He put us through it didn’t he! Like you, I was watching from behind the sofa in the hope that Rory would make history as just the 6^th golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.  And of course he did it, but it wasn’t without a fair amount of drama.

As I reflect on the events of last Sunday night with my coaches hat on, it opens up the question – “How can my students learn from what Rory did?”  Well, they won’t be in the same situation as Rory any time soon - no one will, but there are some very real comparisons we can draw because after all, it’s still golf!

Let’s take a look at Rory’s scorecard from Sunday..

Pretty inconsistent isn’t he.  Scores ranging from 2 to 7, birdies to double bogeys, missed fairways, missed greens, 3 putts, balls in water hazards… Sound familiar?

But there was excellence sprinkled in, incredible recovery shots and then the play off – a huge drive down the middle of the fairway and a wedge to 3 feet, a shot faced just moments earlier that found the greenside bunker, and as we know the rest is history.

One of the most common things golfers say to me is how inconsistent they are:

“One hole I’ll hit a perfect shot and make a birdie and then the next hole I’ll duff 2 shots in a row and make an 8!” 

 I suppose my response from now on will be:

“Oh you mean like when Rory won the Masters?”.

Already you can see the comparisons, it’s golf and this is just the way it goes.  But unlike Rory many golfers would let the bad shots ruin their round, they would give up, lose hope and then when they arrive back in the clubhouse, they’ll see that they only missed out on a prize by one or two shots – I know because I have been there myself!

So what can we learn from Rory’s round on Sunday night.  Here are my thoughts:

Acceptance that bad shots will happen

If you could see into the future and know what score you were going to shoot, good or bad, and that you were going to hit some good and some bad shots do you think it would help you cope with the events when then occur?  Do you think it would help manage your expectations for the round? Well, you should already know that you WILL hit bad shots when you play. Rory knew he wouldn’t hit every shot exactly how he wanted, no one ever does, so when it happened it wasn’t a shock (apart form that awful wedge on 13, that wasn’t expected!).  Accepting bad shots will help you put them behind you, not dwell on the past and have it effect the future.  You need to be OK with poor golf shots if you ever want to succeed, it’s part of the game. This brings me on to my next learning point from Rory’s round, resilience.

Resilience

‘Noun -  the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.’

This perhaps sums up Rory’s attitude on Sunday, he recovered quickly from difficulties.  The double bogey on the first was recovered by 2 birdies the 3^rd and 4^th hole and then again on the 9^th. The double bogey from 87 yards in on 13 and bogey on 14 recovered by one of the best shots in Master history, a high draw around the trees to set up an eagle putt.  Finally, the despair of making a bogey on 18 with a wedge in hand when a par from 125 yards would have won him the tournament, to then making a birdie from the exact same spot in the play off.  He never once felt sorry for himself as he seemingly was throwing the tournament away, he stuck in, took one shot at a time and he kept trying.

The importance of a pre shot routine

There aren’t many more pressurized situations than leading the Masters on a Sunday afternoon but pressure is pressure and it’s all relative to the player and occasion.  You will have felt nerves just like Rory but the key is how to control them and not let anxiety or nervousness get the better of you.  One simple way to do this is a pre shot routine and if you watched closely Rory stuck to his every time.

A pre shot routine helps the golfer to see every shot with the same value and as part of the process of the round. No matter the consequences, whether you’re putting for a birdie or a double bogey, if you’re driving off in front of 1000 people or just your golf buddy, it’s about creating a familiar feeling to help control nerves and anxiety and treat every occasion the same.

“Whether you’re playing in front of your buddies or millions of people watching on TV, it’s the same shot” – Tiger Woods to his son Charlie

Here are my top 5 reasons you should have a pre shot routine:

1) Consistency – A consistent pre shot routine will help you create a repetitive and familiar pattern. With consistent thoughts comes consistent movements, with consistent movements comes consistent outcomes.

2) Focus – The routine helps you focus on the shot in hand by staying present and blocking out distractions, such as the worry of the outcome and result of the shot.

3) Confidence – Following a familiar routine instils a sense of confidence in your abilities, with positive self-talk playing an important role.

4) Anxiety management – A pre shot routine can help reduce anxiety and nerves by providing structure and discipline. It helps you stay in the moment and takes your mind away from potential negative outcomes.

5) Decision making – The routine should include evaluating factors like distance and club selection, along with rehearsing the swing feel you’re attempting to create. This helps take doubt out of the equation and allows you to feel fully committed to the shot in hand.

Self focus

You may have heard reports of Bryson complaining about the fact that Rory didn’t say a word to him in during the final round.  Is this rude or arrogant? Or was it something else?  Maybe the fact that he is focusing like never before!

In research carried out by Dr Brian Hemmings – sports psychologist, it was discovered that there were certain key attributes of best players when it comes to mental skills and self-focus was one of them.

Self-focus is the ability to solely focus on ones self, sounds quite obvious really, however, it’s not easy with all the other ‘noise’ in the background of this game we play.

Being able to truly focus on ones self would mean that all the effort the golfer puts into their performance is targeted at what they can control. It’s very easy for our attention to be switched to other aspects of the game outside of our control, which will mostly have a negative effect on our performance.

Self focus is a skill that the greats have and if you have time I would like to share a personal story about my experience with Tiger Woods at the Open Championship a few years back.

In 2012 I was coaching for the PGA at the Open Championship at Royal St Georges. I was there all week and my main goal, away from my coaching duties, was to find Tiger and watch him play and practice. Tiger was my childhood hero, I used to watch a Tiger Woods DVD before I went to play golf because I wanted to be just like him on the golf course! I hadn’t seen him in the flesh before, so I was excited at that prospect.

I was aware of many peoples views of Tiger, that he was arrogant, he wouldn’t sign many autographs and would ignore spectators and other players. I decided to make my own mind up and see how he behaved with my own eyes.

That week I was fortunate enough to be inside the ropes. This meant I could almost stand next to the players as they practiced!

The day before the tournament started, I spent some time on the short game area. When I arrived there were a few of the household names practicing. The likes of Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and so on. The crowds had gathered around the fence to watch these guys as they chipped and hit bunker shots. At this stage the crowd was light, not too many spectators and there was certainly no problem getting a great view.

A few minutes later 4 security guards arrived dressed all in black with black caps and a small Nike tick on them. Then in the distance there was a sound of commotion, to the point that the practicing players even stopped to see what was going on. Then the crowds arrived, people running to the practice area and before I knew it the crowds outside were 10 deep.

Two police officers entered the practice area followed by, you guessed it, Tiger Woods.

Tiger was stone faced, only looking straight ahead as he came in and set himself up a few feet away from where I was standing. He emptied his practice balls, had a brief chat to his coach and started chipping some balls onto the green - The stories that Tiger would ignore everyone was true, no eye contact, no talking, no autographs.

For me it was obvious right at that point why he behaved the way he did. No other player was subject to that attention, noise and distraction. His behaviour wasn’t ignorance, arrogance or rudeness, it was simply self-focus. He is here to win a major championship and he must focus on himself and no one else. Tiger Woods was the best at self-focus and he needed a much higher level of it simply because his distractions were greater than any other player out there.

Self-focus was perhaps Tiger Woods’ best skill and without it, he wouldn’t have achieved what he did in the game.

My point here isn’t that you should ignore your playing partners during the monthly medal but more about focussing on things that are in your control and not those that aren’t.

So next time you’re on the golf course think about how Rory dug in when times were tough, didn’t get over excited with the highs or too low with the lows.

We’re playing the hardest game in the world and it doesn’t always go your way, luckily for Rory, it did.