Think

A Growth Mindset

May 4, 2023 by Paul Monahan

Paul Monahan GGA Mental Game Coach

Somehow, I have managed to meet so many amazing people in my life. People who have done incredible things, who love to challenge themselves, who understand that growth is a product of continuously revisiting important concepts, and who are ok experiencing a bit of discomfort because of it.

Truth be told, many of them are a part of this amazing Graves Golf Academy community.

Without exception, these are people with a growth mindset – the term made famous years ago by researcher Carol Dweck in her book Mindset, The New Psychology of Success.

In Mindset, Dweck draws a distinction between those who operate with a fixed mindset – believing that it’s too risky to try new things, and those who operate with a growth mindset – believing that a fulfilled life is one in which we are constantly learning and growing until the day we die.

Speaking of growth mindset and amazing people, a few weeks ago I spent three days with my friends Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson at their Vision 54 school in Scottsdale. This was my third visit in the past four years. And it likely won’t be my last.

Why not?

Because I continue to learn about myself and grow as a player and a coach. Because I continue to learn how to access the best version of myself – and not just my golf self. And because I see myself as a person who is on a growth mindset path.

In this reflection, I thought I would pass along a few things that I took away from my most recent experience at Vision 54.

Number one: I was taking too long in the Think Box (Red Zone)

I didn’t realize it, but I was flat-out spending LOADS of time back behind the ball as I prepared for each shot. In my (ego’s) defense, I sure that I was considering all kinds of worthy things like: wind direction, distance to the pin, distance to cover, target, envisioning the shot shape, and many more I’m sure. The problem was twofold. It was taking too long. And it wasn’t helping me.

Pia helped me to see that I could benefit greatly by spending less time behind the ball. I learned to quickly get a good yardage, pick the right tool, pick my spot in front of the ball, trust my intuition, and then get in the play box. It made a big difference.

Number two: I was thinking way too much in the Play Box (Green Zone)

This was a little surprising to me. But as I moved through the first day of on-course play, it occurred to me that I was bringing far too many swing thoughts into the green zone with me. The green zone is supposed to be the place where we aren’t thinking much at all, and where our only job is to get settled, pull the trigger and making a great swing. (Todd Graves says he likes to “play empty”…his term for describing what’s on his mind when he is hitting the ball.)

Funny thing – I thought I was doing a decent job in the green zone. But it became apparent to me as I thought about it that there was an opportunity to grow in this area. Luckily, I was in the right kind of space to explore that.

Number three: My Memory Box (Gray Zone) was not nearly as positive as I thought it was.

Many people I know would peg me as a fairly positive dude. In fact, most of the time when I play, I am able to see the outcomes of my errant shots as feedback, not failure. (One of my favorite Chuck Hogan rules.) But I was little off that week, and what we noticed was that I was putting more negative energy on my less-than-perfect shots. And it was impacting my game. (In fact, at one point, Lynn asked me where the “real” Paul was. Apparently some other guy showed up in my place!)

So I took a breath and committed to anchoring to productive or neutral thoughts after each shot, and never the negative ones. It was harder than I thought. But soon I was growing the skill again of staying “up” and energetic after each shot, no matter the outcome.

Number four: Tempo is a great playing focus for me on the greens.

When I focus on tempo while putting, creating a calm measured feeling of back and forth through the ball, and NOT rushing, stabbing, or jerking the putter at the ball, everything works better. I found that my pace was outstanding, and my line was great too. Putting is so much more fun for me if I commit to feeling my tempo through to the end of the stroke.

Number five: I learned a ton from my fellow classmates.

For example, one player, made incredible strides because she figured out a way to NOT turn inward when she was struggling. She realized that for her, she had more resilience and played better if she stayed social and compassionate toward others even when she didn’t feel like it. At the end of the school, she reported that this was one of her most important takeaways.

Another player also made great strides in her Memory Box (Gray Zone) when she learned to compare herself only to herself – and to stop measuring her progress against others.

Operating from a growth mindset is not the default mode for most humans you know. (We love certainty – and we struggle with change.) But to truly grow, it means we must be willing to move into exploration mode. It means that we must move a little out of our comfort zone. It means that we must challenge our thoughts about who we are being, or what we have been doing. And that’s not always easy.

But for me, it’s the path I choose because I believe it makes life and golf (What’s the difference – right?) so much more fulfilling. And because I just like hanging out with all you amazing people.

