A change in attitude can improve your game – Here’s how!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Top putting instructors Stan Utley and Mike Shannon know that unless a player believes he/she is a good putter, they will never become one. Belief has to come first, before ability. This article by Tom Stickney II for Golfwrx reminded me of one of the greatest lessons I learned on the golf course.
A Life-Changing Story.
I played a practice round at Kensington Golf Club in Johannesburg, South Africa, before the 1968 South African Masters, with Gary Player. The greens that year were far from perfect, and as we played along, I was complaining about the condition of the greens. “You know Mel, I am the best putter in the world on bad greens. I feel I am so good on these rough surfaces that I have a distinct advantage over the rest of the field. I think I can win this tournament!” He went on to win by a large margin.
The following week we played at Mowbray Golf Club in Cape Town, South Africa, and the greens were fast and smooth. I saw Gary just before the first round, and I asked him what he thought of these fast greens. “Mel, I’m the best putter in the world on fast greens. I feel I am so good that I have a distinct advantage over the rest of the field, and I have a good chance of winning!”
What I learned from those two encounters is that whatever the situation, if you believe that you are good, you will do well. Thanks, Gary, for a great lesson not only in golf but in life itself! So remember, you cannot change the situation. You can only change your attitude towards the situation. Attitude can improve your game!
Enjoy the article!
Your mind controls your golfing destiny, so stop segmenting your abilities
A change in attitude can improve your game – Here’s how!
While teaching at a corporate outing this week, I had an interesting conversation with Stan Utley and Mike Shannon, two of the world’s best putting instructors. The topic of the conversation was how the mind of a golfer works while putting.
Many golfers intrinsically understand that their attitude controls their destiny on the course, and can make or break them when their score counts, but it was interesting how insistent Utley and Shannon were that golfers must believe they are good putters regardless of their daily outcome. They reminded me of something in my own game that I’d like to discuss with you, and hopefully it will help you become a better putter in the process.
When discussing the belief system of the brain and body, I think back to a book I read when I was trying to play golf for a living called Psychocybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. He was a plastic surgeon who said the way you see yourself influences your actions and shapes your entire future.
Let me paraphrase a passage in his book that hit home with me.
A patient walked into his office with what she perceived to be a crooked nose, and that made her very insecure about her looks. Measuring the amount of the misalignment, Dr. Maltz noticed that it was hardly noticeable to the human eye, but in the mind of the patient it was huge. He went on to explain to the patient that what she wanted him to alter wasn’t worth the time and money, so he initially refused to do the surgery.
The patient was persistent, however, and he complied. What Maltz noticed over the course of her recovery was that her entire perception of herself changed, and she began to feel better about herself. He found that over time that her life began to improve; she was more successful in her personal life, and married a handsome husband years later.
Why?
Her perception of herself was better, and thus she became more open to allowing things to happen within her life. He concluded that a her perception of herself determined her path of your life, and more broadly, if you see yourself as beautiful you act beautiful, and so on.
Now, I am not suggesting that you can just think yourself into being a great golfer if you have terrible mechanics; however, I will say that if you took Brad Faxon or Brian Gay’s attitude regarding putting and put it into the brains of most PGA Tour players’ brain they would become instantly better with no mechanical change whatsoever.
Obviously, you need some type of mechanical competency in order for this to work, but after that I believe it is all about attitude and what you as the player allow yourself to come to believe as true. Let me give you a personal example that supports my thoughts.
Self Confidence – How to attain it at a competitive level!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Self Confidence is something we all admire in a person.
A self-confident person walks into a room and seems to light it up. Their personality immediately brightens the mood of any gathering. When I first met Gary Player, this was a trait he had in bucket loads. His attitude was one of total belief in himself. How does someone acquire this trait? The folks at mindmasterygolf.com have the answers for you. Read on!
Many of my clients and students developed their physical gifts earlier than many of their fellow competitors.
They were rarely challenged to a point were they lost. This gave them great confidence in their ability to win. As they moved into high school, college, and some times to the professional ranks they competed with fewer and fewer golfers who were far less capable than themselves.
