Tall Poppy Syndrome is a strange antipodean phenomenon that I encountered during my challenge on a number of occasions. Basically it’s a term used to describe a condition where someone, who does something great or indeed many great things, is criticised and resented because they have become a “tall poppy” and have risen above their peers.
I blogged much of my challenge on an Australasian golf forum and came across this several times. At the beginning I was criticised for even attempting the challenge and several times during the year, when things were going badly, I was met with a chrous of “I told you so” and “no chance mate, you should give up now” comments.
And even when I finished it I was grilled extensively about who was with me, what type of course it was on and had I really been as bad at the start as I said. Those who had told me it was impossible tried to find ways to explain how it had been easy for me due to external factors of their own invention.
It was an illuminating process since it taught me a lot about exactly why it is easy for most of us to stay within our golfing comfort zones and just play with the same folk we’ve played for years with and keep our golf at the same level so as not to “rock the boat”.
"oooohhh, look at him with his grand notions and big ideas"
It’s worth bearing in mind I also got a lot of support from some people on this forum so I’m not in any way tarring all Australasians with the same brush (particularly since the phenomenon is rife here in the UK too). But it was with some trepidation that I took a quick look on the forum to see what the reaction to Greg Norman’s attempt to win the British Open had been.
There was lots of support for the great man but dotted in and amongst the support was some fairly hefty evidence of “Tall poppy”. This comment below really said it all for me though.
“After 25 or so years of dealing with Norman-related early morning and late-night disappointment, I thought the torture was finally over. The 2 Open victories were great – but the pain of the losses always seemed to outweigh them.
The ‘96 Masters was the last straw for me and I officially gave up on him after that…
But what does he do?? He goes and gets us all involved again!! The scars of disappointment had faded away and he has the hide to get our hopes up yet again!! I actually had the ridiculous notion in my head that he might be a different player this time.
But you never forget how to choke…
I’m off for more therapy (wonder if they remember me from April ‘96).”
I love how he’s actually blaming Norman for his own unhappiness! I also love the concept of Norman jumping on his private jet with his new wife and perhaps checking his bank account or doing a couple of deals to make himself a few million while this sad little man sits muttering about how Norman has choked and let him down.
It’s the most preposterous thing I’ve read on the internet in a long time but you must realise that this exists to a lesser level everywhere. So if, and hopefully when, you finally make a decision to get much better at golf one of the absolutely key skills to learn is how to avoid all this type of criticism. Generally your friends and family want you stay exactly where you are because you can’t expose any weaknesses in their own lives that way. If you make a big improvement (in anything) it opens you up for criticism and you need to be aware of it.
For me those 91 holes were just about the most impressive thing I’ve seen in golf in a long time. And it’s taken a while for it to fully settle in. While responding to a post by golf fitness guru Mike Pederson on his blog it made me wonder exactly what was it that was so fascinating about this victory and what is it that really marks Tiger out.
For me it’s one concept and perhaps a dozen different words:
Resolve
Determination
Guts
Will power
Strength of mind
Grit
Fortitude
Steadfastness
Tenacity
Focus
Okay so that’s only ten but you get the picture. Tiger has, through years of focus, managed to elevate almost every aspect of his game to a level beyond the rest. And that doesn’t mean that his putting is a bit better or that he drives the ball a little further or that his short game is a fraction more accurate it means that everything is better including the intangibles. His fitness, his mind control, his practice regimes, his family life and balance - it all matters to him. And what this produces is this incredible drive and determination so that when things are tough he can dig very deep into the well and produce the sort of result that we saw in the last few days.
His level of overall ability is such that we can’t really compare him within the world of present day golf any more. In the past Hogan and Nicklaus achieved very similar levels of dominance but these days nobody else is close. Can you really imagine Mickelson wobbling around with a dodgy knee showing that kind of grit? I think not and he’s the number two player in the world (and by a large margin)
No, to really compare Tiger we need to look outside the sport. We need to look at people like Muhammad Ali and Michael Schumacher - people who took every aspect of their sport and turned it a little on it’s head. Yesterday reminded me of Ali vs Foreman far more than any golf match (and I mean that with no disrespect to Rocco Mediate) or Schumacher in his frankly rubbish Ferrari at Barcelona in ‘96. Or Ayrton Senna destroying the competition in a totally inferior Mclaren at Donington in ‘93. All situations where the greats really had to rise up against the odds and show what they were made of.
Who thought there was no way he’d come back after three shots dropped in two holes and clearly in more pain even than yesterday?
I’ll confess I was one of the doubters and yet once again he came battling back in true Tiger style.
