Golf Flow

attempting to rework his swing for four years. During that period he was so lost that he was routinely missing cuts on the smaller developmental tours that dot the United States. I received a phone call while working with some of my players in Hilton Head. Bryce said that he’d finally had enough, that he was looking for a new direction, and that he wanted to start seeing the game differently. I was excited. “Let’s get to work!” I said.
    With the help of his old college coach, Bruce Heppler, and a new teacher, Mike LaBauve, Bryce began to simplify the game again. Rather than think about every position in the golf swing, Bryce began focusing on fundamentals: setup, ball position, and alignment. Slowly but surely, the natural ability that earned him all those college accolades began to reemerge. The result was a good 2007 season on the Nationwide Tour in which he finished in the top 25 to earn his way back on to the PGA Tour.
    A turning point in Bryce’s mental development came in 2009 when he remarked,
You know what? I don’t have what’s considered the “perfect” golf swing. But you know something? I don’t think I
want
the perfect golf swing. Perhaps having the perfect golf swing prevents you from being able to hit different shots. So all I’m looking for is the ability to know my misses and be able to correct them.
    This statement was the sign of a golfer who was evolving from someone who plays “golf swing” to someone who likes to use his ability to work the ball, to shape shots, and to use his creativity to score. By accepting who he was and what his game was, Bryce began to show steady improvement. He played his way into contention regularly in 2008 and 2009, and in 2010 he even contended in the PGA Championship. As his steady play continued, his confidence began to grow.
    But as it happens in golf, a new challenge emerged. Although he put himself into contention regularly, Bryce wasn’t closing the deal, so questions emerged about whether he had what it takes to win on the PGA Tour. This phase is natural in the development of any golfer. The best high school players are questioned about whether they can compete in college. Great college players are questioned about whether they can be successful pros. Even after players win on the PGA Tour, they may be dubbed “the best not to have won a major.” Because Bryce was new to contending on Sundays, he was expectedly uncomfortable while leading on Sundays.
    Specifically, as the pressure increased, what happened with Bryce is what happens with most golfers. Their rhythm quickens a bit, their mind races a little bit, and, most important, with every bad shot they feel as if they are letting the tournament slip away. Golf has a way of doing that to the mind, of amplifying the negatives. The more they try to hold on to a lead, the more they hold on to the golf club and try to steer the ball around the golf course, resulting in the very thing that they are trying to prevent: bad shots.

Accepting Imperfection
    I saw Bryce’s progression as a natural progression. Winning is a process, and golfers sometimes have to stumble a few times before they learn to win. Note that I use the word
learn
deliberately, because winning regularly on the PGA Tour requires learning many lessons along the way.
    Over time our conversations centered on the idea of acceptance, and I advised Bryce the way I advise all golfers:
When you hit a bad shot, you need to simply accept it. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to accept it and move on. You didn’t close out this tournament? Learn from it, accept it, and move on. Don’t dwell or sulk. It does no good. Most great golfers—including Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer, and Woods—spend years not closing before they spend years regularly closing. You feel nervous in contention? Don’t fight it; simply accept it and make fearless swings at your next target. You can’t keep expecting perfection from an inherently imperfect game.
    Many golfers get lost in this game because they want Sundays in contention to feel perfect. They believe that to win a golf tournament, things need to be perfect. But that is almost never the case. True winners know how to accept when things are less than perfect so that they can then be free. Because they are free, they eventually start hitting more quality golf shots.
    This message of accepting bad results was not a message that Bryce initially liked hearing. He’s not alone. Most golfers