Virginia Golfer September / October 2014 | Page 34

The Virginia Golfer Conversation

Master

OF THE

Mind

Sports psychologist Dr. Gio Valiante works with some of the best players in the game
to refine their mental outlook

H

e is not easily recognizable
to the average golf fan. To
many of his clients, a who’s
who of golfers over the past
14 years, it’s not a stretch
to say Dr. Gio Valiante, 43,
may have been, at some point or another,
one of the most important reasons related
to their success.
Last year Golf Digest surveyed 125 players
on the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours,
asking them who they thought were the top
10 golf psychologists. Valiante checked in at
No. 2, behind only Virginian Dr. Bob Rotella.
It’s been quite the feat for Valiante, who
applied social cognitive theory research
data to golf, then watched as the conveyed
principles sparked massive interest. It made
a believer out of Jack Nicklaus, perhaps the
greatest golfer of all-time.
A professor of Educational Psychology
at Rollins College the past 14-plus years,

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the affable Valiante is still ubiquitous on the
professional circuits. He recently explained
his affinity for research, his ground-breaking
book, how he gained Nicklaus’ trust and,
placed on the spot, what he thinks his legacy
might end up being in the end.
VIRGINIA GOLFER: What is it that attracted

you to the psychology of golf and sports?
How did this become your passion?
DR. GIO VALIANTE: I was at Emory University
around 2000, and it is a pretty heavy duty
research place. I was studying social cognitive
theory, and I was using the theory to explore
the sources and effects of confidence in
students. I was trying to explore why students
in schools of equal ability performed better
than others. It was about performance and
lack of performance.
I grew up playing golf. But more
importantly, I grew up hearing about golf
from my dad. He used to play three days a
week with a bunch of guys on a municipal
course. And every night at the dinner table

VIRGINIA GOLFER | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014

we always heard what happened on the golf
course. So I had the narrative and it became
a fascinating inquiry for me from growing up
with this really vivid narrative of the game.
But I thought, ‘With social cognitive
t h e o r y, b o y, t h i s n o t o n l y e x p l a i n s
performance and lack of performance in
academics, but this is golf.’
VG: Where did it lead you?
DR. VALIANTE: I started taking notes and

conducting side studies in my off hours; then
what came out was such a perfect theory for
golf. I was taking golf lessons in graduate
school and Bill McDonald, who is now
the head coach at the University of South
Carolina, was a player back then. I explained
to him what I was learning and he said, ‘Listen,
if you teach me this stuff, I’ll give you golf
lessons.’ We traded services.
He started playing better. Then another
one of his friends from the Georgia Section
of the PGA of America came to me and
he started playing better. Then another

w w w. v s g a . o r g

BEN VAN HOOK PHOTOGRAPHY

Interviewed by KEN KLAVON