Paul Monahan, PCC is a Peak-Performance coach, member of the International Coach Federation and a certified COR.E Performance Dynamicsä Specialist. He resides in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Paula and is the proud dad to three young men.

In Full Swing

March 19, 2023 by Paul Monahan

Paul Monahan GGA Mental Game Coach

March 19, 2023

If you have been anywhere near Netflix the past month, or talked to a golfing buddy who has been, you know that the documentary Full Swing was released on February 15^th. Full Swing follows a cast of top PGA / LIV Golf players throughout 2022, and chronicles the challenges, ups and downs, struggles, joys, complexity, and many other facets of what life is like at the elite levels of professional golf.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I think you’ll like it. Go check it out. If you have been watching it, I suspect you’d back me up.

Because this game we love is so mental, there are lots of moments throughout the Full Swing series that give us a glimpse into the mental dynamics of the PGA Tour player. But one thing came up in episode two that was, on the one hand a little surprising and on the other, quite validating.

The surprising part of episode 2 for me was – spoiler alert – how profoundly Brooks Koepka was struggling mentally in 2022. I think many people could see he was struggling on the course in 2021, and into 2022. His play during that stretch was not what we were used to seeing compared to the incredible results he posted over the prior three years.

But he’s had back issues, and other injuries…and because we don’t usually get a detailed behind the scenes look at players like Koepka, we never really know for sure what is going on for most golfers on the PGA Tour.

Full Swing has allowed us to see what we would normally not.

The validating part of episode 2 for me showed up in the juxtaposition between Koepka’s struggle and Scottie Scheffler’s breakthrough. It was validating because of what I wrote in this column just 10 months ago regarding the dynamics behind Scheffler’s amazing run of four victories in 57 days early in 2022. You can revisit the article from May 2022 here: Scottie’s Secret.)

In that article, I assessed that Scheffler’s success was as much a function of his productive mental game as it was the physical and mechanical skills that he was bringing with him onto the course.

So, without going into the detail (and spoiling if for those who have not seen it), I would invite you to play a little game:

Watch season 1 episode 2 if you have not yet, or
Go back and watch the episode again if you have already seen it

… with the intention of exploring two things:

See if you can identify the differences in mental games between Koepka and Scheffler. (Look for the answers to questions like: What thoughts are they anchored to that serve them? What are they stuck on that does not? How are they processing the game as it comes at them? What kind of language are they using about the game and their success or failure in it…etc.

See if you can capture the key elements of Scheffler’s mental game model (hint: it’s not complicated) and see if you can operationalize that model for yourself… that is, bring it out onto the course with you when you play.

The more I spend time around this game, the more I am convinced that we all need to start with building the inside game skills first. It is foundational to everything else. It’s a must have for maximizing and optimizing all our outside game skills… so that we can play at our best when it means the most. So that we can overcome the challenges of the game no matter the stakes or situation.

Have a great week!

-Paul

Paul Monahan, PCC is a Peak-Performance coach, member of the International Coach Federation and a certified COR.E Performance Dynamicsä Specialist. He resides in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Paula and is the proud dad to three young men.

Stay CURIOUS My Friends

December 31, 2017 by admin

Last year my wife and I joined a bowling league with a bunch of friends and now bowl once a month from September – May. It’s been a lot of fun learning what it takes to be more consistent, to roll the ball where I want to and to post higher scores.

And since I’m pretty competitive, I wanted to play at a high level if I could! So, I got my shoes and was fitted with a new ball. (Plus bag, rosin, slide powder, ball cleaner, you know, the works!)

(For your dangerous bowlers, you know that bowling is very complicated with lots of subtleties and nuance…it’s pretty fascinating!!)

For as long as I can remember, bowling has been a family tradition around the holidays. And this year was no different, except that we bowled twice while our boys were home. During one of the games, my son Joe decided that he wanted to throw my ball and so he rolled it a few times.

My new bowling ball is a “hook ball” …one that will hook to the left for a right-hander like me. It requires a different delivery methodology compared to a “straight” ball…and so it has taken me a little while to get used to it.

Joe is a pretty level-headed thinker. And when he first threw the ball, he immediately knew that he must have done something incorrectly. But he was calm and collected and in essence turned to me and just said. “How did that look?”

I offered him a couple of thoughts on how he could get closer to the model as I understood it, and he gave it another try. This time he got a lot closer, and the ball had a nice gentle right-to-left hook. Not perfect. But he made progress right away.

