without disruption.  Tiger Woods got his own secluded pad on the driving range with an extra 50 yards of carry room so he doesn’t bomb any of the other patrons while practicing his stinger.  They have a two-acre short game area with replica bunkering from Augusta National and TPC Sawgrass and an 11,000 square foot putting green.  Plenty of room for the pro, the caddy, and a couple of hundred of their brand of shag balls for the daily practice grind.

The golf course was originally designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay and was subsequently modified extensively under the direction of the very capable architect Steve Smyers.    The course has a distinct Florida target-golf character to it-this was probably intentional to give the professionals a way to simulate the challenges they see during their regular work day.  It is a testing golf course with six sets of tees that can be stretched to as much as 7500 yards for those with masochistic proclivity.  At 6400 yards it is all most amateurs can handle so pick your teeing ground with proper forethought.

The most distinctive characteristic of this course is the very demanding driving areas.  Throughout you see harrowing bunkers hugging the corner of the doglegs adjacent to which is the most advantageous approach angle to the green.  But unlike other courses, the other side of the fairway provides little respite-there is no safe way to play off the tee on most of the holes.  You have to take on the challenge through the day if you want any chance of hitting these greens in regulation.

The course does not have very many stunning holes you will not forget but there are quite a number that will get your competitive attention.  Once you get over the greeting of the Charging Bull on the first tee you have a relatively routine opening hole.  But your heart beat will be prompted by the harrowing challenge of the “Cypress Chute” you have to negotiate on the par 3 second.  Two through four are the three lowest handicap holes on the front so reaching the fifth tee with a scorecard still in tact is your biggest challenge. A little bit of a breather over the next few holes brings you to Champions Point and a view of some really nice boat slips with their matching bungalows.   “Best of Bessie” is a very challenging par four at the eight and you close the opening nine plotting your way “Around the Lake” with another technical par four.

Three Monks Overlook The Front Drive

A bit of a ethereal moment as you leave the cart park next to nine and drive by the Three Monks on the front lawn of the clubhouse driveway.   Seems appropriate to mutter a little deferential prayer on your own behalf before heading to the back nine.

The back nine starts routinely enough but, like the front, you get a sizeable challenge on the next two holes.  The 11th  with its beautiful flower beds behind the green is the Kodak moment of the day.  But this is a full metal challenge with a 150 yard club-especially if the wind is influencing.  The 12th provides another daunting approach with the green wedged between a pond and a side hills on the right.  The par five 13th is a bit of a breather-more lakeside residential eye candy…..these people must have large families or extensive wait staffs.

From here to the end the holes a not bulky in length but they will challenge you constantly to execute well planned shots.  After an interesting short hole on sixteen, the last two are the hardest handicap holes on this side and they well deserve that distinction.  Both green settings are diabolical so the real challenge on each of them is at the end.  The final hole is a bear-this is two booming shots or a deft up and down if you need a par to wrestle away the back nine Nassau.

Challenging Green Arrangement At Par 5 17th

Isleworth, when taken in total,  is quite the golf experience.  If it presents itself as an opportunity just throw caution to the wind,  pay the ticket, and indulge yourself for the day in the life of the rich and famous.

Windermere, Florida

Architect: Arnold Palmer/Ed Seay (1986)
Steve Smyers (renovation)

Tees            Par    Yardage      Rating     Slope
Lewis          72       6765           72.9        139
Chase         72       6409          70.8         134

(Click here to review Isleworth hole-by-hole descriptions)

Phillin’ It Up

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I a sure Phil got all giddy when he heard he would be playing the final round on Sunday  at Pebble Beach with Tiger.  At this point in his career the only thing that matters to Phil is winning majors and beating Tiger head-to-head.  He had little concern with the fact that he was six shots back of Charlie Wi at the beginning of the day, his total focus would be on outplaying Tiger in the second to last group of the day.

It turned out to be less of a Duel at the OK Corral and more of a Massacre at Little Big Horn.  Phil shot 64 to Tiger’s 75 and won for his 40th time on the PGA Tour and his 4th time at Pebble Beach.  To paraphrase what Nick Faldo said on the broadcast, if it had been match play Phil torched him 7 & 5-it was over coming off the 13th green.

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This was vintage swash buckling Phil right from the beginning.  He went on a birdie-par-birdie-birdie-eagle run starting on the second hole on his way to shooting 31 on the front side.  Tiger self destructed with three bogies in a row on 7, 8, and 9.  You could have put a fork in him by the time he made the turn.

The back nine was more full-Phil-ment.  After Tiger holed it from the green side bunker on 12, Phil drained a long one to save par.  After a perfect drive, he took the spin off a dexterous knock-down nine iron and rolled it to within two feet of the Clark Kent pin position on 13.  On the pivotal par 5 14th Phil cozied a sand wedge to five feet for another birdie after Tiger took out a camera man airmailing the green on his way to another bogey.  One more bit of magic on 15 when Phil short-sided himself into the right bunker, blasted to 38 feet, and made another bomb across the green to keep his bogey-free round in tact.

The only un-Phil-like moment of the day was at 18 where, with a two shot lead and one hand on the trophy, Phil listened to Bones and hit 4 iron, 4 iron, wedge to four feet and made an exclamation point birdie to cap off a scintillating 64.

This was another one for the Mickelson family scrapbook.  Pebble holds a special place in his heart because Phil’s grandfather used to travel down from his home to caddy there a few eons ago.  Somehow the 15 cents a round his grandpa used to make seems to pale compared to $1.2 million filling up the Mickelson piggy bank and another tiger pelt for the study.

February, 2012

Spackler Defends At Pebble

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Carl Spackler, A.K.A. Bill Murray, will be defending his A T & T National Pro-Am Title this week at historic Pebble Beach with his professional partner D.A. Points.  If you recall, in a true Cinderella Story,  this unlikely duo opened with a 59 on Day One and went on to best the field by two over four days with a 35 under total of 251.

D.A. Points just so happened to notch his first professional win at the same time playing pretty flawlessly down the stretch with Murray as his alter ego.  He was one shot behind when he jarred a gap wedge for eagle on the difficult par five 14th and then followed it making a 30 footer on 15 for birdie.  Three pars coming in capped his 67 and a two shot win over Hunter Mahan.

The most riveting moment was Points facing a nervous six footer for par on 16.  When his caddy asked him how he felt he answered, “Not very good”.  At which point D.A. took a page from the Murray handbook.  He turned to partner who stood over a long putt from across the green and hollered at him, “The crowd would be really happy if you could make that”.    The crowd laughed approvingly and that seemed to break the tension.  After Murray narrowly missed his putt, Points made his six footer for par and sailed home from there for the win.

It was obvious at the end Murray seemed a bit uncomfortable in the role of the victor-he was uncharacteristically serious.  When asked if his partnership with Points was a new Pro-Am tandem he said, “I’m thinking of turn pro but I probably won’t.  It’s really nice to play with a gentlemen.  He’s a good person.  He’s from Illinois. He’s Lincoln-esque in stature and unfailingly polite”.

Having had a full year to recharge his comic competitive batteries I suspect Carl will be back to his old self trying to write the Cinderella Sequel.

February, 2012