Why this mental game myth can hurt your golf game

Bobby Jones deserves the blame. So is Jack Nicklaus. Jim Flick and Bob Rotella are guilty, too. At different times, and to varying degrees, all four have helped perpetuate the myth that golf is often called mental — 90% mental is a commonly quoted figure, though Flick has gone so far as to put the number at 100%.

As a longtime competitive golfer, I believed that. But in my two decades as a mental coach to golfers, including PGA and LPGA Tour winners, I’ve learned the truth. Golf is not 90% mental. Not even close.

I say this from personal and professional experience. In the 1997 US Open Local Qualifier, I choked, missed four putts within three feet and was out of the tournament by a shot. With certainty golf was 90% mental. I saw a hole and took it, I started my career as a mental game coach.

LISTEN TO JARED TENDLER DISCUSS THE MIND GAME ON OUR GOLF PODCAST

Don’t get me wrong — I still believe my field is very important. But I’ve come to understand that golf is no different than baseball, football, soccer, or any other sport where physical fitness goes hand in hand with thinking. Chess and poker are a different story. But in a pursuit like golf, where techniques are honed in the body, the mind is merely a conduit for—or a barrier to—manifesting one’s ability. You don’t hit the golf ball with your mind.

To understand the role of mind in the game, think of a pie chart that represents all the factors at play: equipment, body, training, strategy, luck. How can they cover the minimum 10% figure? They don’t.

Holding on to a 90% mindset is like playing with hickory shafts or a balata ball. The game is progressing. Discovered stroke statistics have already reshaped the way we think about distance and putting – it’s time for our thinking about logic.

Psychology cannot turn a 20-handicap into a beginner. It’s also not why Tiger Woods cruised to a record-breaking win at the 2000 US Open, or said his performance left him feeling “calm and calm” all week.

Woods was a mental giant, of course. But there was more at work for him than his mind. He arrived at Pebble Beach in top form, fine-tuning a swing transition with Butch Harmon that allowed him to swing freely and make body changes mid-round. His strength allowed him to overcome difficulties that others had to overcome. His strategy was logical, designed to play to his strengths and protect his weaknesses. Then there was his secret weapon: a new Nike golf ball, available only to him, that was stable in the air.

The best performance in the history of the national championship did not reveal much confidence and inner calm. That state of mind was the happy result of everything else being in perfect place.

Generations of golfers have been convinced that getting better is simply a matter of thinking right – and that thinking right is easy, as if the mind needs no training. That belief backfires. When you don’t work with the truth, you fight it, and your emotions are more agitated because of it.

The right perspective is important. Reducing psychology to size makes it work, and allows us to see its interactions with other factors. A picture is best understood as a Venn diagram rather than a hierarchy.

Our thoughts and feelings affect every part of the game, but the cause is not always obvious. New clubs can boost confidence, but only if they really fit. For years I was afraid of missing big lefties with my 3 iron. The club fitting finally revealed a misaligned shaft and lie angle too low for me to swing. That was not a psychological problem. The club is designed to connect.

If you miss two passes and can’t control the ball, it’s reasonable to feel lost. True self-confidence does not come from “confidence” or “believing in yourself.” It comes from knowing why your swing is off track and how to fix it on the fly.

Luck is part of every round, too, whether we like it or not. Sergio Garcia waited 10 minutes on the 72nd hole of the 2007 Open Championship, missed it, lost the final and immediately blamed the wait. We can’t control the scrubbing of the green – but we do it can be control our reaction to it.

Psychology affects everything, including how we act. But it is only a great power if you play badly.

Golf is not 90% mental. But your worst golf.

Tensions, frustrations, nerves, overconfidence, slow play, fear of certain holes: these are what bring you down, not your technique, your equipment or bad luck. Shooting a rolling pin if you know better. Swing hard when fatigue sets in. Negative thoughts freeze, commitments fade, old scars reappear. This is where psychology comes in handy.

Ironically, for all the verbal work that goes into the mental game, many golfers fall back on corrections when things go sideways. After a bad round they head straight to the range or start looking at a new putter. They chalked up a bad swing to a fluke, thought a swing fix would get them out of their slump – and nothing changed. The bottom remains the same.

Every golfer has a C game. No one is immune to bad swings, and we all know that golf is more about the quality of your misses than the length of perfection. This is why psychology is so important: making your misses less bad is a much easier project than fixing your swing.

So next time it’s not your day, be curious instead of frustrated. Overthinking, apathy, fear – these are not things that cannot be shaken. They are like mistakes in your swing: underdeveloped, with little understanding and effort.

Jared Tendler, a mental game coach for golfers, poker players and financial traders, is the author of a new book, “Everyday Golf Psychology.” You can hear more from him on this week’s episode of the Destination Golf podcast.