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Golf thrives on power of positive thinking

Mark Herrmann

July 3, 2008

More evidence for the old saying, "Golf is a game played on a course 5 Â½ inches long - from the left ear to the right ear."

The pros who were on Long Island last week for the Commerce Bank Championship admitted that they feel what the rest of us know, that it is a head game.

"A lot of amateurs think we don't go through the same things that you all go through. But we really do," said Lonnie Nielsen, the defending champion who finished one shot out of first this time. "It's on a different level, but we all tend to think the same garbage. I don't know why it's easier to think negatively than positively, but we all tend to think bad about ourselves, bad about our games.

"I think when amateurs hear that professionals go through it and how it was important to their success, maybe they can learn from our experience."

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Nielsen said on Sunday that he told himself "about 20 times" not to leave his birdie putt short on No. 18. He told himself it didn't matter if he pushed it five feet past. Just get it there. And he still left it short.

Yes, it happens to these guys, too. It happened even to the winner, Loren Roberts. He had said on Saturday that his one goal for Sunday was to hit his first tee shot in the fairway. Sure enough, he hit it so far right that he was lucky to have a shot at the green. Still, he won because he was patient with himself. And that's the lesson for the weekend golfer: Practice well and give it your best, but don't get down when things go wrong.

As golf guru Dr. Bob Rotella says (in a book title), "Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect." Nielsen said he has been at seminars with Rotella, having heard him exhort pros to "think like a winner."

Nielsen said, "One of the kids in the front stood up and said, 'You know, you guys are all great players, you've won a lot of things. It's easy for you to think like that. I've never won anything in my life, how can you expect me to think like that?' You could just see the whole class perk up. It was like, 'We've got Rotella backed into a corner.'

"He came back with the perfect answer. He said, 'If winning were a prerequisite for winning, no one would have ever won. These guys had to think like champions before they won.' "

The mind matters. No one at Eisenhower Red last week exemplified that better than Dennis Walters. The trick shot artist held a show on the driving range last Thursday, hitting long, accurate drives with wacky clubs such as one with a shaft made from a fishing pole.

Walters was a New Jersey Amateur champion and 11th- place finisher in the U.S. Amateur who was preparing for the PGA Tour Qualifying School when a golf cart flipped over on him 34 years ago. It left him paralyzed from the waist down. He hits from a custom seat attached to the side of a golf cart. He has given more than 2,700 shows in the past 32 years, in each one being a witness to the power of the will in golf.

He challenged his audience, saying, "Set your mind to do something you don't think you can do." He should know. He will be honored next month by the PGA of America with its Distinguished Service Award.

Today's tip

"Timing is everything. If you are someone who often struggles with distance control when putting, I have a tip for you. For any putt you hit, whether it is three feet or 50 feet, the stroke should take about one second from the time your putter goes back to the time it strikes the ball. A three-foot putt will have a shorter, slower stroke, while a 50-foot putt will have a longer, quicker stroke. To practice this, say, count 'one thousand one' in your head as you practice various length putts."

John Kuntz

PGA assistant professional

Garden City Country Club

Aces

Fred Mueller, Robert Moses State Park, third hole, 95 yards, 8-iron

Philip Johnston, Bethpage Blue, 11th hole, 180 yards, rescue club