Guest Speaker Alert!! Choking in Golf and how to combat it, by Dr. Steve Gordon

 

Choking in Golf

Steven B. Gordon, Ph.D., ABPP

Licensed Psychologist

Board Certified in Behavioral Psychology

What is choking?

In sports “choking” is the failure of a person to engage in an action that is anticipated or expected.  Although there are countless examples of choking in sports, two in particular are relevant to golfers. In 1999, the French professional golfer, Jean Van de Velde, came into the last hole on the last day of the British Open at Carnoustie leading by three strokes! A comedy of errors ensued with Van de Velde hitting a grandstand, then hitting a shot into the water, then wading into the water to hit it before deciding against hitting it, and finally making a 6-footer for triple-bogey to join Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard in a four-hole playoff in which Lawrie prevailed. In 1996 Greg Norman was leading the  Masters Tournament by six strokes after three rounds but scored a 6 over par 78 on the last day to allow Nick Faldo to win by five strokes with a 5 under par 67. Unfortunately, for Van de Velde and Norman, these colossal “chokes” will forever be remembered by every golf fan.

Imagine Zach, the recreational golfer is faced with a three foot putt on the 18^th hole to win an important match. Zach shortens his customary routine and wants to drain the putt to win the match. Unfortunately, Zach misses the putt and experiences great disappointment. Now that the match is over, Zach immediately repeats the same putt from the same distance for practice; the ball is struck perfectly and rolls into the hole.  Zach utters the common refrain, “Second team All-American.” Zach “choked” on the first putt when everything mattered and when it did not matter Zach did not “choke.”

Choking under pressure typically results in less than optimal performance. There are three components to choking: physical sensations, motor responding and thinking. Each golfer has his/her own unique fingerprint when it comes to these three components.

See below:

Physical sensations	Heart beats more rapidly, hyperventilate, muscles become tense, sweating
Motor responding	Fast movements, talking more rapidly
Thinking	Negative self-talk

 

 

Why does choking occur?

Golfers choke when something really, really matters! Hitting the tee shot in the fairway, chipping close for a tap-in putt, and making the three foot putt on the last hole to win the match are all opportunities for choking to occur. Choking is typically triggered by thinking and as human beings we cannot NOT think. While standing over an important three foot putt with thoughts of  “I must make this” or “Others will think I am a choker” will all but guarantee failure.

What to do about choking?

In one study, novice golfers learning to putt did best when they focused on the specific and required movements. However, more experienced golfers do not need to pay attention to every bit of minutiae but rather simply take a deep breath and repeat what has always been done. In one study of experienced golfers, best performance was accomplished by having golfers focus on general aspects of their intended movement, or what the psychologists refer to as a "holistic cue word." For instance, rather than contemplating the precise position of their wrist, they contemplated descriptive adjectives such as "smooth" or "balanced". To make the experiment a bit more realistic, and to induce some anxiety, the scientists awarded a modest cash prize to the best golfer. The researchers got two interesting results: the first was that anxiety only interfered with performance when it was coupled with self-consciousness. Golfers who thought about the details of their swing, such as how to position their hips, hit consistently worse shots. The second interesting result was that there was a way to ward off choking. When the expert golfers contemplated a holistic cue word, their performance was no longer affected by anxiety. Because the positive adjectives were vague and generic, they didn't cause the athletes to lose the flow of expert performance or overrule their automatic brain. The best athletes do this automatically as they have found a way to resist the pitfalls of pressure. Hank Haney wrote that Tiger Woods’ ability to clear his mind at combustible points in a tournament was unparalleled.

The benefit of the "holistic cue word" approach is that it doesn't require performers to stop thinking entirely, as this can be excruciatingly difficult, especially under pressure. Instead, the experiment suggests that golfers can still contemplate their behavior - they just need to do so without thinking about specifics. In this sense, focusing on a vague aspiration can be an elegant distraction, a simple thought that can keep us from thinking too much.

So the next time you are faced with that important three foot putt think “smooth and balanced” and don’t forget to pick the ball out of the bottom of the cup!