“Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game’s two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself.” – Jack Nicklaus (Champion Golfer)

The reality of playing golf on tour is that you are always searching for a competitive edge over the golf course you’re playing and ultimately your opponent which doesn’t really make it that different from any other stick and ball sport, where a score is involved, except for one important qualification; on the pro golf tour you have to shoot consistently low golf scores just to make cuts in tournaments before you can make any money.

In other words you don’t get a dime for playing less than your best for four days.

So every moment that you are not competing at a golf tour event somewhere you’re on the practice fairway and practice green finding ways to sharpen, refine and develop your golfing skills in an effort to make more cuts, more money and the opportunity to play in the big league on a major golf tour.

In essence you’re practicing your golf skills exclusively to perform better on the golf course.

Design Your Golf Practice
You practice so you can become so skilled at playing golf that you make a lot more cuts than you miss, which translates into a lot more money in the bank account and the possibility of winning golf tournaments.

So I‘d like to share with you a key distinction I learned about how top tour golfers practice effectively;

“You must practice in such a way that there is a high probability that you will perform better on the golf course. “

Another way of thinking about it is like this; “you design your practice sessions solely to improve your playing performances.”

I know that this might seem quite obvious to you but this is not what most of the golfers I’ve observed do when they practice at golf ranges. I’m sure that at some level they genuinely want to improve their golf skills to improve their performances, but they don’t think about designing their golf practice for improvement deliberately enough.

Perfect Match Practice
When you practice your golf skills you are attempting to modify or adjust an aspect of your physical behaviour by conditioning a new set of behaviours that you can rely on when it really counts, through a large quantity of highly focused repetition.

I’m sure that you can see that this shouldn’t be taken lightly? You need to be absolutely sure that the information you’re using is the perfect match for your particular problem. Also you cannot improve your skill set if you’re dividing your attention between trying to perfect a particular movement and also trying to hit your shot to a target on the golf range.

The Golf Practice Multi-tasking Myth
In the workplace this would be called multi-tasking and a raft of recent research shows that splitting your attention between tasks significantly reduces your effectiveness to perform optimally in the different tasks you’re focusing on.

“It is a myth to think you can work on improving some aspect of your golf swing whilst at the same time you’re trying to hit your golf ball to a target.”

But this is precisely what the vast majority of amateur golfers do.

The problem could be that golfers are confused about what the right golf practice method is. With all the information available through golf instruction books, DVD’s, golf magazines and golf instruction online it’s a real challenge trying to find information that is highly relevant to your needs.

Relevance then Repetition
When I played golf on tour I discovered that golf practice was really about continually finding ways to improve my bottom line results. So you are always zeroing in on the ideal practice method or drill because you’re travelling continually and you need to make sure that the time you invest in your improvement is highly specific and manageable.

So it’s not unusual to see a professional golfer working on one particular drill for a year or more. Since any physical change requires literally thousands of repetitions in order to build up sufficient memory, changing a weak skill requires a pro tour player to practice the drill whenever he/she gets the opportunity – which is often.

They will practice with a ball and without a ball, and they will practice in front of mirrors in their hotel room or windows at the airport; literally anywhere they can perform the practice task that leads them to a new and desired behaviour.

When they practice they practice with a level of intensity that closely matches or simulates a real competitive situation.

Practice Like it Matters
“Perfect practice makes perfect” is a common cliché in sports, business and life but doesn’t really describe at all what perfect practice is, which just makes it easier for most golfers to perform “practice” without the “perfect” part.

I believe that the ‘perfect’ component is to perform your golf practice with a level of intensity that closely matches or simulates a real competitive situation.

This means that you make sure that the entire practice routine is exactly the same routine you use when you play on the golf course.

Instead of mindlessly blasting away at golf ball after golf ball you thoughtfully and carefully practice each stroke like nothing else in the world matters as much. I have observed this first hand with some of the greatest golfers in the world.

What Jack Nicklaus Taught Me About Deliberate Practice
When I was a young assistant professional my idol Jack Nicklaus came to our club to play in our national championship and that week I was fortunate to work at the driving range where I got my first look at how great tour golfers practice to perform.

Jack Nicklaus was a study in concentration and not one golf ball he hit was wasted. He hit each practice shot like it really mattered to him and this practice method required his total concentration. He worked on controlling his ball flight so that the ball flew with a similar trajectory and spin shape nearly every time.