I believe that Joe’s success came from a willingness to be open to feedback AND a genuine curiosity about the process. He wasn’t stuck in his story or impacted by imperfect results. He took action, observed and tried to analyze what he saw. All without a lot of negative emotion, even though he didn’t get exactly the results, he might have hoped for it.

When is the last time you were curious about something? You know that feeling..a genuine interest in and wonder about what is happening, how something works, or how to make a specific thing better.

When we are truly curious, we are in a state of optimal receptiveness, and open to discovery. Being curious can be fun.

The journey of improving in bowling, our golf swing – or anything for that matter – is always enhanced when curiosity shows up for us. However, expectation often shows up instead. And when this happens, our emotional state intensifies as we measure reality against our story about what SHOULD be happening. (Not a great plan for maintaining a productive performance mindset.)

Frustration, anger, and irritation at the things that go “wrong” are how often we experience challenges. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You CAN shift your thinking – and your outcomes – by anchoring to CURIOSITY in those same difficult moments.

What does curiosity sound?

When you hit the driver OB on your first hole: Instead of: “Way to go you, big dummy!!” Try this. “Hmmm. That’s interesting. I wonder why that happened?”

When you miss that important putt: Instead of: “You are the WORST human being ever!!!!!!” Try this “That’s interesting. What can I learn from that?”

I know it seems a little far-fetched to engage in that kind of dialogue with yourself…but believe me, it works.

You have the right to be angry. But that anger may cause you to disconnect from your best thinking and ultimately, your ability to perform well.

Larry Senn, the author of Up the Mood Elevator, says that if leaders wanted to perform at their best, they have to work on being more curious. He said that the leader who can be curious about the things happening in front of them is FAR more able to tap into the best version of themselves.

Why? Because being curious creates a different feeling for us. It allows us to stay open and objective, and less judgmental or even annoyed.

The same is true for anyone who wants to perform at their best. Anywhere. Anytime.

As you start the new year and think about what you want to accomplish on the golf course, think about a commitment to cultivating CURIOSITY…the sense of wonder and real discernment that can lead to leaps in your skill and performance development.

So perhaps a motto for 2018 is one we can borrow from a famous beer commercial – with some modification:

All the best for a happy and prosperous 2018!

-Paul

PS…I’d love to hear how your ability to be curious in the face of challenge impacts your game. Drop me a note and let me know how it’s going: paul@paulmonahancoaching.com

Paul Monahan, PCC is a Peak-Performance coach, member of the International Coach Federation and a certified COR.E Performance Dynamics™ Specialist. He resides in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Paula and is the proud dad to three young men. He works with elite-level performers and leaders, helping them to expand their awareness so that they perform at their best more consistently.

Why changing proves difficult

September 10, 2011 by admin

Over the past 7 1/2 years of my time learning, and now teaching the Moe Norman Single Plane swing to golfers worldwide, one of the most common frustrations that arise is the difficulty of making a change in the mechanics or movement. Through years of observation, I’ve found that it’s not due to a lack of desire to make the necessary change(s), nor necessarily from a lack of effort.

Sometimes, I’ve seen making changes be difficult due to lack of flexibility or mobility in a necessary body part, however, those things can be overcome a majority of the time.

I’ve always found it fascinating that when a golfer is presented Moe Norman’s Single Plane swing, and understands the golf swing as a motion to achieve an ideal impact position, they’re desire to use and match Moe as the ideal human model is very, very high. I mean, the Single Plane swing just makes sense.

But the question still remains, Why is changing or making changes to the golf swing, difficult?

To shed some light on the answer to this questions, I want to take you back to your childhood. The first question I have for you is this: How did you learn to tie your shoes?

Funny questions, I know, but think about it for a minute. Tying your shoes today is a mechanical process that you don’t even think about to accomplish. You just tie your shoes, right?

As the father of a 7 year old boy, this story is current for me, as we’ve been working with him to teach him to tie his shoes for about 9 months now. (Maybe he’s just a slow learner, or maybe he’s more interested in wearing shoes now with Velcro, but I digress).

When you learned to tie your shoes, you had someone show you how to do it. You watched as an adult demonstrated how to tie the shoelaces. Then, maybe they took your hands and tried to guide you through the process. And then you tried it on your own, and although you likely can’t remember, you probably didn’t ace the tying on your first solo try. As time passed, and you continued to practice the task of tying your shoes, you first were completely incompetent at completing the task, then you gained some competency, then, with practice, you gained mastery.

