Mental Toughness

Focus on the Process

Athletes can restore their confidence and resilience by concerning themselves with what can be controlled. This is what we call a process focus that coaches and athletes utilize to consistently gets results. If athletes obsess about beating their opponents, going for the title, controlling others, etc, they naturally become anxious, stressed and tense and build layers of self-doubt because they cannot control these outcomes. As a result their performance suffers. To reverse the traditional tendency of focusing on results, ask yourselves, ”How you need to be in order to be your best?” (e.g., Ideal Performance State, Competition Mindset, etc). This question helps you to focus only on those aspects of performance you can control such as your preparation, attitude, game plans and your enthusiasm for competition. As a result of being able to control these elements of performance, you become relaxed, fluid, and empowered, and regain confidence and trust in the process of competing at your own level of ability (i.e., potential) or beyond. Over a 18 hole match, the ability to focus in on each shot and relax between shots is the the art of cycling your concentration with your focus on each shot so that you are as emotionally fresh on 18 as you were on the first tee!

The Battle within: Instilling Inner Strength

Disciplined athletes are equipped to fully develop inner strength, a quality that enables them to do whatever it takes to realize their full potential. Although it’s important to have some talent, skill and technical know-how; true champions are those who have through discipline, developed enormous inner strength – commitment, persistence, courage, confidence, and belief in their own limitless potential (Loehr Schwartz, 2003).

An athlete with desire is willing to do whatever it takes and is committed to specific strategies (e.g., Action Plans) to help realize their goal. Persistence helps the athlete to continue to work through adversity, set-backs, or failure. Courage enables the athlete to stare fear in the face and take risks, knowing that failure may result. The athlete then establishes a confidence in his/her ability to perform those strategies, knowing that there truly are no limits to what they can achieve. These are the qualities of what it takes to be an emotionally resilient and a winner within. When an athlete is trained to look past personal glory, they begin to see that a champion’s strength is measured by the virtues of the heart: the challenge is within, the opponent is ones’ self and the reward is deeply personal and private.

When athletes focus only on prospects of winning, losing, scorecard and other result-oriented possibilities, they build up anxiety and tension because they have no control over these outcomes. When thoughts shift to things they can control – their desire, commitment, persistence, courage, and confidence in their routines they perform to their potential more consistently – consequently become more resilient and ultimately peak performers.

Mental Toughness Characteristics

Strong desire to succeed: Champions know where they are going and how to get there with a real sense of purpose.

Stay positive in the face of challenge and pressure: They dig in and get challenged and stay positive when things do not go their way.

Focus: Control the controllable – focus on things they can do something about like their game plans, pre-shot-routines, tournament preparation plans, yardage books, etc., without wasting mental energy on factors outside their control (e.g., club politics, other competitors, etc.).

High commitment with a balance attitude: Commitment means being prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to succeed, giving 100% in practice and tournaments, putting extra time on physical, technical and mental skills, and taking responsibility for your development and career.

High level of self-confidence: They are confident and have the capacity to perform well under the most challenging situations. When things go wrong, they have the ability to refocus and bounce back strong.They display a never say die attitude and stay positive during shifts of momentum.

Positive body language: Mentally tough athletes are consistently aware of the messages they are sending their opponents and work hard to consistently display a confident and tough image (Do you look like your focused and mean business?).

Play/compete to win: Are not afraid of playing/competing to win as opposed to playing/competing not to lose. They are competitive and work hard to win and enjoy competing in every competition.

Successful performance in pressure situations: they seek out challenging situations which offer them a chance to achieve a goal (e.g., tough up & down).