Golf Flow

until you see what the leader is doing but always focus on your own game plan. This is a wise strategy for most golfers most of the time. Counterintuitively, I often advise golfers to wait for opportunities, not to force opportunities, even if they are trailing—especially if they are trailing!
    By waiting for, and capitalizing on, opportunities Justin found that by the 9th hole, he had closed the gap from four shots to two. In other words, he had chased down the leader by ignoring him, focusing on his own game, and playing the appropriate shot on every hole. By the 15th hole, Justin was tied for the lead. Coming up on the 18th hole, he had a two-shot lead. He ended up winning that tournament for his first PGA Tour win, and he did it by playing smart, strategic golf in which he never broke his routine or took a risk. After the final-round 66, Justin talked about the calm, patient approach that led to his victory.
I wasn’t really focused on the number. I was just very much into my game plan. I think I talked to you guys about this on Thursday, just really trying to play one shot at a time, stay focused, not get ahead of myself. I’ve obviously been in this situation with you guys a long time, in and around the league. Obviously, this is the first win. That’s probably because it’s a week where I really stayed the most patient, the most within myself, and the most calm.

Success Is Relative, and Failure Is a Learning Opportunity
    The lessons that Justin Rose took from his win at the Memorial mirror several of the principles outlined in this book. First, a golfer always has a best way to play a golf course relative to his or her game. That fact does not change whether the golfer is in the lead or trailing by several strokes. It does not change because 1, or 100, or 1,000 people are watching. It does not change whether the stakes are $5, $500, $5,000, or $5,000,000. And it does not change whether the golfer is paired with Winnie the Pooh, Rory McIlroy, or the president of the United States. Golf is always a game that is best played when golfers evaluate their game relative to a particular golf course. They must come up with a game plan and execute that game plan regardless of the situation.
    For golfers on the PGA Tour, failure has a unique role. Most experts in and around the PGA Tour see failure as being central to the game of golf. In many ways, golf is a game of failure in the sense that most golfers can go several years without a win. One win out of 40 tournaments would be considered a strong year, and three wins in a season might garner someone Player of the Year honors. Consider that the collective record for the top 21 players in the world in 2005 was 22 wins against 516 events that they did not win. This statistic becomes more pronounced when we realize that the top two golfers accounted for 10 of those 22 wins, thus leaving numbers 3 through 21 to divide 12 wins among them.
    In a sport set up to be so stingy with winning, success becomes a relative enterprise. Additionally, because of the precise nature of the game, fractional lapses in any of its facets—mechanical, motivational, strategic, or physical—often mark the difference between winning and not winning, or having a job and losing a job. Consider that the difference in stroke average between the 7th-ranked player in the world and the 126th-ranked player was a single stroke. In 2005 the 7th ranked player in the world averaged 70.7 strokes per round, earned over $3.5 million, and kept his playing privileges for the following year. The 126th-ranked player (the level at which a PGA Tour golfer loses his playing privileges for the following year) averaged 71.73. The 126th-ranked player earned $3 million less and lost his playing privileges over the difference of a single stroke per round. In a game in which arbitrary bounces and breaks interact with sudden gusts of wind that can take a ball out of flight, what constitutes success?
    Because of the unique nature of golf, trying to get as much mileage out of every win and learn as many lessons as possible is important. Although I find all golf tournaments interesting, the next two are especially interesting because they elucidate the direct relationship between good thinking and winning golf. Going into the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Connecticut, Justin was just coming off his win at the Memorial. By sticking to his routine, Justin was able to play the type of golf that most people only dream