Inspiring Golf

May 11, 2009 -- So how about that performance by Mr. Henrik Stenson at the this past week's Players Championship? This great player now can be properly thought of as a champion golfer more than an underwear model. Congratulations Henrik on a job well done.

Henrik Stenson charged from five shots back to cruise to an easy four-shot win. The TPC Sawgrass course is one of the most recognized courses in the world. Everyone knows the layout, the greens, even the wind patterns it seems. But did you notice how many golfers struggled on Sunday to get their distances down or to hit the ball in the right areas off the tee or into the green?

Different people have different reasons why this seems to happen - but I think it all comes down to one explanation. Golfers, especially in pressure situations, have a tendency to overthink things and that makes them mechanical, robotic and it hurts their scores tremendously.

I have three quick examples:
• I was very impressed with youngster Kevin Na. He had quite the roller-coaster ride on Saturday if you watched. His back-nine on Saturday included a birdie, an eagle, two pars, four bogeys and a triple bogey. What was his response after the round? He said he was going to just go out on Sunday and have fun. Enjoy the round. And how did he do? He shot 70 and ended up tied for 3rd.

• Alex Cejka seemed to make the course and this tournament look easy for three rounds. By the time he made his birdie at 18 on Saturday, he was lookin at a five-shot lead going into the final round. And then I believe he started to think
about it. The result? Cejka shot a 42 on his opening nine on Sunday and was never really a factor after the first few holes.

• Henrik Stenson, not Tiger Woods, was the player who made a charge out of the crowded pack in second place on Sunday morning to end up comfortably running away with the tournament. Stenson played like he had nothing to lose. He looked confident, relaxed and loose. Did his play show that? Well, the man shot a 66, made no bogeys (the only man in the field to go bogey free for the final round) and won for the first time in a stroke-play event on the PGA Tour. So what do we learn from this past week? Two thoughts come to mind, one I've said for years, the other came to me this weekend -- and they both say the same thing in different ways.

1.) "Turn It Loose, Mother Goose": At the PGA Tour level, all of these guys can hit the ball. Often, what they have to do is simply get out of their own way. There's no secret position or downswing transition that will enable these guys to elevate to a new level. They all have tremendous talent. But it's when they start thinking about the big winner's check, their world golf standings, how far to bring their putter head back, etc...that's when you're going to see numbers start to balloon up.

2.) "When you start thinking, your score starts stinkin'": Players talk about getting in the zone. We've all been there. And what's the common denominator for golfers in "the zone?" You don't overthink, you don't try to figure out why you're playing well. Harvey Penick said it best: Line it up, take dead aim and fire away. When you start watching the scoreboard (or scorecard) and try to fix your swing while on the course, you'll invariably wreck your score and probably your day.

I'll give you one more analogy that explains how overthinking will hurt your game. You put a two-by-four on the ground and ask a man to walk across it, he'll probably have no problem doing so. He might even be inclined to run, spin, show off in all kinds of ways. But you take that same man and that same two-by-four board -- and raise it off the ground about ten feet, and all of a sudden, that board becomes so much more difficult to walk across. If he could block out the trouble underneath the board, he'd have no problem.

Let's talk about this same idea on the golf course. The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is said to strike fear into the world's best players. I'm sure it does. But why? It's a wedge for most of them, a shot that most would hit correctly 99 times out of 100 if you put the same shot in front of them without the water around it. But add the water, the pressure of the stage, the huge gallery and the late round hopes of posting a good score and it becomes what it is -- a really tough test for the world's top players.

So your lesson learned this week is to remember -- enjoy your golf! It's a game people, you're playing golf -- not playing a golf swing. Don't overthink your game, you have the shot - hit it! You'll end up feeling better, be a better person to be around and I assure you, you'll post better numbers.
By Charlie Sorrell, PGA- PGA.com