But what sealed it obviously was that putt. And what sealed his genius for me personally was what he said about it. What he said is one of the absolute key skills to develop in your putting i.e. the ability to not care about the result but only focus on doing your best. I deal with this extensively in my soon to be launched ebook because it is so important and it is the thought process that all the truly great guys have.
Here is what Tiger said was going through his mind before the putt.
“Make sure you stay committed to it - make a pure stroke. If it plinkles in and plinkles out it doesn’t matter as long as I make a pure stroke.”
There is true genius in those two sentences. And if you can bring that into all parts of your game you will see a substantial difference in your scoring.
And if you didn’t watch my Tiger video link yesterday then make sure you do today:
So there Tiger sits - in the lead after 54 holes in a major. A position he’s been in 13 times before and on each of those 13 occasions he went on to win. So it seems like it is business as usual. It’s just Tiger doing his thing. But it’s not. It’s very different this time and to be in the presence of this type of genius is an incredibly inspiring thing. He’s totally rewriting the rules - again.
Let’s look at some facts:
He shot three eagles in three rounds at a course that we doubted we’d see many birdies on.
Until this week he hasn’t walked a full 18 holes since his knee surgery. He has a visible limp and was clearly in a lot of pain after his drive on 15.
Despite that pain he was four under for the last six holes.
A wild tee shot on the first produced a double bogey - hardly the best way to set up a great round.
The overwhelming sensation was of a gladiator out there fighting and battling for the scores. A golfing warrior fighting against a much larger army. His collapse on the 15th and 17th was one of the most dramatic things I’ve seen particularly since we all know Tiger is hardly doing it for effect.
This knee surgery was regarded by many pundits as potentially a pivotal moment in Tiger’s career and obviously we can’t judge the impact from three rounds of golf. Perhaps they said this would be a stage too far for him, perhaps the knee is really going to hold him back this time and give others a chance? But who are these others? Who else out there could come back with that type of spirit? Who else ever shows this type of spirit?
It’s also clear that since he hasn’t been able to practice his full swing his short game and putting has been getting a LOT of work - a holed chip at 17 and that amazing putt at 18 are just two examples of that.
“Don’t write me off for a few years yet…”
Photo: Walter Iooss Jr./Golf Digest
Nike have a new advert on their site which I think helps to explain why his mental strength is just so strong and how something as potentially career ruining as a dodgy knee for the rest of us mortals will always be different for Tiger:
Whatever happens today I think we’ve all witnessed another little chapter in the Tiger legend. Perhaps not quite on a par with Hogan’s US Open return after his car accident but in my eyes pretty far up there. More importantly once again he has helped me re-define, in my own mind at least, what is possible and what isn’t in golf.
So much as I’d love to see Westwood win today my heart still backs Tiger.
“The mind is everything. What you think you become”
Buddha
Last week when Phil Mickelson won the Crowne Plaza Invitational he played a simply incredible wedge shot to rescue his poor drive at the 18th. The wedge shot needed to get the ball over one tree and then slip under a second. Clearly not an easy shot but realistically exactly the sort of shot that Mickelson excels at. The ball landed nine feet from the hole and the subsequently holed birdie putt meant that playing partner Rod Pampling, who had led for most of the round, was relegated to second place.
It was classic Mickelson - no doubt about it. And a wonderful example of just how an incredible short game can get you out of trouble. But it was Pampling’s reaction to the shot that surprised me most and showed that it isn’t just Tiger Woods who can manage to elevate himself to an “unbeatable” position in the minds of most of the other guys on tour. Let’s not forget that Pampling is hardly some wet behind the years kid who should be in awe of Mickelson. He has career earnings in excess of $10 million!
What pampling said was:
“You get to expect him to do that, those guys play those kinds of shots”
Which of course is, broadly speaking correct.
But who are those guys?
And why is Pampling not one of those guys?
And what did Mickelson do to become one of those guys?
I give Mickelson a hard time in here for his inability to look at Tiger and think “what is the difference between that athletic looking guy and me? What is it that he does differently to me? I wonder does he eat a different kind of cake to what I eat? How does he have the stamina?”
But one thing you can’t criticise him for doing is skimping on his short game practice. After hours of practice and coaching with short game guru Dave Pelz, Mickelson will actually spend any break from the practice “playing” with his lob wedge. That’s where he hones those crazy shots where he can hit a ball back and over his head or send lobs so high that they can clear (man mountain) Pelz’s head when he’s standing just a few feet in front of him. And of course that’s where he becomes one of “those guys“. He may have a simply incredible natural talent but incredible talent still needs a bit of work. Incredible talent needs to be bolstered by the confidence of hours spent practicing and just “playing around with wedges”. Seve Balleseteros became one of those guys with a wedge by playing very similar games.