Now, thinking back on learning to tie your shoes, do you still tie your shoes to this day exactly like the person who showed and taught you? I’d be willing to be that you do.

So let’s bring that story into the context of our golf swings. As we do, let’s first think about the process you went through as a child learning to tie your shoes.

First, you had a model. Someone showed you how to do it.
Second, you watched the model demonstrate the task, likely over and over.
Next, you tried to imagine yourself completing the task
You then tried the task by yourself and likely failed miserably
And you continued to practice the task, failing, correcting, and failing, until at some point, you were able to accomplish the task.
With more repetition, you then mastered the task, and it became a subconscious habit.

When it comes to the golf swing, my belief is that we can have no better model than Moe Norman. The greatest ball striker to ever live is a pretty good model in my book. Many reading this will have watched Moe’s swing, or even purchased instruction from us about learning the swing, like the Single Plane Solution. And if you’ve watched Moe’s swing, have the instruction, you likely have tried to implement what you’ve seen, and this is the point that most golfers get stuck.

Some of the most comical comments I get from golfers go something like this; “I purchased your DVD’s, watched them yesterday, and tried Moe’s swing on the course today, and it just didn’t work.” The unfortunate and sad part of that comment is that the golfer skipped about 4 steps in the learning process, and made a judgment on those results.

Changing any dynamic bodily movement must go through the learning process, and in my years, this is where most golfers cheat themselves; they don’t submit themselves to the learning process, and lose any chance of making truly significant and positive changes to their games. It’s a sad reality of this game, however, for those who understand that there is a process of learning and submit themselves to that process, the rewards are great.

In conclusion, in order to get past the difficulty of making changes that most golfers have, you simply have to return to your youth and understand that you must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. The process of learning doesn’t exempt us because of age, experience, or wealth. It must be adhered to, and for those that do, regardless of age, experience, or wealth, the rewards they reap are worth the effort and time that the process requires.

To your success,

Scott

The Secret to More Willpower, Resolve, Determination and.…Blah,Blah,Blah!

January 20, 2011 by admin

Part 1 of a 2 Part Series

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

This winter my personal focus has been on intelligent golf training (thousands of repetitions, building myelin skill circuits and constant video feedback) and getting physically fit for next year’s season. By getting fit, I mean losing weight and hitting the gym regularly as I work on being more flexible and stronger.

Sounds great, but then the cold shower of reality hit. Part A of my objectives has been easy as I work on my swing. I like it, love to do it, get great enjoyment from it, happy to see the improvement. However, Part B has been more challenging because I don’t really feel like dieting and getting to the gym in the Canadian cold has its drawbacks. Man, that’s a bummer. I think I’d rather side with Mae West when she said. “I generally avoid temptation, unless I can’t resist it.”

Given this situation, it dawned on me with the blinding glimpse of the obvious. What I need to meet my goals is MORE WILLPOWER. Bundles, Sacks and gallons of it would be good I thought.

Understanding The Nature of Willpower

This realization led to my standard behavioral scientist approach. I began to do a comprehensive literature search in my desire to more deeply understand the specific components of will-power, figuring I would then take that knowledge and turn it into a detailed strategy to get more of ‘it’.

As a behavioral scientist, I have studied motivation extensively over the years and have developed a comprehensive viewpoint about what it is and what conditions are necessary to provide it. However, in this case I wanted to look deeper and more specifically at willpower and understand what it is, how it gets developed, and how can we acquire it.

Guess what? Nobody really knows and the opinions are all over the board. In fact, you can find thousands of references to will power and the other related terms like resolve, drive, determination, grit, self-control, and firmness of purpose. But in the end, no one seems to have a definitive answer. Since we all seem to want it, this subject seems a challenge worth taking on, so I thought I’d develop my own take.

To begin, I’ll offer the following definition: Willpower is getting yourself to do something that you don’t emotionally feel like doing. The key to my definition is the linking of an action to a feeling. When we mentally want to do something but don’t take action (assuming we are able), then the reason is generally based on emotion. We represent it to ourselves consciously, as ‘I don’t feel like doing this’ and unconsciously as procrastination and manufactured excuses called reasons. The end result is the same; we fail to take action even when we are clear it is something we believe we ‘should’ do.

Commonly, this lack of action is perceived as a lack of willpower. The explanations for why we have this lack are varied. For some, willpower is viewed as a setup habits that you can build up like a muscle, continually getting stronger as it’s exercised and stretched. For others, willpower is seen as a limited resource: you only have so much in your willpower reservoir and after you’ve used your allotment there isn’t anymore. What is the truth?

