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At a recent clinic at Virginia Country Club, John Cook’s succession of straight drives elicited an interesting question. “You are one of Tiger [Woods’s] best friends. Why can’t he drive it as straight as you,” a member asked. “I’ll let Jamie finish the answer,” Cook responded, “but I’ll start by saying he’s nervous.” It was a surprising critique, to say the least. “When we’re out at Isleworth playing in the evening and Coldplay is playing in the golf car, the guy never misses a shot and drives it perfectly,” Cook said about Woods, his Florida neighbor. “When he’s out on the road, he doesn’t do it quite as well, but he still does it better than anyone else.” It made me think about the last 20 years that we’ve spent working with touring professionals. We’ve always worked to get them as comfortable as we can when they’re competing. We call this potential. The more talent a player has, the better they can play when they achieve that level of comfort on the course. With everything we know about science and the body, we know very little about how humans control their bodies when there is something of great value at stake. I liken it to the 5-foot putt that you really want to make. The thought of missing the putt makes you nervous, and you miss the putt. You scrape the ball back and, now that it means nothing, you pour it into the hole. Potential is the ability to play like it doesn’t mean anything but using your natural adrenaline and your feelings as if it does. It’s making that putt on the first try. That ability is what is commonly referred to as the zone. Our formula for the zone is when you have the adrenaline and the caring in your mind that the shot means something combined with the natural body movements like it means nothing. We tell our players that this is playing naturally. The tough thing about golf is the time between shots when your mind can wander. You hit your tee shot and have to walk down the fairway to your ball. You play your approach and walk to the green. You mark your ball and have time to think about your putt. It’s no different for you than it is for the greatest player in the world. Once you start thinking about what’s going on is when you can get into trouble. Jamie Mulligan is chief operating officer and a PGA professional at Long Beach’s Virginia Country Club. He has twice been recognized as Teacher of the Year by the Southern California PGA. |
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