How I play the game II

Golf Digest, Nov, 2001 by Tiger Woods

Tiger's new instruction book, part 2: The mental side

My mom is one of those people who can find a silver lining in the darkest cloud. I guess I got my positive outlook from her, just as I got my never-ever-give-up attitude from my dad. Both require total belief in yourself and the ability to live with the outcome, whether it's good or bad.

The road to failure is paved with negativity. If you think you can't do something, chances are you won't be able to. Conversely, the power of positive thinking can turn an adverse situation into a prime opportunity for heroism.

The final round of the 2001 Bay Hill Invitational is a perfect example. I took a one-shot lead into Sunday, but my swing abandoned me, and with three holes to play I trailed Phil Mickelson by a shot. I birdied the par-5 16th despite another errant tee shot, and my birdie putt at the par-3 17th singed the cup but slid by. On the tough par-4 18th, I hit another snipe off the tee that hit a spectator. Fortunately, there was no injury, and the deflection kept the ball from going out-of-bounds. Still, I faced a shot of 192 yards into the green, over water to a pin tucked back right. I was confident that if I trusted my swing--even though it had been shaky all day--I could pull off the shot. I hit a little cutter that settled about 15 feet from the hole. The sweeping putt (see opposite page) was center cut, and I won by one. Never did I let a negative thought enter my head. Never did I give up. Sometimes you look to be a hero; sometimes it finds you. Because I believe in myself, it has found me several times.

Mastering the mind

Mental toughness was a gift to my game from my dad. Golf is not a game for fragile psyches, so he worked to strengthen mine. He established two rules: First, he didn't allow me to talk during rounds in which he pulled every dirty trick in the book, from dropping a set of clubs in the middle of my backswing to walking in my line of sight as I putted. The second rule was that there were no more rules. Anything goes. And it did. He had no idea whether I could hold up under such circumstances, so he gave me an out--a secret code word that only the two of us knew. Don't ask me how or why--perhaps it was pure stubbornness--but I never used it. The toughest part was not talking, although if looks could kill, my pop would not have made it through my formative years. Pop delivered on his promise. (Editor's note: for more on Earl Woods' method of raising Tiger, see page 000.)

Intimidation is another aspect of the mental game. How do you intimidate someone in a game where there is no physical contact? In football, if you have some guy 6-foot-5, 250 bearing down on you and you're 180 pounds soaking wet, that can be intimidating. But in golf, intimidation is purely a state of mind, not a fear of bodily harm.

If you buy into the fact that you control your destiny, you'll never let another player impose his will on you or intimidate you. I learned that very early in my career. I was an 11-year-old hotshot playing in the Junior World at Torrey Pines in San Diego. I had plenty of experience competing against guys much older, and I didn't scare easily. My first-round opponent, however, was huge, about 6 feet, 180. Although he was only a year older, he could have been a defensive lineman on the varsity football team. To make matters worse, he was strong as a bull. His first drive took off like a rocket, eventually landing in the middle of the green of the par 4. I nearly freaked out. In fact, I was so intimidated I could barely breathe.

I was not the same the rest of the week, barely speaking to my dad. On the way home, Pop asked me why I had been so quiet, and I confessed to being afraid. "Afraid of whom?" he asked. "The big kid," I said through a hard swallow. "Look, son," Pop said, "golf is played not by size, but by skill, intelligence and guts." That's all he said, leaving me to chew on the words for a while. Great players like Gary Player and Teddy Rhodes surely learned that lesson, too. I didn't know if I would ever grow big and strong, but I did know one thing: I'd never be intimidated by anyone or anything again.

How to overcome Your mental blocks

A player can become mentally tougher by learning from his experiences. The mind is like a computer with thousands of megabytes of memory. Store your experiences for when you will need them again, because the game is a constant learning process. You should learn from your failures as well as successes. Ask yourself what you did or didn't do right in a situation. A lot of times you'll find it's the same thing over and over again.

* Learn from your experiences, both positive and negative. Rallying to win three consecutive U.S. Juniors and three straight U.S. Amateurs taught me the value of a never-give-up attitude. Having lost a few leads, too, reinforced that attitude.

* Take ownership of your mistakes. Every shot is your responsibility. When I drive it into the junk like I did on the last hole at Dubai in 2001, I can't blame anyone but myself. I hit the shot and I had to accept the consequences. It's not always easy, but it's fair.