Where I observed other professionals chatting away with their friends on the range, Jack Nicklaus seemed to me to be the one serious figure who although very pleasant when someone acknowledged him was there for a very specific purpose, he was there to prepare to perform to the best of his ability.

Golf Practice is Not a Social Experience
He was not there for a social engagement he was there to work at his craft so he could take it to the course and perform. Golf practice is not a social experience, its work and you’re there solely to improve your performances on the golf course, so you never have enough time to waste on idle chit-chat.

This is where I learned an important lesson about practicing like it matters. Never waste my time, never waste a golf shot and make sure that the shot is executed to the best of my ability with my full attention on it.

The next time you decide to go to the range to work on your game, consider that you have a marvellous opportunity to start practicing with real purpose.

You can design your golf practice so that it’s highly specific, highly engaging and highly repeatable and you’ll discover that this shift in the way you go about performing your practice will build a strong and reliable bridge between practicing on the range and performing on the golf course when it really counts.

Until next time,

Practice with definite purpose.

Lawrie Montague

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” –  Calvin Coolidge (30^th President of the United States)

Some people believe that PGA tour golfers are talented and born great golfers. I do not. When you watch golf telecasts you will often hear the commentators mention that “such and such a player is a talented player” or that they possess “raw talent” and so on.

I have always been interested in why it is so easy for people to describe anyone who is exceptional at something to describe them as ‘talented,’ so I went on a quick search on the web for a simple definition using the keywords of ‘what is talent?’ and here’s what I found at www.wordnetweb.princeton.edu

• Natural abilities or qualities
• a person who possesses unusual innate ability in some field or activity

It appears then that ‘talented’ golfers possess natural or innate or unusual abilities. I guess this means that if you can’t explain why someone can do something at an exceptional level then they must be talented. It’s the old ‘nature/nurture’ debate I suppose? Is someone born with the ability to play golf at an exceptional level or do they learn and develop it?

Here’s what I do know. My experience working with thousands of golfers from beginners to winners at my golf school over the past twenty five years has taught me that developing your key mental skills will make a much better golfer out of you than developing your technical skills. Yes you need a reasonable technique to perform at golf, but you need a lot more than that if you want to continually get better at this game.

I don’t care how good you swing your golf club, if you don’t believe you can play a golf shot at a crucial time in a round then this weakness alone will shine through and make your golf swing fail time and time again.

When you watch a PGA or LPGA tournament the first thing you realise is that every golfer competing in that tournament swings the golf club differently. From their golf grip to their back-swing position to their finish they all do it a different way. Talent therefore must have a lot less to do with how someone actually swings the golf club and a lot more to do with how they perform their golf swing when it really matters.

Innate ability might actually mean your ability to communicate to yourself in such a way that you can confidently perform with the same level of commitment and confidence anytime you want to. I don’t believe this is natural, I believe you learn how to do this.

Jack Nicklaus is considered to be one of the absolute greats of the game and so you would imagine that he would pass his ‘golf genes’ on to his children and they too would become great at golf. It didn’t happen, he passed on his genes and some of them played golf and even played on a tour for a while, however they never got close to playing as good as their father. The same can be said for many other children of great golfers and in fact children of exceptional performers from many other different domains.

The bottom line is that there is no substitute for hard work. You have to put in hours and hours of deliberate effort to extract the performances out of it you desire. You develop your innate or natural skills by applying yourself to your craft as often as you can. Now you might be thinking to yourself that you know of golfers who have put countless hours into their game and still they fail to achieve the results they desire, so what gives?

There’s no doubt that there are many golfers who desperately want to improve their golf and when they fail to achieve someone might be inclined to say to them that they simply lack the talent they need to be successful. Baloney!

Here’s what you do to change your situation and get on track to acquiring success at golf no matter what your current level. I call this the 5 Step Pro Tour Golf Confidence Mental Routine.

Decide exactly what you want from the game of golf.

If you want to become a better golfer then define exactly what that means to you. What would it look like? What would it feel like? Use your amazing natural and innate imagination and dream a bigger and better dream. Not the one that has you where you are, but the dream that takes you to the place you want to be. A place you’ve never been before perhaps.

Do something about it today.

