Golf Flow

wasn’t worrying about it much.
    Reporter: You do realize you’re leading now, though?
    Chad Campbell: Yes. I don’t know who is in second or anything like that, though.
    This multilevel of awareness and the merging of self and task provides for perfect automaticity, which, in turn, affects which features of the experience that a person actually remembers. Adam Scott could recall with precise clarity many features from a round in which he achieved flow: his targets, the softest breeze, the nuanced slope on the green 150 yards (135 m) away. Simultaneously, he could not recall other, more obvious features: which clubs he selected, his playing partner, or his score, all which were out of his realm of awareness. Those aspects of the experience were at such an automatic level of functioning that they were difficult to recall later. “When I’m in that place where the game is effortless, I am not thinking how I am feeling,” Scott said. “I am just feeling. I am into it. It just happens—slowly at the time—and then it’s sometimes hard to remember details.”
    Similar to Adam Scott, despite being immersed in the experience at the time, neither Chad Campbell nor Matt Kuchar were aware of their score or their position in the tournament. Matt had to “quadruple-check” his scorecard to make sure that it was right, and Chad wasn’t aware “how many under I was,” until he was notified by an official as he walked off the golf course. Even so, he was unaware who was in second.
    Certainly, this was the case for Anthony Kim at the 2008 Ryder Cup when captain Paul Azinger had sent Kim out first to go head-to-head against Sergio Garcia, whose Ryder Cup record in the preceding years had been so stellar that he was considered the heart and soul of the European squad. Young Anthony Kim, 22 years old at the time and in only his second year on the PGA Tour, was just naive enough not to know what he was in for. He simply did what he always did in competition: He honed his concentration to a sharp edge and played aggressively against the golf course. After making a 10-foot (3 m) par putt on the 14th hole, Kim began walking toward the 15th tee to tee off, unaware that the par putt had closed out the match. He was so involved in his process that he was unaware of where the match stood.
    I’ve time and again heard similar experiences from golfers including Matt Kuchar, Chad Campbell, Stuart Appleby, and Justin Rose about their stellar rounds of golf. In fact, everyone who gets into flow almost universally describes this transformation. What follow are some observations on the flow states of golfers in which they observe the automaticity of their decision making and their transformed awareness.
You are just so aware of so much. For me I am able to do so much in my head—figuring out how to play the next shot, being totally certain of the current shot. Like I’m thinking about the day at Doral I shot 62 in the wind—it was better than the next best score that day by like 5 strokes. It was extremely windy so I was calculating yardages and computing what the wind was doing and how it would affect the ball flight. Whether to fade or draw the shot into or with the wind . . . I was able to calculate that very quickly and very, very confidently. It becomes so clear and makes sense. You are able to look at the yardage, look uphill, factor in the wind, think about what is going on the green, where you want to place the ball, and know exactly how hard you want to hit that shot, and do it in a relatively short amount of time. Yet throughout, it all felt slow, if that makes any sense.
    Jim Furyk, 17-time PGA Tour winner
I don’t remember if I was 12 or 13 when I first got into flow. I had 10 birdies and 8 pars. I won the tournament. I didn’t even think about what happened until afterwards, signing my scorecard, and shot 62! It was like I blacked out. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just kept going through the motions.
    Bubba Watson, 2012 Masters Champion, 4-time PGA Tour winner
I got done with the day and had shot 61. It was my best day ever. I actually had a chance to shoot 59, or 58, or something stupid. I got done and I realized that I did not know what had happened. It was the most unbelievable feeling of my life. For the rest of the week I was trying to re-create that. You know, just go blank for eight holes. Don’t remember what you did.
    Brandt Snedeker, 2012 Fed Ex Cup Champion, 4-time PGA Tour winner
But it’s weird,