Amateur golfers make the same mistake. They assume they can’t be a single figure shooter. They assume that they’ll never break par or even 80 or 90 in many cases. They assume, just like Rod Pampling, that they’re never going to be one of “those guys“. And as ever if they could just remove that mindset and perhaps focus a little on a plan for improvement then they could very quickly find that they are one of those guys. Never categorise yourself as a certain type of golfer when you could actually be much better if you just worked a little at it.
“If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success”
Malcolm X
I’ve written about Sergio many times before. Like Phil Mickelson, the level of natural talent is huge and it has been very painful to see his recent slump and even more painful to see him blaming his “luck” and acting a little like a spoilt brat at last years British Open.
But it’s clear that he is a sensitive soul and in the light of my recent posts about dealing with negative swing thoughts Sergio clearly needs to toughen up a bit in this area. His post tournament interview comments were revealing.
When asked about how he coped with criticism and the media he replied:
“It definitely gives me something to prove. You’re going to criticise the best player in the history of golf (Tiger Woods), so how are you not going to criticise somebody else who is smaller than that? The only thing I can do is keep getting better so that I make your job harder to be able to criticise me. I know when I’m putting badly and when I’m putting well, so nobody else needs to tell me. There have been times when you doubt yourself. You don’t know if you’re working on the right things.
The only thing this tells me is to keep working hard and believe in myself”
The problem with much of that statement is that he clearly cares far too much about the media. He lets the comments get to him. And the concept of working hard to prove the media wrong or provide them with less to criticise is ludicrous (even though we can all be guilty of this). What Sergio needs to do is just focus on his game and forget about the media. Look how he even regards himself as “smaller” than Tiger - all that does is help to reinforce in his own mind that Tiger is “the man” and cannot be beaten. He must (and granted that isn’t easy) forget about Tiger and do this for himself and the goals that he sets himself.
I say this from the perspective of receiving a lot of criticism early in my challenge for even “daring to dream” and I did let it get to me - no doubt about it. But, by the end of the year, I had worked so hard at this area of my game that I had simply no interest in metaphorically sticking two fingers up at the naysayers who said it couldn’t be done. By that stage it was purely about me and my challenge and that provides immense clarity. I fear that until Sergio truly does “believe” and really can ignore the media then he will still struggle with this regardless of how hard he works and his undoubted incredible talent.
I’ve written about this before but there was one book that really helped me out with this process. It’s not exactly an easy read but the lessons inside are incredibly valuable. I recommend and buy it relentlessly for my business clients since the concept of not caring what others think and focusing on the goal or task in hand is one of the most crucial skills in all areas of life.
I cannot recommend it highly enough and if I could get an address for Sergio I’d send him a copy myself.
The ultimate manifestation of the concepts in the book are what I term the “Tiger smirk”. This is the smirk he puts on when being criticised by a news reporter. It just oozes self-belief. Self-belief built up by years of hard work coupled with an incredibly focused and strong mind. A mind that really doesn’t care what others think.
Yesterday’s post, with the Derren Brown video, graphically illustrated just how important the control of negative emotions is within golf and how this control became central to my challenge.
The 17th hole at Sawgrass in The Player’s Championship is a classic example of just how equally affected the guys on tour are. If you’ve ever seen a tour pro (or indeed any very low handicapper) hitting short irons at the range you’ll know just how incredibly accurate these guys are and the level of consistency they can produce is astounding. The dispersion between a bucket of balls hit with a wedge is very small indeed.
So what is it that makes so many great golfers crumble at the 17th at Sawgrass?
Ernie Els ruined his round on Thursday and undoubtedly Paul Goydos lost the tournament on the playoff by hitting it in the water just as much as Sergio won it. Granted this is an extreme example of nerves, the like of which none of us are likely to ever encounter on a course, but it still shows just how important this control is. Ultimately, just like you and I, some of these guys are thinking:
“don’t hit it in the water, whatever you do, don’t hit it in the water”
and the more they think that the more likely they are to stick it in.
Likewise it was Sergio who held his nerve over the seven footer at 18 to force the playoff in the first place and again how likely would he have been to miss that if he had thought back to all those missed putts from his past? What if he had been thinking:
“Don’t mess it up like last year at the Open”
But in his own words he just smiled and felt good about it. Clearly all the work that Stan Utley has been doing with his short game has paid off and hopefully those demons from the past will be banished.