Because of their physical prowess and past record their confidence remained high even though the opportunity to lose now loomed over every match and tournament. Too many things could go wrong that would spell defeat. Competitors could play better than they had in the past or get some lucky bounces. Bad weather, poor luck on their part, or unfamiliar courses could affect their ability to score, increasing the chances for a loss.
The more often they were tested and lost, the more the thought of losing remained high, even at a subconscious level. Even with greater uncertainty in the outcome of any match, their belief in their ability remains intact. By and large they possess great self confidence even with some self-doubt.
Self-doubt is not the problem. It’s what to do with it when it strikes.
Trying to build one’s confidence may not solve the problem. My students and clients are already highly confident. Self-doubt doesn’t mean you lack confidence.
Self-doubt is a natural part of the human experience, especially for anyone who competes. We make mistakes and lose or don’t perform to our potential all the time. Not just in golf, but in all areas of life. This knowledge is always with us, usually at a subconscious level and normally doesn’t affect us.
But what do you do with it when it does? Do you try to boost your confidence level? Competitors who are playing at the top of their game don’t focus on their confidence. They focus on the task at hand. Do you lack confidence and spend time, while competing, on building your confidence? You are not focused on the task at hand and will perform poorly anyway.
If you can’t play well except when you feel confident, then confidence is a crutch.
Don’t blame your poor performance on your lack of confidence. Then self-doubt becomes an excuse for your poor play.
When you experience self-doubt or aren’t playing up to your potential requires a different strategy to improve your play. You must address the core issue which is your fight-or-flight reflex. This powerful, instinctive, and primitive response is designed to save our lives when we are physically threatened.
Because our nervous system doesn’t differentiate between threats to our lives and threats to our golf expectations, goals, and dreams, it floods our bloodstream with the same powerful chemicals in either case.
Tiger Woods is one of the most confident players on the PGA Tour!
Golf’s Greatest Rivalries of all time – I didn’t know about #3!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I grew up in the era of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and then eventually Jack Nicklaus. These were known as the “Big 3.” They were good friends outside the ropes, but on the course, the gloves were off. They were fierce competitors, and each wanted to beat the other two every time they teed it up together! Joel Beall of Golf Digest has put together a great list of 14 of the greatest rivalries that could match a Clemson-South Carolina game anytime!
The final week of the college football regular season is renowned for its rivalries. Alabama-Auburn, Ohio State-Michigan, USC-UCLA. Clashes where the record means nothing, and the game’s outcome everything. Which got us thinking: What are some of the best rivalries in the history of golf?
1. USA vs. Europe
The Ryder Cup at first wasn’t much of a rivalry, as the U.S. boasted an 18-3-1 record through 22 matches against Great Britain and Ireland. However, once the Ryder Cup committe decided to change the event’s format to America versus Europe, the latter owns a 10-7-1 mark. Always competitive — and at times, contentious — the biennial event is one of the best Hatfield-McCoy stories in all of sports.
2. Arnold Palmer vs. Jack Nicklaus
Arnie was — and still is — the King. But when a boy from Ohio challenged his rule over golf, Palmer’s reign became a divided kingdom. For nearly a decade, Palmer and Nicklaus battled each other for the game’s crown. While Nicklaus eventually usurped Arnie’s sovereignty, their dual helped shape, and spur, the sport’s popularity.
(Original Caption) Dot Germain, of Philadelphia; Phyllis Otto, of Atlantic, Iowa; Mrs. George Zaharias, the former Babe Didrikson, of Los Angeles; and Louise Suggs, of Lithia Springs, Georgia (left to right). Examine their trusty putters after they won their second round matches and entered the quarter-finals of the 45th Annual Amateur Tournament of the Women’s Western Golf Association.
3. Louise Suggs vs. Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Suggs was jealous of Babe’s dominance and popularity, calling her “not a golfer; she’s a showman.” Suggs once said she would refuse to sign Zaharias’ scorecard. Disputing a drop the Babe got in 1953. Even in death, the rivalry was still there: Suggs did not visit Babe in the hospital when the latter was dying of cancer, telling friends, “I decided I’m not going to be a hypocrite about this thing.”
