Bobby Jones deserves some blame. So does Jack Nicklaus. Jim Flick and Bob Rotella they are also guilty. At different times and to varying degrees, all four have helped perpetuate the myth that golf is mostly mental – 90% mental is the oft-cited figure, although Flick went so far as to put the number at 100%.
As a long time competitive golfer, I believed this. But in my two decades as a mental coach to golfers, including PGA and LPGA Tour winners, I’ve learned the truth. Golf is not 90% mental. Not even close.
I say this from personal and professional experience. In 1997 US Open The local qualifier, I bogeyed the stretch, missed four shots within three feet and missed a playoff by one stroke. Convinced that golf is 90% mental, I wondered why golf psychologists weren’t stationed at every club along with swing instructors. I saw an opening and took it, starting my career as a mind games coach.
LISTEN TO JARED TENDLER DISCUSS THE MENTAL GAME ON OUR DESTINATION GOLD PODCAST
Don’t get me wrong – I still believe my field is extremely important. But I’ve come to realize that golf is no different than baseball, football, soccer, or any other sport where the physical trumps the mental. Chess and poker are a different story. But in a pursuit like golf, where technique is sharp on the body, the mind is merely the conduit for — or barrier to — one’s skill. You don’t hit the golf ball with your mind.
To understand the role of the mind in the game, imagine a pie chart that represents all the elements in the game: equipment, physics, training, strategy, luck. How could they add up to a measly 10%? They don’t.
;)
Getting behind the 90% mental picture is like still playing with hickory shafts or a balata ball. The game takes place. The statistics gained from hitting have already recalibrated the way we think about distance and putting – it’s time to think about psychology.
Psychology cannot turn a 20 handicap into a scratch player. Nor was it why Tiger Woods cruised to a record victory at the 2000 US Open, although he credited his performance to feeling “calm and relaxed” all week.
Woods was a mental giant, of course. But there was much more to him than his mind. He arrived at Pebble beach in peak form, having fine-tuned a swing change with Butch Harmon that allow him to swing freely and make physical adjustments mid-round. His strength allowed him to get through the rough others had to get through. His strategy was sound, designed to play to his strengths and protect his weaknesses. And then there was his secret weapon: a new Nike golf ball, available only to him, that was more stable in the wind.
The greatest performance in the history of the national championship was not produced by great confidence and inner calm. This state of mind was a happy by-product of everything else being in perfect place.
Generations of golfers have been convinced that improvement is simply a matter of thinking the right way—and that thinking the right way is easy, as if the mind needs no training. This belief fails. When you’re not working with reality, you fight against it and your emotions fluctuate more wildly as a result.
The right perspective matters. Reducing psychology makes it workable and allows us to see its interaction with other factors. The picture is better understood as a Venn diagram than a hierarchy.
;)
Our thoughts and emotions affect every part of the game, but causality is not always apparent. New clubs can boost confidence, but only when they are truly in better form. For years I feared a big lefty miss with my 3-iron. A stick fit eventually revealed a misaligned shaft post and too flat an alignment angle for my swing. This was not a mental problem. The club was built to connect.
When you have a two-way loss and can’t control the ball, feeling lost is rational. True confidence does not come from “being positive” or “believing in yourself”. It comes from knowing why your swing isn’t in good shape and how to fix it right away.
Luck is also a part of every round, whether we like it or not. Sergio Garcia waited 10 minutes on the 72nd hole of the 2007 Open, let him down, lost a playoff and immediately blamed the wait. We can’t control the green rub – but we do can check out our reactions to it.
Psychology affects everything, including how we practice. But it is only the dominant force when you play poorly.
Golf is not 90% mental. But your worst golf is.
Tension, frustration, nerves, overconfidence, slow play, fear of a few holes: these are what push you to the bottom, not technique, equipment or bad luck. Shooting at a rolling pin when you know better. Swing too hard when fatigue has set in. Negative thoughts snowball, commitment fades, old wounds resurface. This is where psychology gains its hold.
Ironically, for all the lip service paid to the mental game, most golfers turn to mechanical adjustments the moment things go sideways. After a bad round they head straight to the range or start looking at a new shooter. They rationalize poor play as a fluke, assume a shaky fix will pull them out of their slump—and nothing changes. The bottom remains the same.
Every golfer has a C game. No one is immune to poor play, and we all know that golf is more about the quality of your mistakes than the heights of perfection. This is exactly why psychology is so valuable: making mistakes less bad is a much easier project than revising your movement.
So the next time it’s not your day, be curious instead of frustrated. Overthinking, negativity, fear – these are not immovable objects. They are like flaws in your movement: to be improved, with a little understanding and effort.
Jared Tendler, a mental game coach for golfers, poker players and financial traders, is the author of the new book, The Psychology of Everyday Golf. You can hear more from him at this week’s episode of the Destination Golf podcast.