Overall it was about as graphic a demonstration of the power of control of negative emotions as I’ve seen in a long time and my ebook (available later this week will show you exactly how to control these types of thoughts)
Have a look at the first few minutes of this video. The entire program is worth watching but it’s an incredibly graphic illustration of how a negative instruction tends to make us do the EXACT opposite of what we want to do.
The relevance of this towards golf is obvious and it applies at a every level. We all know how powerful the unerring self-belief that Tiger exhibits is and we also know just how much his competitors crumble in his presence.
Likewise how many of you have stood on the tee and thought:
“Don’t hit it in the water”
“Don’t slice it”
“Don’t hit it out of bounds”
“Don’t, whatever you do, hook it like you usually do here”
“Don’t duff it in front of these people”
… and we all know how incredibly destructive these thoughts can be for the shot that follows.
The control of my mind and the negative thoughts like this were an incredibly important part of my challenge. Particularly since I had applied so much pressure on myself by writing a monthly article in Golf Digest and blogging on the internet.
I worked with some very clever people during the year who helped me develop a variety of techniques which will be in the Ebook I am releasing next week. And I can safely say that without these techniques there is absolutely no way I’d have broken par.
Yet again I’m droning on about belief. But that’s because it’s so ludicrously important. It was so important in my challenge and as a professional in the Tiger era it’s more important than ever. Zach Johnson felt he had divine intervention on his side last year and that obviously helps when you have Tiger bearing down on you. Many much more successful golfers than Johnson (Ernie anyone?) have allowed their self-belief to crumble in the face of a duel with Tiger but with God on your side things are different.
So what about young master Immelman? He didn’t have God on his side but if you’re a South African golfer he had the next best thing. He had Gary Player. A man who drove his entire career through self-belief. Who ignored his size and stood up to the might of Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino at their prime and won nine majors. Most pertinently he won four US Masters.
So when Gary Player leaves a message on your anwering machine telling you that he believes in you and that you need to believe in yourself then suddenly the might of a Tiger charge (or indeed the threat from anyone) suddenly seems a little less significant.
“Young man - believe in yourself and the world is your oyster…”
(Photo - Ben van Hook - Golf Digest)
Belief in your skills and abilities. I cannot emphasise it enough. This was the key skill that got me to the end of my challenge. When I started to listen to the nay-sayers and believed those who said it was impossible then my scoring got worse. When I, through whatever means, allowed myself to believe I could do it then all the hard work and practice could truly translate onto the course.
Believe you can be a much better and then just go for it.
The Masters is always a fantastic learning experience. There are so many lessons to take away from it. Last year we learned (again) just how important the short game is. We also saw how even a relatively short hitter like Zach Johnson can tame a monster course like Augusta by never attempting to hit any of the par fives greens in three strokes.
So what was the big learning experience this year?
Well for me it was Trevor Immelman’s incredibly clear visualisation of every shot. He stood on every tee looking from ball to target and then back again. Sometimes it only took one or two glances but sometimes it took him several. You could tell when it had “clicked” with him. His face would change and he would spring into gear.
The use of visualisation and good old fashioned Harvey Penick-style “take dead aim” was an incredibly important part of my progress in the challenge. Not only did I make sure I have a full clear image of the shot before I hit it I would also mentally play the course perfectly EVERY night before I went to bed.
Immelman is in good company of course. Nicklaus would play every shot in his mind before he hit it. He would imagine it sitting on the fairway EXACTLY where he wanted it and then play it backwards so that it arrived back at his clubface in his mind.
There is so much to learn by watching these guys before they actually even hit the ball. That remains the big difference in my mind between the pros and the rest of us. They all have a very clear and coherent pre-shot routine that actually does something for them. The average golfer simply swings the club a couple of times because that seems to be the “right thing to do”.
Watch Harrington here at the Ryder Cup. His visualisation is so strong he doesn’t even need to take a practice swing!
Try this the next time you’re out. Particularly when putting. Get an incredibly clear image in your mind of the putt going into the hole and hear the sound. Only when you have this image clearly and you can feel the confidence grow from it should you start to take the club back. It takes a little practice to get it right but when you really “get” it your confidence soars. The last time I played I had it nailed and holed a 50 foot putt for an eagle.
Let’s forget talent. Tiger and Phil are evenly matched in my opinion.
Let’s focus on the work ethic. I’ve preached about this many times before but the real eye-opener for me was seeing Tiger practicing at the Ryder Cup. The American team had all played their morning rounds and the range was empty. But not for long…
Within a very short period of time there was a single solitary figure standing there beating balls.
Yep - it wasn’t any of the young guys, it wasn’t any of the guys who had scraped in and it certainly wasn’t Phil. It was the best golfer in the world - Tiger Woods.
