Golf Psychology: Case Study

[Foxholer]

I think psychology is definitely something I could use. How can I birdie a 430yd par 4 or have an eagle putt on a par 5 (this happened in my last round) yet take a 7 on a par 3 which then leads to club chucking and 2 more bad holes before I recompose myself

I wish 'Norman' well and shall be following with interest. Luckily I have my Icey wedges fitting coming up so thats good for 5 shots off the handicap

FWIW. Remember that forged clubs tend to dent easier than cast ones!

 

[vkurup]

If he does not listen.. hit him with your new custom Mizzys.. :ears:

 

[Andy808]

I didn't, I'm just going on the basis that 26 to 18 isn't a huge leap for someone who practices quite a lot and has a decent short game. Wasting shots due to fats and thins are a technique problem, not a mental one IMvHO.

I'm not saying psychology doesn't have a place in golf, I'm just not convinced it is really needed at this stage.

I have to disagree with this from personal experience.
The year before last I was constantly told I should be off a lower handicap and it was this that and the next that was holding me back. After some serious deliberation and several chats with my pro he told me most of it was in my head.
I worked on course management quiet a bit with him and spent a lot of time reading up on the mental side of the game with some surprising revelations about myself.
I have worked on both but my mental state when I'm going out to play has a far bigger effect on my results than anything else.
When I can get my head in the right place I play far far better than any other time.

IMHO it will help any level of golfer to get your mental game in good shape and will show in results and handicap.

Good luck Norman I hope you get to where you want to be.

 

[Dave B]

Greg

Under Construct you've categorised mental toughness, trust and reaction to bad shots, should this not simply be banded as mentality?

The reason I ask is because the key to your whole project will be determined by Normans determination, application and ability to understand what he is doing wrong and why. None of these constructs are listed. Your job as the Psychologist is to help him with his journey and reach a greater understanding.

You have listed trust, however the key to success in any sport is confidence. You trust your equipment, you trust your pro, you trust your psychologist, you trust your ability. However to truly succeed you need to be confident and this is achieved through a combination of success and experience.

One or two have questioned does Norman really need a golf psychologist and I may be in that camp. The reason I say that is because a good teacher uses different techniques to give the student a greater understanding of the subject matter and how to relate to it, so that he can truly understand it.

A golf pro looks at all aspects of the game including the mentality side so my questions is twofold, one, what can you give a golfer that a pro can't and two, what is the possibility that the thought trains you try to implement, could create a conflict of interests with what the pro is trying to achieve?

I can understand a sports psychologist for a professional golfer who has lost his confidence, however for a golfer who doesn't have a grasp of the basic fundamentals, I think his money would be better spent learning the basics with a good pro.

 

[G_Mulligan]

Greg

Under Construct you've categorised mental toughness, trust and reaction to bad shots, should this not simply be banded as mentality?

The reason I ask is because the key to your whole project will be determined by Normans determination, application and ability to understand what he is doing wrong and why. None of these constructs are listed. Your job as the Psychologist is to help him with his journey and reach a greater understanding.

You have listed trust, however the key to success in any sport is confidence. You trust your equipment, you trust your pro, you trust your psychologist, you trust your ability. However to truly succeed you need to be confident and this is achieved through a combination of success and experience.

One or two have questioned does Norman really need a golf psychologist and I may be in that camp. The reason I say that is because a good teacher uses different techniques to give the student a greater understanding of the subject matter and how to relate to it, so that he can truly understand it.

A golf pro looks at all aspects of the game including the mentality side so my questions is twofold, one, what can you give a golfer that a pro can't and two, what is the possibility that the thought trains you try to implement, could create a conflict of interests with what the pro is trying to achieve?

I can understand a sports psychologist for a professional golfer who has lost his confidence, however for a golfer who doesn't have a grasp of the basic fundamentals, I think his money would be better spent learning the basics with a good pro.

Wow ok that is quite a post so I guess I will try to answer it one point at a time.

Firstly, I did not list the constructs my client did. These are the areas he feels are important to a golfer and his current perceived ability. Mentality is a very broad and rather vague construct that while it may encapsulate a number of areas it does not really help to pinpoint a particular problem.

Norman’s determination and application will become evident throughout the process. If I feel these are lacking I may bring them up at a later date but for now his infectious enthusiasm for the project and determination to succeed is not something I am concerned about just now. His ability to understand what he is doing wrong and why is very much part of my job. It is a fine line between giving the client enough information that he understands the reasons behind the problem and also my thinking with regards to the solution without overloading him with too much technical information. Thank you for the reminder as to what my job is though.

Confidence is a very broad, global term such as ‘I am a confident person’ or ‘I am a confident golfer’ as such it often lacks definition and understanding. Self-efficacy is a much more specific construct to an individual action. ‘I am a confident chipper or putter’ for example. You can be confident (or efficacious) in one area and not in others. Trust and confidence are closely related but not mutually exclusive. My client may not be fully confident in his driving yet but I plan to increase his trust in his swing, and his ability as there is nothing to be gained by swinging a club with your head full of doubt.

A person attains confidence as you state, by combining success and experience. What comes first the success or the confidence? Can you be confident before you succeed, or must you succeed before you can become confident? What if your experience leads you to believe you are bad at something? How will that instil confidence? Confidence, while important, is not the only key to success in sport. Quinten Hann was a confident snooker player. He was perhaps too confident in his ability and did not practice. He lacked motivation to put in the hard work and he did not succeed as a professional snooker player. He was certainly not lacking in confidence though.

Not really sure of the next point you are making so I will simply say that I fully intend to give my student a greater understanding of, and help him relate to, the subject matter using a number of techniques.

A golf pro for the most part looks at the part of the game you ask them too. A large majority of the time I would say this was on the full swing, unless you specifically ask for a short game or playing lesson. Even then this may not include all aspects of these areas and may ignore many others. As for the mental game it would be very much pot luck whether you come across a pro who has a good understanding of the mental side of the game. Some may disregard it as unimportant, others may think they know about it but only have a basic grasp of key psychological aspects and no idea how to instil them long term in the player.

I do not believe there will be any sort of conflict between myself and the teaching pro. I will not be teaching any golfing technique and will entirely defer to the coaches expertise in this area. What I can do is help to devise drills and create an environment where these techniques can be ingrained properly, build confidence and trust in the new techniques and help Norman take them to the course when under pressure. My aim is entirely the reverse of a conflict. I want to work with the pro to make his lessons as effective as possible. It may be very frustrating for a pro if a student takes a few lessons and does not practice properly. The actions are not ingrained and do not feel natural. They then return to their old methods after a while and thinks the lessons were ineffective and a waste of time and money. I will be discussing with the coach ways to ensure this doesn't happen.

As I say in my blog post, my client has had lessons in the past and feels he has a good grasp of the basics but just can’t produce this consistently on the course. He is having a new set of lessons in conjunction with our sessions so that both technique and mental aspects of the game can be addressed at the same time. This I believe will give him the very best chance of succeeding in his goals.

 

[vkurup]

Just started reading 'The Unstoppable Golfer' by Rotella... a lot of things mentioned above are aligned. Interestingly, he puts confidence before skill. (warning, i have only done about 25 pages)