Golf Flow

the world head to head. In short order he disposed of Dustin Johnson, two-time match play champion Geoff Ogilvy, Ben Crane, and Retief Goosen. Before he knew it, he was in the quarterfinals against one of the world’s hottest players, Paul Casey. The two played a wonderful match against one another, with neither one giving in. It was a record-setting, 23-hole, 6.5-hour endurance contest! With just a couple holes left, Camilo had a chance to close out the match on 17 if he made a straight 3-foot putt—but he missed the 3-foot putt. Had he made the putt, he would have closed out Paul Casey and made it to the finals against eventual winter Ian Poulter. Three measly feet had stood between Camilo and the win. Boy, oh, boy, was this going to test his newfound attitude!
    Camilo walked off the green and immediately had a microphone in his face. When asked how tough it was to miss that putt, he replied:
A couple of mixed feelings, I would say. You say, you know what, I missed that putt on 14, but look at the shot I hit on 13. I mean that's—to me, that bunker shot can be one of the best—it's probably the best shot I have ever hit. And I put it under one of the best shots in golf, under the circumstances. That's fine. Again, I was 1 down going to 18. I won the hole, gave myself a chance. Like I said, there was mixed feelings last night. But I took it very good. I took the loss very good, we played 24 holes, and anyone could have won. You can say, oh, you know what, don't think about that three-footer. You know what, it's okay. I've got no problem with it. I wish I would have made it, yes, but you know what, it ain't going to change me as a person. If I keep this attitude the rest of the year, I think it's going to be a good year because I'm having fun.
    Camilo went out the next day and beat Sergio Garcia in the second bracket. But I made a mental note of just how great he handled the missed putt and how perfect his response to the situation was. He accepted it fully, and I knew that he would remain free going forward.
    The next week he went out to the desert for the FBR Phoenix Open, where he opened the tournament with a 9-under-par 62. His attitude, once again, was excellent. It is no surprise, then, that he needed only 25 putts on the day. And it’s important to understand that Camilo’s attitude was not great because he was making putts. Remember, before his attitude switch, he had been putting badly. Rather, Camilo was making putts because he had a great attitude:
The way I'm approaching it is just, again, have fun. Just go out there and I've got nothing to lose. You go, you hit a putt, if it goes in, great; if it doesn't, you just give a little smile and go to the next one. It seemed to work last week. I obviously played good today, and we'll continue that good attitude and see what happens.
    He played nicely the next two days, finished with a top 10, but just as in 2006, he didn’t win the tournament. Rather than focus on the outcomes he could not control, he simply focused on his processes and what he called his “attitude of gratitude.” The following week the Tour headed to South Florida for the Honda Classic. Camilo kept telling people of his attitude of gratitude and his passion for the game. As a result of his great attitude, he finished the week second in putts per green in regulation. On March 5, 2010—exactly 4 years after his first epiphany in South Florida that even great putters miss putts—Camilo once again was in South Florida speaking of having fun, of gratitude, and of being mentally free. Only this time, he was holding a trophy as the champion of the 2010 Honda Classic!

Making Sense of the Details
    An achievement domain is defined as anything that has a measurable outcome. Sports such as golf, basketball, and football have a scoreboard. In the business world, there are bottom-line sales and profits. In the educational arena, students and schools are often measured by grades or test scores. As a performance consultant, I’ve worked with them all: professional billiards players, surgeons, chess players, abstract painters, financial traders who sleep 4 hours per night, performance musicians, students, golfers, and fighter pilots.
    Working across a variety of domains has given me a pretty good understanding of the unique nature of various arenas. It has taught me that psychological freedom means something different to pianists and pilots, that discipline has different meanings to golfers and