Gradually a few of the other guys came but not Phil. He was content to stay inside and chomp on a bit of cake. It was an eye opening moment for me but certainly not the first time I’d heard about his legendary dedication. During the year of my From Scratch to Scratch challenge Tiger was having his “off year” where VJ Singh was number one. To a very large extent that was a great thing for me. VJ was this older guy who seemed to have taken his golf to a new level through enormous levels of hard work and dedication. He provided great motivation for me due to the fact that he is four years older than me. But during this time Tiger was regularly being riled by the press for slipping down the rankings and I remember one occasion very clearly where his work ethic was questioned negatively compared to VJ.
The steely eyed look he gave the interviewer as he explained how VJ couldn’t practice more than he did, simply because VJ wasn’t capable of manufacturing extra hours in the day, really struck home to me just how enormously dedicated he is. And how fiercely competitive. You can be pretty sure that if one area of Tiger’s game is a little off then by the next week he will have worked relentlessly to get it right. So many folk seem to forget this and assume that Tiger is pure talent - some sort of otherworldly being that mere mortals like Phil Mickelson could never beat.
“Let’s just hit another couple before the light fades”
To believe otherwise just highlights our own inadequacies. If the rest of the tour were allowed to believe that Tiger was an alien then it might be easier. But if they look really honestly and accept that in every area of his game (and that includes fitness) he simply works harder then it’s a little harder to accept. When I finished my challenge the standard response from many golfers who had been playing for years but never shot a par round was.
“You must be naturally talented. You have to have to be a ‘natural’ to do that. Nobody else could do it“
Of course when I explained that I hit 35,000 balls on the range, read 60 books and sometimes practiced my chipping until midnight using only the moon as light they tend to become a fraction confused as the truth starts to seep in.
Hard work. Sometimes it isn’t any fun but ultimately it’s one of the big differences between Tiger and Phil and it doesn’t look like one that’s going to change any time soon.
Ben Hogan was the same. His big secret ultimately was that you need to keep “digging the dirt” to find the answers. And all winter long as a teenager Jack Nicklaus would practice in the snow with Jack Grout until they had borrowed and lost every ball they could find and only recover them again in the spring when the snow melted.
It’s best to leave the last words to Tiger though. From his own site:
“I refuse to let anyone outwork me.That’s the reason I log so much time on the practice range.Besides, hard work is the only way to maintain a competitive edge, and I enjoy the process.The key, though, is to practice with a purpose.
My philosophy has always been to identify the weakest part of my game and to focus on turning it into a strength.That approach will work for you, too.Make an honest assessment of your game, and determine where you’re losing most of your strokes.Whether it’s the driver, irons, wedges or putter, simplify your instruction to get better.Find a professional to help you identify your flaw and provide the correct instruction to fix it.Then tailor your practice sessions so that most of your time is spent on improving that part of your game.That’s the fastest way to get results.”
Part two is coming soon but I just wanted to put a little update to the fitness post, particularly in the light of Tiger’s utterly dominant game at the weekend:
Here are some facts: (the golfing world is full of Tiger facts and figures but here are some relevant ones at the moment)
Tiger is 31 - he has just won his 61st tournament as a professional
Jack Nicklaus was 37 when he achieved such a feat.
Sam Snead (who holds the record at 82 wins) was 39 when he won his 61st.
He has just become a father (and one has to assume, is suffering a bit from lack of sleep)
He has just won the inagural FedEx Cup putting $10 million into his retirement fund
He has just won the Tour Championship by eight strokes with a personal best of 23 under par.
He has just won 21 out of his last 49 tournaments (an ever better strike rate than his amazing 22 out of 60 in 1999/2000)
As ever that’s just a handful of Tiger facts. There are always more but of more interest to me and more relevance to the fitness post was the question he was asked on the Golf Channel.
Rich Lerner:
“How do you feel your increased stature and muscle has helped you in the last few years?”
Tiger simply said:
“Well, more than anything my stamina is good. I’m able to hit the shots I can over 72 holes and I just don’t get tired.“
There’s a clue there Phil. Can you work it out? One over par for the weekend - how was your stamina? Perhaps the first 36 holes took it out of you.
It just gets no better than this. A win each in the Fedex Cup and Phil manages to get past Tiger in a head to head battle. The critics and players may moan about various aspects of the new format but you can’t deny that a Phil vs Tiger battle is a dream come true for the PGA.
