“The mind is everything. What you think you become”
Buddha
Last week when Phil Mickelson won the Crowne Plaza Invitational he played a simply incredible wedge shot to rescue his poor drive at the 18th. The wedge shot needed to get the ball over one tree and then slip under a second. Clearly not an easy shot but realistically exactly the sort of shot that Mickelson excels at. The ball landed nine feet from the hole and the subsequently holed birdie putt meant that playing partner Rod Pampling, who had led for most of the round, was relegated to second place.
It was classic Mickelson – no doubt about it. And a wonderful example of just how an incredible short game can get you out of trouble. But it was Pampling’s reaction to the shot that surprised me most and showed that it isn’t just Tiger Woods who can manage to elevate himself to an “unbeatable” position in the minds of most of the other guys on tour. Let’s not forget that Pampling is hardly some wet behind the years kid who should be in awe of Mickelson. He has career earnings in excess of $10 million!
What pampling said was:
“You get to expect him to do that, those guys play those kinds of shots”
Which of course is, broadly speaking correct.
- But who are those guys?
- And why is Pampling not one of those guys?
- And what did Mickelson do to become one of those guys?
I give Mickelson a hard time in here for his inability to look at Tiger and think “what is the difference between that athletic looking guy and me? What is it that he does differently to me? I wonder does he eat a different kind of cake to what I eat? How does he have the stamina?”
But one thing you can’t criticise him for doing is skimping on his short game practice. After hours of practice and coaching with short game guru Dave Pelz, Mickelson will actually spend any break from the practice “playing” with his lob wedge. That’s where he hones those crazy shots where he can hit a ball back and over his head or send lobs so high that they can clear (man mountain) Pelz’s head when he’s standing just a few feet in front of him. And of course that’s where he becomes one of “those guys“. He may have a simply incredible natural talent but incredible talent still needs a bit of work. Incredible talent needs to be bolstered by the confidence of hours spent practicing and just “playing around with wedges”. Seve Balleseteros became one of those guys with a wedge by playing very similar games.
Amateur golfers make the same mistake. They assume they can’t be a single figure shooter. They assume that they’ll never break par or even 80 or 90 in many cases. They assume, just like Rod Pampling, that they’re never going to be one of “those guys“. And as ever if they could just remove that mindset and perhaps focus a little on a plan for improvement then they could very quickly find that they are one of those guys. Never categorise yourself as a certain type of golfer when you could actually be much better if you just worked a little at it.
Mickelson was a short game genius well before Pelz. Risk taking is a personality trait. I’m not sure it can be coached. Woods bungee jumped from a seeming mile while on vacation. Not everyone would do that. I think it’s inherent or it isn’t. Faced with the same shot Pampling probably would have erred on the side of caution and punched out hoping for a playoff. Had Mickelson surrendered his clubs to Pampling in the ‘06 US Open, he may have won!
As an aside, I expected Pelz to help Phil primarily with his putting. I think his putting has been spotty since then. He was considered one of the best putters at one time.
Nice site!
Hi Bob – thanks for the comment. If I’m honest I don’t know why Phil is with Pelz at all. The ultra clinical approach Pelz describes seems to be at odds with the huge natural feel that Mickelson.
Although it’s worth bearing in mind that I’m writing this after Mickelson took a 9 at the US Open with wedge troubles! But that just goes to highlight the fact that “those guys” are still human – just like the rest of us.
This really is a huge insight! My father taught me this lesson when I first asked him how he became a Navy pilot. He started off as an officer that did general administrative tasks, but decided he really wanted to fly. He told himself that there’s nothing those guys (pilots) have that he doesn’t. He took up the challenge and became one of “those guys” himself. It took me a while to do this in golf. Even though my progress was steady and I quickly got into the single digits, I still didn’t view myself as being in the same “league” as the low handicappers who’d been playing all their life. After about 2 years, I finally decided I was, and that on any given day, I can beat any one of them — and now often do
You’ve got to believe you can do it before you can.