As a golf instructor and founder of the ExperienceGolf coaching academy, Elena King (pictured) has long been intrigued with why one person plays better than another despite similar skill sets.
“Technique is cool and technology is cool,” she says. “But there’s always been that so-called ‘It Factor’ that the Caitlin Clarks, the Michael Jordans, the Tiger Woodses, the Scotty Schefflers of the world have. The golf technique is not always perfectly sound, but, boy, they get the job done. What’s the whole package that makes someone perform at their best?”
So King has spent years studying the work of performance researchers and psychologists, working with Vision 54 golf gurus Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, even joining forces with the late sports psychologist Dr. Denise McGuire on “Get in the Zone” presentations for golfers. “There’s a lot more to golf,” she notes, “than just the technique.”
But who teaches us about any of that? We spend the season going from round to round, checking the weather so we’re dressed right, double-checking the tee sheet to ensure we make our start time. Often, we’re teeing off so early we don’t even warm up. Maybe we squeeze in a 30-minute swing lesson here and there, when we’re really frustrated, and try to remember the tips as we stand on the first tee.
But here we are in the offseason, when we cannot post our scores and have time to take a breath and work on what King calls our “performance skills,” the human and nontechnical aspects of our game. Check out this list of common flaws, followed by an impressive library of resources to repair them:
Focusing On Things Out of Our Control: Take a look at the chart for a long list of things that distract or upset us over which we have no control. There are pace of play, course conditions, the weather, and many more. In general, King says, “I think people get hung up on what other people are doing.” Keeping focus on the list of things in the middle circle, those 100 percent under our control, can only improve our performance. “I think meditation is a good thing here, working hard on being present,” says King. And this links to the next common flaw…
Negative Self-Talk: “I really focus on how self-talk creates or undermines your confidence,” King says. “Just pay attention to what you’re saying to yourself, whether you’re playing pickleball and calling yourself a dummy, or I stink at cooking, or just in conversation you’re self-deprecating. Watch what you’re saying, how you’re saying it and how it affects you.” For example: Try “I’m working on improving my putting stroke” or “I hit a really good putt, it just didn’t go in” vs. “I’m a terrible putter” and “I can’t make any putts over 4 feet.”
FOPO: This one featured prominently in King’s presentation at the Women’s Summit. “Women want to be liked, to please, to be accepted,” she said then. “We don’t want to be embarrassed. And so fear shows up on the tee.” That is “Fear of Other People’s Opinion.” Is the opinion of another something we can control? Not really. Consider King’s list of elite athletes – Clark, Jordan, Woods, Scheffler. Do they try to be liked, to please, to be accepted? Performance psychologist Michael Gervais says the first rule of mastery is “stop worrying about what people think of you.”
Lousy Attitude: With this one, King notes, so often “you just paid $100 to be miserable.” In her coaching, enjoyment of the game rates at the top of performance talking points. “At the end of the day, does it matter whether you shoot 96 or 98? No. Did you learn something about you or your game? Did you have fun? Did you enjoy it? There are so many miserable people out there playing.” Plenty of experts contend that enjoyment and learning enhance performance, not vice versa. King advises that we cultivate a more curious mindset about our games, focusing on what we learned and what felt different rather than judging good-bad.
HELPFUL RESOURCES
Of course, we can spend hours this winter just lying on the couch and percolating about all this, downloading every single one of the many golf books on the mental game. A better use of snow season might be to immerse ourselves in some of King’s favorite resources – not all of them golf-specific—for shifting our focus from the things beyond our control to those over which we have power or give us power. Most are available for free online or in your library.
“Finding Mastery,” the podcast of Dr. Michael Gervais, mentioned above. Gervais specializes in high-performance psychology, and he interviews stars of not only sports but leadership, meditation and even sleep science to explore human potential and mindset. And if you’re trying to figure out how to stop worrying about what other people think of you, he wrote an entire book on that, “The First Rule of Mastery.”
“Easier Said Than Done: The Undeniable, Tour-Tested Truths You Must Know (and Apply) to Finally Play to Your Potential on the Golf Course,” a book by Dr. Rick Jensen. This sports psychologist has trained the brains of champions in golf, tennis and the Olympics, and in these 116 pages he shares his 12 truths – easier to know, of course, than to apply.
“Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game,” a book by Dr. Joseph Parent. Parent got his PhD from CU and is the answer to “Who coached both a man and a woman to No. 1 in the world?” Those were Vijay Singh on the PGA Tour and Christie Kerr on the LPGA. These days, anyone can schedule a video one-on-one with him.
“Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible,” a book by golf coach Fred Shoemaker. “Average golfers practice hour after hour with many thoughts,” he writes, diagramming a golfer standing over the ball with many thoughts. “Then they step onto the first tee and ask their minds to be clear, calm, and focused! Can’t you see what a joke this is?” There’s a companion book on putting, and a two-hour video.
“Every Shot Must Have a Purpose,” the signature Vision54 book by Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott. Their focus is “non-technical, human skills, “ with chapter titles such as: Anger Makes Us Stupid, Send Your Mind on Vacation, Make Pressure Your Friend. More books, videos and podcasts followed that one and can be found at vision54.com.
“The Power of Vulnerability,” a 2010 Ted Talk by Dr. Brene Brown with more than 5 million views. This one’s not golf-centric but does delve into the concept of how we sabotage our learning by pretending to know it all already. A research professor at the University of Houston, she has continued to study the topic and in 2019 filmed the Netflix special “The Call to Courage.”
“Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are,” a 2012 Ted Talk by social psychologist Amy Cuddy. Cuddy’s empowering premise, that body language influences not only how others see us but how we see ourselves, sounds a little bit like “The Secret.” Extend it to golf and you might get something like: Carry yourself like a winner and you become a winner. And, move like you’re enjoying the game and you’ll enjoy the game. Her first book, “Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges,” has sold more than half a million copies. There’s more at amycuddy.com.