Supporting Kids In Golf & Much More
GRATITUDE
GRATITUDE & GOLF
How Being Grateful Can Help Your Golf Game (and Your Life).
The 2020-21 PGA Tour season kicked off in Napa, Calif. … and I enjoyed a week away from professional golf. But even though I wasn’t out on Tour, I was still involved in the game. I gave golf lessons for the first time in a long while. I worked with my Columbus State University golf teams. I watched my eldest daughter play in a couple of middle school golf matches, and I enjoyed time at home.
It was a much-needed recharge and, to be honest, I did not watch much of the action at the Safeway Open. However, I did catch a few of the tournament highlights and I was beyond excited to see Stewart Cink return to the winner’s circle.
Cink was obviously emotional after the win and his post-tournament comments were poignant, moving and insightful. (There were also a few golf lessons weaved into his words including):
“I just had a lot of gratitude in my heart … I went over to her (wife, Lisa) and I just leaned in and told her we got a lot to be thankful for.”
As a college coach and an instructor to hundreds of competitive golfers I have preached this message at nauseam. I truly believe that adopting a thankful outlook, both on the course and off, has a positive and uplifting influence on one’s life, and by extension, performance. My beliefs have been confirmed upon further reading, research, and discussion with multiple leading sports psychologists, including Dr. Bhrett McCabe, Phil Shomo and Dr. Josie Perry (who have been guests on my “On the Mark” Golf podcast).
Consider the following observations from Taylor Montgomery of themvptraining.com:
Gratitude is linked to physical and psychological health
“Grateful people report fewer aches and pains and are more likely to take better care of their health. In addition to physical health, gratitude has positive effects on our psychological health. In fact, research shows that gratitude improves well-being, increases happiness, and reduces depression.”
Gratitude improves self-esteem
“When we have low self-esteem it creates psychological baggage that impairs our ability to focus and process information—two things that are vital to a successful athletic performance. Self-esteem refers to an internal belief an athlete has about themself. One way to improve self-esteem is by practicing gratitude. One study found that grateful athletes have an increased self-esteem.”
Gratitude promotes better sleep
“Sleep is a huge part of the recovery process for athletes given the strenuous amounts of physical training. Utilizing a gratitude journal before bed has been associated with better and longer sleep. Some athletes report pre-performance jitters the night before a big performance, resulting in inadequate sleep.”
Gratitude facilitates resilience
“Sports aren’t for the faint hearted. The days can be long, the practices can be grueling, and results can sometimes be frustrating. Practicing gratitude and recognizing everything you have to be thankful for – even during hardships – facilitates resilience. An attitude of gratitude can help reframe a setback and kickstart your way back to optimal performance.”
VOLUNTEER
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How Gratitude Can Take Your Golf Game to the Next Level.
What are you grateful for? That might seem like a strange question to ask a golfer in a performance article, but the emotion of gratitude can help take your performance to the next level. Research has linked the emotion of gratitude to better overall physical and mental health, as well as sounder sleep, reduced anxiety and lower incidences of depression. Athletes who are more satisfied with their performances are also less likely to burn out and more likely to enjoy an better overall well being.
In my work with athletes, and in previous articles I have written for GolfWRX, I highlight the importance of enjoyment over achievement, which is making sure that enjoyment is at the forefront of performance in golf with achievement following. Golfers who pursue achievement in the game so diligently that they forget about the key purposes of sport, enjoyment and fun, can often end frustrated and miserable. Golfers who pursue enjoyment first, with a deep commitment to excellence and improvement, are the ones who achieve and last in the game.
So why can focusing on gratitude be so beneficial to you as a golfer?
Well, consider that it is impossible to have two emotions at once. The same goes for thoughts; we can only handle one at a time. As a golfer, this is important to know. When you feel negative emotions that limit your performance, you have the option of changing your state to a positive emotion. Gratitude is a great one to make the shift.
Characteristics of Grateful Golfers
Grateful golfers appreciate what they have. While some players complain, make excuses and don’t appreciate the fantastic opportunity of sport, grateful players are excited to have the opportunity to play a sport they love and enjoy all the benefits that are related to sport: fitness, relationships, life lessons, the joy of winning, learning from losing, and the opportunity to challenge and test their abilities.
Grateful golfers are grateful for competitors. Appreciate your competitors! Competitors can bring out the best in you, and without them you do not have the opportunity to play and test your limits. In his autobiography, former Olympic track star Carl Lewis said he chose to embrace his competitors as essential in the quest for performance excellence, rather than to see them as enemies meant to be beaten down. Lewis won 10 Olympic medals, nine of them gold. You need your competitors!
Grateful golfers appreciate the journey and struggle. They know that there will be difficulties and golf often goes in up-and-down cycles. Grateful players learn from these struggles and always move forward. There is an appreciation in the value of their struggles and an ability to look at the big picture and know there are brighter days ahead.
Grateful golfers “sweep the shed.” Like the World Champion New Zealand All Blacks, the great rugby team that tidies up its dressing room after every training and game, grateful players appreciate everyone around them. They appreciate everything they receive; there is no attitude of entitlement.
Grateful golfers enjoy pressure. Is there pressure in sports? Absolutely. But grateful players recognize the incredible opportunity they have to demonstrate their skills and test their limits. You play a game you love with people engaged and watching you. Grateful golfers appreciate the meaning that pressure gives their experience. They know pressure is a privilege. Grateful players look around and appreciate the challenge that is being given to them.
Grateful golfers do not rely on winning. Because they are so focused on a great process and appreciate great competition, the joy of grateful players is not dependent on winning. They want to win, but appreciate their process, the competition and the challenge.
Grateful golfers let go. When it’s time to play and practice, it’s done with purpose, intention and efficiency. Grateful players work hard with intention, but they also appreciate and enjoy their time away from practice and competition, appreciating all parts of their life.
What You Can Do To Become A Grateful Golfer
Many things, and it’s a little different for everyone, but here’s a start.
1. Never forget how lucky you are to be playing a fantastic game like golf, which gives you the opportunity to express yourself and has the opportunity to give your life meaning.
2. Remember you can only feel one emotion at once. Replace anxious feelings with feelings of gratefulness. You must make the decision to change your state with a shift to being grateful for the opportunity to participate in the game of golf.
3. Think about two things you are grateful for at the end of each day. Get in the habit of being grateful for things in your golf and in your life.
Remember to be grateful for what you have including your opportunity to play golf. Golf is never something you have to do, but always something you get to do!