Are golfers athletes – Question answered right here!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Having been a golf professional for almost 50 years, I can tell you that anybody who asks the question “Are golfers athletes?” does not know the game of golf. Decades ago when I used to play on the Sunshine Tour, I think the only person who worked out was Gary Player! The rest of us would meet for dinner and a few drinks after our round. Today. golf has become big business, with millions of dollars at stake every week.
The players on every Tour and Mini-Tour in the world, work out to improve strength and flexibility, and performance coaches guide them through the process. These coaches make sure the workout is technically correct to achieve maximum benefit for each individual. Check out the video below presented by the PGA Tour, to see just how much fitness plays in this game. Amateurs could definitely benefit from similar attention to their bodies to improve their golf game!
Pre Tiger Woods, golf was just a game. Now it’s an Olympic sport populated by athletes who work both on and off the course to be the best.
My favorite golfer of all time turns 80! A Talk with Gary Player.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I have been fortunate to call Gary Player a friend, but far more than that he was and still is a huge inspiration.
Gary has conducted his life with honesty and integrity and is a fierce competitor, but at the end of the day will shake your hand and say “Well played!” I was thrilled when Brendan Mohler interviewed Gary and published the outcome on GOLF.com because I think Gary always has interesting stuff to say!
My favorite golfer of all time turns 80! A Talk with Gary Player.
Deep Thoughts: Gary Player Recalls His Worst Golf Moment
Gary Player has had no shortage of career highlights, but ask him to pick a lowlight and one memory stands out.
Not many people have gotten more out of their lives than Gary Player, regardless of his nine major championship victories. A few days before turning 80 (which, if you’re Player, is closer to half-time than it is the end of the third quarter) the Black Knight spoke from his West Palm Beach home, reflecting on his life’s work and opining on anything from retirement (he doesn’t know what that’s like) to America (he talks like he’s running for office, which wouldn’t be a bad thing).
You’re a few days away from your 80th birthday. There must be a big party planned…
There is, but not until the 11th of November. I’m going to be on a flight to China on my birthday for a sight visit at a course we’re building. But on the 11th we’re throwing a party at Sun City Resort in South Africa. My friends are coming from all over the world and we’re playing golf the day before the party and the day after.
Considering what you’ve accomplished, what’s left for you to do that’s more exciting than what you’ve done?
What’s so exciting about turning 80 is that I have so much energy. I work as hard at 80 as I did at 25, and I keep telling people that retiring is a death warrant. People that retire, they sit around, they do nothing and they die within three years. You have to keep moving, you have to keep working.
Your intense workout regimen is no secret. But what’s your diet like?
I had nothing for breakfast this morning except a glass of pomegranate juice and some green juice—just a bunch of vegetables put in a blender. I’m not a big meat eater. I’m 70 percent vegetarian. I try to have a good breakfast in the morning and a good lunch. I try some nights to have no dinner. When I do, it’s a very tiny dinner. I don’t eat a lot of bread, alcohol, or things like that at night. They say that you don’t put gas in your car when you park it in the garage. You gas it up during the day. The same applies to your body.
In your travels, what place or person has influenced you the most?
[Former Prime Minister of Singapore] Lee Kuan Yew is probably the greatest leader I can remember in my lifetime. He passed away recently, but to take a country of such a small size that had virtually nothing and turn it into No. 1 in the world in education is impressive. Singapore has no killings of people, no graffiti, no garbage in the street. And he did it by enforcing the principles that are necessary for everyday living.
You’re as big of a supporter of America as a U.S.-born citizen. What can we learn here?
I’ve been reading one of Lou Dobbs’ books, and I learned that in math and science America is ranked 51st in the world. We’re rated 28th in overall education! We’ve got to get the young people to realize that they live in the greatest country in the world. America used to have a monopoly, but now you’ve got China, India, Africa and Europe as competitors. The young people have got to work harder to keep America as No. 1.
