Either you’ll get an immediate bad result or you
get a good result and it lulls you into thinking
that you can continue those “anyway shots”
until you do get disruptive results. For me, that’s
kind of like the sweet spot of focus; being able
to recognize those moments where I need to
probably start over and yet I sometimes don’t.
And I’m now really diligent after a round, I’m
looking back and trying to do my best in those
moments because that’s what I’ve identified as
being the most destructive as far as results.
How do golfers deal with nerves and anxiety on
the golf course?
Kenny Perry. Photo by Stan Badz/PGA Tour
My caddy, Taylor, and I we call it “cleaner golf.”
I like to separate the decision making and the
execution and felt like I was quite gray before,
then suddenly things shifted to black and white.
It just translates into better golf. I struggle being
a little older now. The focus part of it is a little
bit harder to kind of grasp onto than when I was
young.
It just seems like a few shots here and there,
where I was a little bit asleep. I don’t catch a
little something that I would have caught 10
years ago, and I don’t reboot. That’s a big key in
golf. Golf is one of the only sports that let you
re-create the present. Something enters your
mind that you don’t like, it gets you distracted
and you have a choice to make you either need
to start over and get clear or you can go ahead
and hit it anyway. I call those “anyway shots” and
they are usually quite destructive.
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Kenny Perry: Well, you’ve got to welcome the
nervousness. To me, I never did welcome it, I
never did enjoy it. And I still get nervous, but
I know for me when I’m nervous, it means
something. And that’s a good thing. Not a bad
thing.
What suggestions do you have for amateurs to
transform performance jitters?
Zach Johnson: I would hope they have butterflies
and that means something to you. Golf is a sport,
it should require some jitters and emotions
to get your body going. If you’re often pretty
stoic you may want to reconsider a different
endeavor. But I think the bottom line is that golf
is really, really hard. So, let’s have an expectation
of just having fun, hitting solid shots during the
social aspect of it and the enjoy fact that you’re
outside playing a great game.
Cink: I think the number one thing that young
adults between the ages of 21 to 25 -- my own
kids are right in middle of this age group -- is
to learn that you’ll perform better no matter
what you’re trying to do, if you remove the
attachment to needing to perform. If you set
everything up in your life where you are pursuing
the same thing all the time, without the focus on
performance, your performance will be better.