Luke Donald credits his Mental Coach for return to N° 1

In an interesting Associated Press interview, a couple of days after his recent victory at the 2012 European PGA in Wentworth, new world N° 1, Luke Donald, gives a lot of the credit to his performance coach, Dave Alred.

Alred, is best known for coaching kickers at the English rugby squad, and taking Jonny Wilkinson to fame and fortune.

A three handicapper himself, Alred is quick to point out the similarities of kicking a stationary rugby ball under pressure and hitting a stationary golf ball.

But what I really liked most about the interview are two key points that Donald made:

1. "He's certainly always on at me again about keeping the shoulders back and not getting down on myself, staying positive not just mentally but physically and through my body position," Donald said of Alred. "So I think I've done a lot better job of it since I've been working with Dave. He's always reminding me".

Luke Donald and Dave Alred

Very interesting. The reason behind Alred´s insistence on not only staying mentally positive, but physically positive, is due to the fact that our powerful unconscious mind, the mind that lets us play great golf, does not have critical abilities or judgement of it´s own. If the unconscious mind receives negative data from our conscious mind, it will try its utmost to keep our golf negative. On the other hand, if the unconscious mind is perceiving mental and physical positive vibes on the course, it will do its utmost to help us play great golf.

2. "It helps to feel very confident on the greens, too. It's always been a strength of mine, especially in the last four or five years", says Donald, also.

What could be better for an elite golfer than to be a great and confident putter ?

Especially if your not a very long driver of the ball as is Luke Donald. This reminds me of something Gary Player said in his recent book: "Don´t Choke: A Champions Guide to Winning Under Pressure". He says: " Give me a player with a strong mind and a great putter and I´ll take him any day" (over the long hitters with beautiful swings).

A positive on course attitude, both mentally and physically, and a an intense short game practice routine, are essential to a successful Mental Method for high pressure golf.