I’ll never forget having dinner with President Eisenhower. He told me that you need to have the strongest army in the world because you get peace through strength. He said, ‘It’s my job to make America safe. When you’re safe others around the world invest in you.’ He said, ‘We’ve got to have discipline. We have to get people to honor this great country.’
As the Black Knight nears 80, you’d think he would slow down!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I am proud to call Gary Player a friend. I have played golf with him twice.
The first time I played with him, I was a rookie Pro in my first year on Tour.
Gary walked up to me at East London Golf Club and said, “Hi Mel, I’m Gary Player,” Like he had to tell me his name in case I did not know who he was! This was in 1966, and he invites me to play a practice round with him the following week at Houghton Golf Club. I was so nervous I could hardly get the tee in the ground!
Walking down the first fairway, Gary puts his arm around my shoulder ( he had to reach up) and says, “Mel, we are only playing a practice round; just relax.” That was the kind of person Gary was back then and still is today. I have the greatest admiration for him and what he has done in the game.
I have tried to model my own life after Gary behaves both on and off the golf course.
Thanks so much for everything you have taught me, Gary!
As the Black Knight nears 80 you’d think he would slow down!
Thanks so much to Alan Schupak of golfweek.com for this wonderful story. Brings back such great memories!
Gary Player, aka The Black Knight, shown at a 2015 photoshoot at The Sports and Racquet Club at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (Tracy Wilcox)
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Gary Player was sitting at a coffee shop in Baton Rouge, La., early in his career when fellow PGA Tour pro Doug Sanders proposed a scenario: If he gave Player $250,000, a small fortune in those days, would he retire to a ranch in his native South Africa?
Without hesitation, Player responded: “I couldn’t do it, laddie.”
“Why the hell not?” Sanders shot back. “Because I’m going to win all four majors.” Player’s belief in his destiny poured out in such passion and intensity. In 1965, at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, the 29-year-old Player outlasted Kel Nagle in an 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Open and join a select band of golfers to complete the career Grand Slam.
Fast forward 50 years to the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, where a reporter asked Player whether it felt as though it had happened a lifetime ago.
“It doesn’t, because I’m so young at heart and I’m so fit and I have so much enthusiasm and energy and I’m so busy in my life,” Player said. “I still want to learn. So many people seem to lose their desire to improve and grow as they get older, but I can’t say that has happened to me.”
As one of golf’s “Big Three,” Player set the standard for worldwide tournament play.
Having won more than 100 titles, including nine major championships. Born Nov. 1, 1935 in Johannesburg, Player was the youngest of three children to Harry and Muriel Player, who died from pancreatic cancer when he was 8. As a youth, he left the house daily at 6 a.m., boarded a streetcar, then hopped onto the No. 68 bus to attend the finest school around. Looking back on his adolescence from the perspective of adulthood, Player said, “If it’s possible, school took the place of my mother. It made me tough, and it made me hungry.”
He turned professional at 18, and traveling the world became his university. It’s funny that longevity
and traveling some 15 million miles became Player’s calling cards. He chuckles at the memory of a long-ago conversation with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in which he and Nicklaus insisted they would be hanging up the spikes at the ripe age of 35. A few years later, Player walked into the Champions Dinner at the Masters and Palmer kidded, “What are you doing here in this field? I thought you’d be retired by now.”
Player has made idle threats to retire, but he continues to circle the globe with the drive of the Energizer bunny.
“In the days when I was working very closely with him, he’d complain, ‘I can’t do all this. I’m going to die young,’ ” said IMG’s Alastair Johnston, who represented Player for more than 20 years beginning in the early 1970s. “He’d fly from Tokyo to Lima, Peru to Madrid, Spain and then home to South Africa. When I’d tell him what he was going to make, he’d say, ‘$50,000! Are you kidding me? I’ll swim there.’ ”
#10 in Our Series “My Best Shot Ever” by Gary Player!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Legend of the game Gary Player shares with us the standout shot of his career.
Which came at Oakland Hills on route to victory at the 1972 PGA Championship.
Seve says, “Take lessons regularly and practice a lot!”
