Your 15th Club - Bob Rotella - Think like Tiger, Hole ‘em like Harrington
We all want to be like Tiger Woods. How cool would it be to be a winner like he is, to be able to hit shot after shot consistently like he does, to be able to hole putts under the most intense pressure like he does? It would be pretty damn awesome in my opinion! So the next question is…how?
This is where world famous sports psychologist Bob Rotella comes into the equation. I recently read his book “Your 15th Club” and am intrigued. He speaks of the subconscious self-image, where self confidence is the key rather than swing confidence. He stresses the need to focus on your good shots, store them in your memory and utilise this memory in clutch situations. This advice has certainly worked for his star pupil, 3-time major winner (so far), Padraig Harrington. Listening to Harrington the other night, he again spoke of his mental strength and how he has now convinced himself (whether it true or not) that he enjoys coming down the stretch in a major, that he enjoys the intense pressure that comes with it. Its where he wants to be on major Sunday and if he gets there, he knows he can perform.
I have played with so many golfers of poor mental strength on the golf course, it is incredible. Remember, Rotella wants you to prepare for every shot the same way. In essence, he wants you to put the same emphasis on a putt to finish 1st as a putt not to finish last (re-re-read this last sentence!). And that for me is the key to this book, Rotella encourages you to strive to do as best you can on any given day. This is why Woods and Harrington are two of the highest ranked golfers in the world, because even when they are playing badly, they somehow manage to get the ball around in a respectable score. They never stop trying and as soon as they hit a bad shot, they forget about it…the most important shot now in their minds is the next one. And so, the whole preparation process begins once more.
Now compare this to your own game. How often do you rush shots because you loose concentration. Rotella does not say you should play slower, he simply says you need to have a short routine and you need to stick to it. How many times do you get annoyed and throw in the towel on a round, just because you aren’t going to shoot “lights out”. Well, if you are like a lot of people I know, you do it quite often. In short, Rotella will tell you that this is not the attitude of a champion and as such you will not be able to perform consistently like champions do if you adopt such an approach.
While Rotella’s “Your 15th Club” does not teach you anything about the fundamentals of the golf swing, I would encourage you to read the book if you want to improve as a golfer. However, reading the book alone is not enough because you need to absorb the information, think about what Rotella is saying and put into practice the advice he offers.
One of my favourite golf quotes which backs up Rotella’s claims is that from the great Bobby Jones who said “Golf is played on a five inch course - the distance between your ears”. Point taken!