Undoubtedly this is brilliant for golf as well as Phil Mickelson. I’ve knocked him in the past in my “man boobs” post (still the post with most views believe it or not) but I’ve always qualified it with the view that I think he has the most amazing natural talent since Seve picked a club up all those years ago and started nipping over the wall of his home club. And for a total Seve-obsessed goon like me that’s about as high a praise as it’s possible to give.
“Hmmmmmffff - I wish I hadn’t had that last piece of pie. I’m not sure I can standup…”
But now we have a new slimline (temporarily) Mickelson with a new found confidence, a new swing and hopefully a wrist injury that is fully mended. But still - when you see the two of them together who looks like the athlete? Who looks like he’s really taking it seriously? Who looks like the guy who survived the heat of the PGA to win? A proper battle of the titans in a Nicklaus/Palmer/Player/Watson way or even like Snead and Hogan beckons and would be superb for golf - but will it happen?
On day one of the Tour Championship they’ll stand together ready to go. Arguably equal on talent but Tiger knows he has that little edge in a few key areas. He’ll be the one giving himself that extra chance with his fitness, he’ll know that if it’s a hot day the back nine will be a little easier and if he needs to summon that extra bit of power to get out of the long grass that he has it in reserve. He’ll not be worrying about nagging injuries since he’s in such incredible shape that he simply doesn’t pick them up.
At the end of the day it’s those little factors that matter. It’s so many factors that Tiger has to differentiate himself from the crowd but they all count. And if I was Mickelson standing there on Thursday I’d be feeling it too.
This isn’t the post I wanted to write. But sadly it is the post I feared I would have to write.
I like Sabbatini. He isn’t a yes man and he clearly has a lot of talent. What I really wanted to see was him beat Tiger in a straight fight. I’ve expounded many times that to beat Tiger (or any opponent) you have to believe you can first. Too many golfers, even at the very highest level (Ernie?) allow themselves to play for second when Tiger is out there. But not Sabbatini. Earlier this year he came out with the immortal lines that Tiger looked as “beatable as ever”.
Amongst the slightly tragic internet community this produced immense ridicule. He was blasted for even doubting Tiger’s position at the top of the tree and for even suggesting that he could beat him. It was a tricky tactic and it certainly took guts. Tiger, in his inimitable fashion, smirked and casually remarked that he had wone three tournaments already that year. Exactly the same as Sabbatini had in his whole career. In short, he didn’t seem worried.
This weekend at Firestone I reall thought Sabbatini might do it. I really thought that he would be able to put his money where his mouth was. Leader or joint leader for pretty much all of the first three days and on Sunday morning he was paired with Tiger who was one shot behind. It was “make or break” time.
He broke.
Tiger finished the day eight full strokes ahead of the field. Sabbatini carded pretty woeful 74 and tied for joing secodn with Justin Rose. It was a classic Tiger whitewash and shows why he really still is the class of the field despite a few recent hiccups in the Majors.
It also shows just how delicate “belief” is and how careful we need to be when proclaiming our goals or targets. During my golf challenge I was consistently attacked on various internet forums for being an idiot and trying to do the impossible in just the same way that Sabbatini was. On many occasions I regretted the decision to make my challenge so public and wished I had never started my monthly progress column for Golf Digest.
As ever it reminds me of the Jerry Lewis quote I heard during my challenge:
“When you climb up a flag pole, people are going to see your ass. And they’ll want to knock you down, not because THEY want to be up there themselves - but because they don’t want YOU to be there.”
Sabbatini clearly has the belief to beat Tiger but I think he needs a new tack. He needs to focus it in on himself and not push his “ass” quite so far up there. This was clearly a humiliating day for him. He struggled so much that when one childish spectator on the tenth tee said…
“Hey Rory, still think Tiger is beatable?”
… he lost it and asked the police to remove the man.
Belief is a fragile concept and one that we all need to nurture in our own ways. For me it ultimately worked to make my challenge public but I don’t think I’d ever do it again in that way. Most people simply don’t want you to succeed. People knocked Tiger when he started and the crowds didn’t take to Jack for many years when he started beating their beloved Arnie. If you’re going to set a challenge (whether golf related or not) think very carefully before you open your mouth and proclaim just what it is that you’re going to achieve. Sometimes the pressure can be too much.
I hope Sabbatini bounces back and feel certain he will. It’s a shame he didn’t win because it could have ignited his belief to a totally new level and helped so many of his colleagues. But sadly you mess with Tiger at your peril.
So Padraig Harrington finally won a major and wee Rory McIlRoy set the world’s golfing press on fire winning the silver medal.
(Getty images)
It really was one of the most exciting major finishes for years and I have to admit to feeling a little emotional at the end when Padraig was interviewed. He choked up when asked whether he ever doubted his ability to win a major, clearly reliving a few “head in the hands” moments of doubt from the past.
