By Tom Patri
We all face the struggles of golf and most often place the blame cruelly and squarely on ourselves. Man I stink! You stupid idiot! God I’m so bad!
I hear folks inflicting this incredibly damaging self-talk upon themselves every day I go to my teaching tee. The noted sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella once shared with me the most damaging thing an athlete could do was out load voice a negative expletive about themselves for their own ears to hear. His opinion was this was far more damaging then another person criticizing you. Bob went on to advise never ever openly criticize oneself that the damage to your confidence would be long lasting and far reaching. I remember a wonderful example of a player with golf firmly in perspective. It was the mid to late 90’s and I was on the practice tee at Westchester CC with the great Tom Kite. Now keep in mind Tom had an incredibly consistent PGA Tour career. He was nothing short of a living breathing ATM machine making regular 5 and 6 figure withdrawals from PGA Tour purses.
During this particular time frame Tom had run into a very unusual stretch for him. He had missed several cuts and when he had made it to the weekend he had struggled. The press was writing that Kite was fading and his time was past etc…. We chatted that day and I asked him how he was holding up. He without hesitation looked me square in the eye and said, “TP, its nothing but a Speed Bump”! I asked for an explanation and he simply said , “when you have been at this game as long as I have there are going to be peaks and valleys”…He went on to explain he was going to go to work each day and simply figure it out.
A week or two later he finished second in a tour event and went on a 4 or 5 week run of high finishes. I personally wouldn’t rank Tom Kites swing in the Top 25 of his era. That said Kite during his ear playing won 37 times worldwide, 19 times on the PGA Tour. He won the US Open at Pebble Beach. He was the first in his era to reach 6 million, 7 million, 8 million and 9 million dollars in earnings. Keep in mind some of the players in his era Nicklaus, Watson, Norman, Couples, I could go on and on.
My point is attitude is everything in sport. He can be blessed with wonderful athlete talent. World class hand eye. A tremendous work ethic. Couple any and all of those things with a bad attitude and it’s all for nothing.
We all get up daily and have a choice. Ask yourself is your glass empty or is it half full? Make the right choice.
Tom Patri is the President and Founder of TPGOLF. He is a former Met PGA Teacher of the Year as well as a former South Fl. PGA Teacher of the Year. Tom is a Golf Tips Magazine Top 25 Instructor in America. He teaches at Esplanade in Naples, Fl. Nov – April and is The Director of Instruction at The Hawthorns Golf and CC in Fishers, IN. May – Oct. You can reach Tom for all your coaching needs at tpatri@mindspring.com / 239-404-7790.