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Seve Ballesteros was one of the greatest golfers ever!
He had one of the most imaginative short games on the planet. So when Seve talked to Robert Baker before he passed away in 2011, he stressed the importance of taking lessons and practice to get better. Listen and Learn!
How To Cure Your Slice – Gary Player with Presenters Robert Baker, Grant Hepburn, Seve Ballesteros
“I do not say – as some people do – that you are sure to come down correctly, because you may make the grievous mistake of throwing out your arms. There is one admirable means of preventing such a sure producer of disaster. It is to aim at an imaginary something to the right of the player and about a foot behind the line in which he is standing.” Harry Vardon 1913
Robert Trent Jones Jr responds to Gary Players Diss!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Gary Player had some strong words to say about Chambers Bay, calling it “the worst course I have ever seen.”
Robert Trent Jones has responded that Gary had an ulterior motive in his comment as they are both in the design business and compete for the same jobs. He feels that was a low blow! What do you think? Post your comments below. Thanks to GOLF .com and Joe Passov for this controversial article.
In a week punctuated by dismissive barbs over the design and condition of Chambers Bay, none were as cutting as Gary Player’s. The 79-year-old South African legend was in town being honored by the USGA for his U.S. Open win 50 years ago, but Player’s place at the podium turned into a bully pulpit, with Chambers Bay the target.
On Friday, during a Yahoo Sports “Grandstanding” podcast, Player labeled Chambers Bay as “one of the worst golf courses I’ve seen in my 63 years as a pro.” Among other disparaging remarks about the course, he called it “basically unplayable,” adding, “the man who designed this golf course had to have one leg shorter than the other.”
The man who designed this golf course is Robert Trent Jones Jr. together with associate Bruce Charlton and former associate Jay Blasi.
Speaking exclusively to GOLF.com, Jones offered a rebuttal to Player’s comments.
“First of all, you have to understand that Gary is a competitor in the design business,” says Jones. “He was a ruthless competitor in his playing days and at times he can be that way in the design business. We compete for jobs all over the world. I can tell you that I’m open to constructive criticism, but to make it personal is something I can’t understand. What purpose does it serve to find fault with the USGA, with the men who set it up and with the design itself? All I can tell you is that I don’t comment on my competitors. I don’t need to enter a public debate with Gary Player.”
Stop Complaining and believe you are the best says Gary Player.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I played on the South African Sunshine Tour from 1969 to 1979 and had the good fortune to play a few practice rounds with the great Gary Player.
I learned a lot of life lessons from Gary. But the one that has stuck in my head all these years came to the fore this week. I heard all the mumblings and grumblings about the greens at Chambers Bay. Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson did not have kind words for the Robert Trent Jones Jr design.
Gary Player has been an inspiration to me and many others with his honesty, integrity, and positive attitude!
I was playing a practice round before the SA Masters at Kensington GC with Gary Player. And the greens were extremely bumpy. I complained to Gary, but instead of getting sympathy, Gary said, “Mel, I am the best putter in the world on bumpy greens. So much so that I think I have a huge advantage this week and believe I can win this tournament.” He went on to win by 7 shots!
The following week, we played the SA Open Championship at Mowbray Golf Club in Cape Town, and the greens were beautiful and really fast.
I thought, “Gary will have a hard time this week as these greens are not the bumpy greens of the week prior.” When I saw Gary in the clubhouse before the first round, I said, “Gary, what do you think of these smooth slick greens?” Do you know what he said? “Mel, I am the best putter in the world on fast, smooth greens. I think I have an advantage over everyone else in the field this week!” He went on to win by 5!
It was an epiphany moment for me! As long as you believe you are the best in ANY situation, you will immediately have an advantage over everyone else! If it is raining, say “I love playing in the rain” If it is sweltering, say “I love playing in the heat!” and if it is freezing cold, say “I love playing in the cold!” Remember, you cannot change the situation. You can only change your attitude towards the situation! I think the winner of the US Open at Chambers Bay will have to have that attitude!
In your travels, what place or person has influenced you the most?
