I was fortunate to have played on the PGA TOUR, having qualified thru Q-School, way back when, at Pinehurst #4…final stage (actually, fall 1977). During the last few holes of the most stressful tournament one could ever imagine (and, unless you have been there…you really can’t…WOW!), I experienced tremendous HIGHS and LOWS, mentally, that have helped shape my understanding…and teachings…of the mental side to the game. I would like to share, with you, what ACTUALLY HAPPENED, to help all golfers be better prepared…for when it counts!
#1 Not Getting Ahead of Yourself
When I went thru Q-School, there were 3 stages: Local…regional…final! I birdied 5 of the last 7 holes at regionals, in Tampa, Fl, to gain entry to the final stage at Pinehurst #4.
Now…FINAL STAGE…Pinehurst #4…after a disappointing first round, I stood in 130th place (30 players & ties gained PGA TOUR access). Over the next two rounds (qualifying was 72 holes then), I shot the best 36-hole score of anyone in the field, jumping all the way to a tie for 13th. HOW COOL WAS THAT! Now, the only thing that stood in my way to achieving my life-long dream of playing on the PGA TOUR was one more round. Excitement and nerves never allowed me to sleep the night before the final round.
My focus, especially during the middle rounds…was quite simple: trust my caddie’s understanding of the greens (“BR” caddied at Pinehurst for years and could REALLY read the greens!), and play, the proverbial…”one shot at a time!”
For the first 13 holes, I did just that…BR read every green, and I played ”one shot at a time”! Under enormous final round pressure, I played those holes in even par. Under the blistery and cold conditions we were facing, I KNEW I had advanced even further up the leaderboard (NO scoreboards then…no communications then…but I KNEW I was in great shape!).
Now the fun…or should I say peril…set in!
The 14th tee was 150yds or so in back & behind of the 13th green….so I walked back to the tee, by myself and the rest of the players in our group. The caddies stayed forward, keeping an eye on our upcoming tee shots. I blistered a tee shot on the hole, sending it straight down the right center of the fairway, in perfect position for my next shot into the green (par 4….9-iron second). As I was walking down the fairway to my ball…and all of a sudden, a TON of thoughts and emotions came over me: I had just played the hardest part of the course…was inside the top-10, and I WAS going onto the PGA TOUR! Thoughts of my 17-years of work to get to this point flashed thru my mind…I got sooo emotional…I started crying! Yup…crying! I could hardly maintain my composure, because I WAS going on the PGA TOUR! OOPS!
I hit the 9-iron approach into the 14th green…dead on line….BUT 1’ short of the green, and the ball buried into the top lip of the bunker! Hacked it out in 2….double-bogey 6. Now, COMPLETELY PANIC set in! Three putting both the 15th & 16th greens lead to bogeys on those two holes as well. I had played the last 3 holes…4 OVER PAR! I was sooo scared that I, literally, could not breath (I remember walking down the 16th fairway, backwards, hoping to get air into me, as the hole was downwind…that’s how scared I was).
I will finish the last two holes in a later post, as we need to jump off here!
The point of this post…NEVER allow your mind to get ahead of yourself! For the first 67 holes of the tournament, I was only focused on playing each shot to the best of my ability…nothing more! My mind…my lack of mind control…allowed me to wonder to the final “result”….GLORY & SATISFACTION of reaching a life-long goal. Thus, I completely got away from focusing on the “process” of…one shot at a time. My mind got away from me…lost complete confidence…became scared, weak, sick to my stomach…everything was gone. In the span of 3 holes, I had gone from experiencing complete elation to utter despair. Holy #@%!
(continued…..)