I think what interested me most was the difference in style between Garcia and Harrington. Garcia exploded onto the scene in 1999 having won his club championship at the age of 12. He very nearly won the 1999 USPGA after an epic duel with Tiger and we all expected great “Seve-style” major victories in the near future. Undoubtedly his talent is enormous but for some reason those major wins haven’t quite arrived yet. As he matures and finally grasps how to putt properly I have no doubt they will though.
But Harrington is different. Softly spoken and at one time more famous for coming second than victories his talent has taken time to nurture - and an unbelievable amount of hard work. He is one of the hardest grafters on tour and it is truly wonderful to see this work finally pay off. But what was really interesting to notice was the prescence of Bob Rotella (the famous US mind guru who partly inspired my golf challenge) as he waited to start the four playoff holes.
Harrington’s winning interview dripped with comments about belief and the positive attitude he had adopted while playing. Undoubtedly this help from Rotella, coupled with the solid graft, has elevated him to a level way about the “journeyman pro” status that he maintains he would have been happy with when he started out.
It’s a fantastic lesson for all of us. With some really hard work and the right attitude you can achieve truly great things - even if you haven’t been born with the sort of god-given talents of Garcia, Mickelson, Ballesteros or indeed even Rory McIlroy. I really hope that Garcia does win his first major soon but today belonged to Harrington and I think there is real justice in that.
One of the things I always try and absorb from great players is everything they do apart from from hitting the ball. I love to watch how they behave on the first tee in comparison to high handicappers and I love to watch them on the range.
The average range junkie pays almost no attention to the fundamentals. So many golfers regard them as something you learn right at the beginning of your lessons and then just ignore them - preferring to concentrate on the latest swing “tip” they saw in this month’s golf magazine. And of course they’ll dump that “tip” for next month’s great new idea.
But watch the good guys and they do something very different. They concentrate on almost nothing but fundamentals. They stand with their coaches making slight adjustments to posture, stance and ensuring that their feet, hips and shoulders are all pointing the right way.
Here is some of my footage of Tiger practicing at the Ryder Cup. Hank Haney stands behind and they make occasional slight adjustments. But every shot is a very measured strike.
It’s the same with Rory - he makes sure he gets the range bay with the mirror behind him and concentrates on these basics. Despite playing off +6 and winning the silver medal at the Open it’s the basic simple stuff that he works on.
During the pre-round interviews at the Open this year watch the way the pros are practicing. Very simple actions accompanied by simple instruction from their coaches.
It’s far too easy to overcomplicate the swing. Concentrate hard on the basics and it makes ball striking vastly easier. But if you get the basics wrong it makes it very hard to make a clean strike no matter how good your swing is.
And what’s the second thing to learn from Rory?
The speed he putts. He gets his line walks up and strikes the ball. He hasn’t learnt how to worry about putting yet. He doesn’t hover and dither and let doubt creep in. Granted he missed a few short ones this week but it was this same attitude that helped him to a 61 at Royal Portrush. It’s putting feel that goes first as we age. We allow our doubts to creep in and ruin what should be a simple part of the game. We slowly learn how “hard” it is.
I watched the great Tom Watson two years ago at the Seniors Open in Royal Portrush and his putting was woeful. Embarassing. A legend of the game who I bet could learn more from ten minutes watching Rory putt than he ever could from a coach these days.
A slightly historic thing happened today - finally the golfing world “got” Rory McIlroy. He sits, at 18 years of age, joint third in the Open Championship at Carnoustie. This is the wee fella who at age 16 totally smashed the course record at Royal Portrush with a 61. That’s a 61 on an ex British Open course and a course that is still regarded as one of the best in the world.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again - Tiger wasn’t doing that.
Rory is a simply huge talent. Awesome. and for some strange reason the world hasn’t got this yet.
“I’m only a wee fella but I tell you what - I’m fecking good at this”
But I did - very, very early on in my challenge. For one distinct reason - he uses the same range as me. he lives a couple of miles from my house and I had my initial epiphany about how to learn the golf swing from Rory. It’s my first secret that you can sign up for on the main site but it’s so crucial that it needs to be reiterated here.
Two days ago (after almost a months layoff from golf) I trudged down to the range. To be honest I’ve been enormously busy and had little interest. I half-heartedly whacked a few balls and then noticed Rory a couple of bays down from me. Doing his stuff. Beautiful, effortless swings that blast the ball to the fence on the edge of the range - always the holy grail for a range junkie!