After much reflection, I came to the conclusion that none of these perspectives are totally valid for most people. What leads to so much misunderstanding and confusion is our tendency to think about will power in a macro-perspective rather than micro. One is seen as having will power or not having it, as if will power was something one was capable of imposing on every aspect of their life like deploying a large net over a wild beast.

The truth is all of us have situations in our lives where we don’t initiate willpower or take action. It can be as varied as losing weight, hitting the gym, arriving at meetings on time, being firm with our children, getting a project finished or making that dreaded sales call where we risk rejection. Will power, or the lack of it, must be examined selectively and on a case-by-case basis in one’s life in order to figure out the path to gaining more.

My basic premise is that one can develop willpower to take action on anything you decide to. Under further scrutiny, I’ve realized that we all have lots of willpower. In fact, most of the people I know have tons of it. They get up each morning and go to work, fix the kids breakfast, get the laundry done, pay the bills, get through college and fit in a trip to church on Sunday when they would often rather sleep in. In other words, they demonstrate phenomenal willpower on a daily basis by taking action consistently regardless of their emotional state.

SEE NEXT BLOG: Part 2 – Dr. Ron’s Secret Technique for Developing Willpower

The Essence Game

January 8, 2011 by admin

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

Technique: Play the Essence Game

In a recent blog I wrote about the Essence Game and defined true simplicity as the process of crunching complexity to the point that we can take action without losing elegance or functionality. True simplicity allows us to capture the essence of a subject while giving us increased understanding.

It turned out this idea resonated with people and I’ve had several requests to write more about this self-revealing game. The game is designed to stimulate your thinking about what is MOST important about any subject, mostly yourself, and to be a vehicle for sharing or discussing this insight with others.

Why Is Insight Important? The presupposition inherent in playing this game is that self-knowledge or insight is a valuable tool in managing ourselves, especially our emotional selves, and optimizing our performance when it counts. “But I already know myself”, you say. Well, maybe yes and maybe no.

Behavioral science research over the last decade has demonstrated that as individuals we are absolutely terrible at predicting our own reaction to a variety of life’s experience. In fact, it turns out that our friends and even casual acquaintances are much better at predicting our behavior than we are ourselves. It appears there is a significant gap between our self-image and the behaviors we will actually exhibit.

For example, we might like to think of ourselves as brave and ready to confront a dangerous situation with bravado. Yet, when the situation actually presents itself, we don’t act in accordance with our image. Unless the situation is dramatic or meaningful, we often, after the fact, ignore the behavioral choices we made and continue with our illusion that we truly know how we will act in a given situation. So, if you want to find out about yourself and others, try playing the following game around the dinner table or driving in the car.

How to Play The Essence Game

Tell your friends you want to play a little game to learn more about them. It is called the Essence Game. I find most people like being asked about their selves.
Ask each person – What is the ONE word that most clearly defines who you are? Alternately, you might ask what is the ONE word that best represents your world-view? If possible, ask them to write it down on a slip of paper so they won’t be swayed by anyone else’s comments.
Lead by example and tell the group your own word. The first time I did this exercise I came up with the word synthesizerto describe myself. I still use it.
Then, explain yourEssence word. In my case, I shared that I see myself as a gatherer and teacher of knowledge, and that I believed my talent was in synthesizing information and making links with other subjects in an innovative way. I also told them I thought this came out in my teaching and asked for their feedback. Was this true?
Poll the group one person at a time and have them share their word, and then ask them probing questions as to why they came up with this word to represent themselves. Watch the awareness develop.

The benefits of the game will quickly become apparent, as you will find that in the process of coming up with the ONE word you will crunch the complexity of whom you are down into the ESSENCE of who you are. Of course, this process causes you to generalize; but if you do this exercise thoughtfully you will find that the ONE word will be representative of a prevalent theme and value set in your life. This knowledge is valuable.

Next, ponder your word and ask the following questions:

How does this self-view impact my behavior?
If this is my strength, do I give myself the chance to use it as often as possible?
Does this cause me any problems in life that might require me to have more behavioral flexibility?
Does this self-view support my happiness? If not, why not?

Powerful and consistent performance is invariably linked to effective self-management. Whether you are managing your body (knowledge & technique into feeling), your mind (emotional maturity and self-management) or spirit (your relationship to the universe) you can benefit by understanding what makes you tick. Give this game a chance and pay attention!

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