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The Mind and How it Affects Performance On and Off of the Course

Jan 30, 2012 | Filed Under: General News   Share

A recent study, The Genworth Pro Caddy Report, commissioned by Genworth Financial the Official Statistics Partner of The European Tour, delved into the psychological side of professional European golf and provided some interesting insight as to how the psyche affects one’s game on and off of the course.  It highlighted the parallels between professional golf and the business world and identified several common characteristics such as changing conditions, the role played by opponents, the importance of self-belief and the setting of goals, as well as the need to deal with day experiences or performances swiftly in order to move forward.

The report revealed that despite playing at the highest level, over half (51%) of European Tour professionals felt that their performance was below plan. In addition, 48% of players who believed they were performing poorly were predominantly focusing on past performances and contaminating their mental state for the next tournament.

“This is an interesting study and I hope that more pros pay attention to the results,” said Gary Player.  “I have always believed that an essential part of winning is being able to forget a bad shot immediately and concentrate on hitting your next shot perfectly.  I have seen, on far too many occasions, players who literally let one shot ruin a round or an entire tournament.  This is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do in sport – not dwelling on the negative.  Most of the pros on tour are highly competitive people who by nature beat themselves up when they do not perform their best.  When you let your emotions get the best of you your game usually goes out the window,” he added.

Dr. Karl Morris, Sports Psychologist and Mind Coach to recent major winners Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, said of the findings: “Both professional golfers and business executives often fall into the same traps. When setting goals for the year we tend to focus on the end outcome goal, whether that is tournaments won or a sales target. If you measure success purely on the outcome you may end up being disappointed even though you might have performed well. More emphasis should be given to ensuring the correct processes are in place.

“When dealing with poor performances, many professional golfers fail to address their feelings of disappointment and hence allow these feelings to impact their future performance. Similarly in the business world, taking disappointment home with you affects family and social life, which starts a vicious circle and affects your work life in turn. Writing down your thoughts is a much better idea than dwelling on them – analyse what was good, what was not and how you can improve.”

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