And, just as I did a couple of years ago during my challenge, I stopped. I stopped and watched. For a solid ten minutes. I absorbed that beautiful swing and just felt the rhythm and inspired timing. And then I went back to hitting my own ball. But this time it was very different. Suddenly my whole swing changed and I had taken a little tiny bit of the magic into my own swing. Suddenly my own mediocre striking transformed into beautifully struck shots - maybe not blasting the fence but appreciably, quantifiably, qualitatively better than before.
This stuff works. I’ll be preaching this until the day I day because I’m right. Watch and absorb great swings and you can learn the swing as a total entity. Sign up for the first secret and you’ll get all the links to great swings that I found and used during the year. Having Rory beside you on the range is a rare privilege and, if I’m honest, I don’t even get the chance to see him that often but there are plenty of other ways to use the concept.
All I ask is that you’re open to it. Sign up and see.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
This is one of my favourite quotes. It epitomises the process that has led me to do anything interesting in my life. But more importantly it was one of the quotes that stopped me “faffing about” and putting off my golf challenge.
It took ten years of procrastination from the initial “I wonder if…..” to me actually standing on the first tee with a club in my hand to start the challenge. ten years of silly excuses like “I haven’t the time”, “the moment isn’t ready”, “it wouldn’t be fair to X Y Z”, “I’d have to stop A B C and I couldn’t do that”. But that’s all those were - silly excuses and as an inspirational client of mine says…
“All excuses are equal”
i.e. they all end up with the same result. Which in my case meant I was putting off the dream. The dream that had been festering in my mind since I was 15. The dream that maybe I could be a good golfer - the kind of golfer who could shoot a level par round. But it took 22 full years to realise this dream.
Some people put off their dreams, ideas and notions for their whole lives. Some people never get started and they’re the ones who Twain aptly describes as being disappointed in the future. Maybe you had a golf dream, or a dream of writing a novel. Maybe you wanted to sail round the world or become a magician or start a band. Maybe time and “growing up” has knocked those dreams out of you.
Why not start whatever you’ve been putting off for years today? Just take one little action and get going. Now. Today. And don’t forget - ignore everybody who says it isn’t possible.
Less than 24 hours after losing the US Open Tiger became a father to a little girl called Sam Alexis Woods. Which, as a besotted father of a girl myself, fills me with a strange happiness.
The aftermath of the US Open and the discussion, both on the boards and in the press, about Tiger has nevertheless been fascinating. It never ceases to amaze me how many supposed “chinks” in Tiger’s armour are dragged out and flaunted just to create a few inches of press coverage. The big one at the moment relates to the fact that Tiger has never come from behind to win a Major. He has led 12 times on the Saturday night and won every time but never managed to get it together with an “Arnie charge”.
The implication, amongst various factions of the press, is that he will never be a true crowd favourite until he does this. With tears of laughter in my eyes I read today in The Times that he lacks the “killer instinct” to ever do what Jack Nicklaus did at the age of 46 to win his last major - the 1986 Masters.
There is a wonderful story we love to tell in Northern Ireland about George Best. Many years ago he was staying in The Europa Hotel in Belfast in the penthouse suite. He was errrr “entertaining” a beautiful young lady (possibly, for the sake of the story, one of the several Miss Worlds he “entertained”) and ordered more champagne. The room service boy arrived at the door to see something of a chaotic mess. Empty champagne bottles, vast amounts of cash lying around and a beautiful lady strewn on the bed. He tutted and said to George “Where did it all go wrong?“
“My advice Tiger? F&*@ ‘em!”
I wonder as Tiger sits at home tonight does he wonder “where did it all go wrong?”
He has won twelve majors and is married to one of the most beautiful women on the planet. He earned nearly $100 million dollars last year and has just spent $44 million buying up houses round his new “pad” to give himself a bigger garden. He has a healthy baby girl. His record in the last four majors is win, win, second, second. He is slowly but surely demolishing every golf record that really counts.
I get the feeling that a perceived lack of “killer instinct” isn’t exactly something he worries about.
It does highlight just how relentlessly negative and tedious the press are though. How, even when you’ve reached the simply incredible heights that Tiger has, people still want to take pot-shots at you and try to find some way to bring you down. I noticed on an Australian forum he was even getting abuse for not being able to produce a son!
I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again - one the key skills to any success is the ability to focus entirely on the task in hand and to totally ignore the advice of 99.9% of the critical population.
Stumble It!
“Don’t write me off for a few years yet…”
“Let’s just hit another couple before the light fades”
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“I’m only a wee fella but I tell you what - I’m fecking good at this”
“My advice Tiger? F&*@ ‘em!”