Once you have decided what you want from the game of golf go to work on getting it. Every ounce of effort you apply must directly relate to what you want. No wasted mental or physical effort, just well thought out daily and weekly action plans that move you slowly but surely towards your big exciting goal.

Notice what happens

The big thing is to develop your awareness of the two critical mental skills that make all the difference.

The first is pointing your intention at your bigger goal. That is; the longer term goal that inspires and motivates you to work at your game to get better. This could be a lower golf handicap or winning the club championships or even winning on the golf tour. The key is to never take your eye off this big, important goal.

The second mental skill is to keep your attention on the smaller intermediate goals that lead to it. Focus on the small daily goals that drive you towards the bigger ones. Every golf shot you hit requires that your attention be as sharp as possible. The better the job you do at this the better the results you will get. Make a personal commitment to hit every golf shot with your full attention on the process and let the outcome take care of itself.

Change your approach

As you work at your game some of the things you do won’t work the way you want them to, so simply change them. I mean it, don’t make a big deal out of it and waste your valuable time on techniques that don’t work.  Change them and get on with the job achieving your big goal. No one gets it right all the time; you have to continually change your approach to find the techniques that work the best. Look for proven models that do work, whether it’s a special putting technique, or a specific short-game system or full-swing technique. Apply them continually until they work for you.

Never give up on your dream

Believe me when I tell you that you will get distracted. Some people you know will never understand your goal and because they don’t have something as exciting as you to strive for they might try to talk you out of yours. Don’t let them! Stick to your goal like glue and build efficient processes that move you towards it every day.

Find the teachers or mentors that will help you to stay focused on your goal and believe in your ability to achieve it. If you don’t have a teacher now, you will. You will attract the help you need to achieve your goal by sticking to achieving it at all cost.

If talent is about people with natural or innate qualities then realise right now that you already possess these natural qualities. Every golfer has the ability to dream bigger dreams and apply themselves to the task of achieving them. Be patient, stay the course and believe that you will make it to your goal and somewhere along the way you will run into it.

I think that’s what talent really is.

Years ago we discovered the exact point  of the dead center of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net. – Author Unknown

Arnold Palmer turned eighty this year and Jack Nicklaus turned seventy. They rarely compete today but they competed well into their fifties and sixties. Ben Hogan remained competitive well into his fifties as well, and there are many other champion golfers who refuse to let their age slow them down.

I watched the battle between Tom Watson and Fred Couples at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and I couldn’t help but admire Tom Watson and his steely determination and resolve to continue to win golf championships. As many of you would know Tom Watson very nearly won the 2009 Open Championship, ultimately losing in a play-off to Stewart Cink at the seasoned age of sixty years.

When I was a young assistant golf professional Tom Watson was my hero and a model golfer to many other young aspring professional golfers. I watched his battles on the golf course at major championships some thirty years ago and under the pressure of major championship play watched him find that something extra needed to win the championship.

Today as if time stood Tom Watson won the Champions tour event by producing two magnificent birdies on the last two holes to close out Fred Couples by one shot. Watson shot seven under for the day and Couples shot eight  for three round totals of twenty two and twenty one under par respectively.

Again it was as if I was watching the television in the eighties, because there was Watson finding a way to win when it mattered. Hale Irwin who is nearly sixty five finished the same tournament in fifth place at fourteen under par. And the indomitable Gary Player at seventy four years of age shot rounds of 76, 74 and 76. Clearly staying metally and physically competitive has its benefits. When many people are thinking about retiring after working for forty years, champion golfers are still remaining highly competitive.

The following poem is one of my favourites and I hope that it inspires you to continue to find ways to “win” at whatever it is that you want to achieve in your life. Age is no barrier when it comes to achieving your goals in life. Attitude is the secret of golf champions and champions in other areas of life.

“I can do it” is the mind-set of the champion, and ”We can do it” is the mind-set of champion teams.

YOUTH by Samuel Ullman – American Business Man, Poet and Humanitarian

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

You can keep you game sharp like Tom Watson and his fellow golfers by practicing on a regular basis and spending most of your time on putting and wedge skills. Modern golf club technology will give your game a boost, but it isn’t going to develop your competitive desires and instincts. It doesn’t matter what standard of golfer you are right now, if you want to play golf competitively into your mature years, keep striving to find ways of improving.

Stretch your mind and body to places it’s never been before, and you will play golf like you’ve never played before.

Until next time.

Lawrie Montague