Late last season Ted Purdy was on a bubble that could secure him a 2008 PGA Tour card. Traditionally the top 125 money leaders keep their card for the following year and he was right on the number. A mental-game coach offered the following advice to Purdy with the intent of improving his concentration. "Get to a quiet place, light a candle, then focus on the flame." Pardon me? Was that professional advice? You’ll have a tough time finding research to prove that that technique is transferable to sporting activities.

Just calling oneself a coach doesn’t mean that the person should be listened to. If you’re going to engage someone to help you with your mental game find out where your instructor is sourcing his/her information before you put your brain on the couch.

As for concentration, how do we increase our ability? Is concentration simply a matter of being focused instead of complacent? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist known as the guru of ‘flow’ has studied how people get into the zone for 35 years. He suggests that if we want to perform our best we should break tasks down into small parts. Small tasks offer clearer feedback and lead to success faster than large tasks do. Inevitably, we become immersed in the process and may even lose track of the time because our incremental successes are enjoyable. That’s a transferable technique for developing concentration.  

So if you want to concentrate better on the golf course simply break your task down into small portions. That might mean trying to do well on one hole or hitting one shot at a time instead of worrying about the entire round. When you use this approach your concentration will improve. 

As for Ted Purdy, he finished 146th the money list and lost his card for 2008. Maybe he should look for a more evidence-based source of advice.

Bob Skura
October 4, 2008

Bob Skura is author of How Great Golfers Think - Perfecting Your Mental Game. For more information or to order his book visit: www.howgreatgolfersthink.com

Source: http://www.howgreatgolfersthink.com

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