“It’s knowing how you’re thinking and why you’re thinking like that, and what you need to do is alter it in some way.”
– Rory McIlroy, #1 ranked golfer in the world
When under fire, McIlroy bakes it down to a two-word thought stream. “Process” and “spot.”
The rules of the golf of golf haven’t really, materially changed. Ever.
The equipment and fitness and training and resources available to golfers, though, have.
The dominant forces in the game used to play with persimmon woods and skinny, whippy irons, using golf balls that, after you hit them once or twice, simply were not likely to be round. Jack Nicklaus, out of loyalty to MacGregor Golf, played their ball, which many of Jack’s contemporaries thought weren’t even round before you hit them.
So, why have Bob Jones, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy been so dominant? Because no matter the course or the equipment or the competition, they were able to break things down to the one or two critically important factors. For Rory, it’s “process” and “spot.” For the others, they’d give you a different word or two.
But the evolution of domination has constants. And the one most important constant in domination is “focus.”
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