Sport Psychology Tactics - The Psychological Profile Of Elite Golfers
About the Author
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & performance specialist. He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), PTSD, ADD / ADHD and achieve flow states through the techniques of Brainspotting & Neurofeedback. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Introduction: Psychological Profile Of Elite Golf Athletes
When athletes study the traits of their successful counterparts within their field of performance, they are doing so with the hopes of replicating their success. One area where athletes work extensively to copy their colleagues is through understanding psychological characteristics that are associated with performance excellence. There is a significant amount of overlap between all the different sports and successful psychological characteristics, but I want to take some time today to review unique mental qualities of elite golfers.
Based on my experience helping elite golfers improve their mental performance, I have found that the most successful individuals demonstrate the following behaviors: extreme commitment to cross-training and strength & conditioning; regularly engaging and enhancing their mental training routines; and always finding ways to embody the mindset of being a ‘hunter’ rather than being hunted. Let’s go into more detail about each of these traits starting with understanding the extreme commitment to cross-training and strength & conditioning.
Part I. Commitment To Cross-Training and Strength & Conditioning
While there is an extensive amount of walking that occurs in golf, the actual performance within the game requires mostly explosive power. This means that a vast majority of the golf performance lies in training what is called the phosphagen energy system. The phosphagen energy system is involved with creating large amounts of ATP after explosive movements in order to resupply the athlete’s Type II muscle fibers with energy. Elite golf athletes understand this, and make sure that a vast amount of their strength & conditioning is focused on developing these motor units and enhancing this energy system’s potential.
Elite golf athletes also make sure that they continue to develop their athleticism through two key additional methods: cross-training & sport specific movement based exercises. I have previously written about cross-training, but essentially during recovery periods of ‘off-time’ (which there rarely is in golf), golfers make sure that they are participating in other sport based movements to decrease over-reliance on specific body parts and movement patterns. Elite golf athletes also select what I refer to as ‘high ROI’ exercises. For instance a transverse med ball throw would be more advantageous than a plyometric because it is more similar to golf performance movements. This type of thinking, and most importantly the dedication towards this thinking is what separates elite players from the rest.
Part II. Regimented Mental Training
Golf is a game of both physical and mental toughness. While physical training can help golfers improve their swing and accuracy, mental training can help them to stay focused, manage their emotions, and make better decisions under pressure. That is why elite golf athletes take the time to work on this area of their game outside of practicing on the course. Mental training can be done through a variety of methods, including visualization, goal setting, EMDR, Brainspotting, Binaural Beats, Neurofeedback, Biofeedback and relaxation techniques. Here are some of the benefits of mental training that elite golfers have relied on:
Improved focus: Mental training can help golfers to improve their focus and concentration, which can help them to stay in the present moment and make better swing decisions.
Reduced stress: Mental training can help golfers to reduce stress and anxiety, which can help them to perform better under pressure.
Improved confidence: Mental training can help golfers to improve their confidence, which can help them to make better swing decisions and execute them more effectively.
Increased motivation: Mental training can help golfers to stay motivated and focused on their goals, even when things are tough.
Part III. Always Hunting The Competition
When elite golfers become ‘elite’ they move from trying to play ‘catch up’ to trying to maintain the lead. When golfers begin to experience this type of success, they can feel as though they are ‘being chased’ and that golf eventually becomes more of a grind than something to enjoy. What I have found in my work with elite golf athletes is that they try to maintain the hunting mindset rather than feeling as if they are being hunted. What are some of the ways they do this?
First, they take a big picture approach. What this means is that instead of thinking that they only of 3 or 4 holes left in a tournament, they think about the hundreds if not thousands of holes that they have left in their career. The mindset completely changes when you start to see the ‘forest from the trees’. Finally, the second that these types of athletes feel as if they need to start being conservative in their shot selection is when they know the pressure is starting to get to them. So instead of having the mindset of playing ‘not to lose’, they put the pressure on their pursuers and force their peer competitors to have to maintain aggressive play just in order to maintain pace with them.
Note To Reader:
If you are an athlete reading this segment of the TRAINING REPORT, hopefully this content was helpful! I put the Training Report together because I felt like many of the discussions on issues such as the Yips/mental blocks, strength training & other subject matter on athlete performance concepts were really missing the mark on these ideas (e.g. how trauma is the direct cause of the Yips). If you are interested in learning more, make sure to subscribe below for when I put out new content on issues related to sport psychology & athlete performance! Also, if you are looking to work with a mental performance specialist, you are in the right place! USE THIS LINK to reach out to me to see if my services are the right fit for your goals!
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